Start stops Trojans, 63-29

FINDLAY – Ryan Grose knew his Findlay High boys basketball team would go through some growing pains this season.Even constructive lessons, though, can be harsh."The speed of the game and understanding how to handle those situations is something we're going to have to learn," Grose said Wednesday."Unfortunately, it comes in situations where we have to learn the hard way, where we might get our butts kicked a little bit."Toledo Start, cat-quick, aggressive and stocked with varsity experience up and down the roster, dealt the Trojans one of those lessons on Wednesday, racing to a 63-29 victory in the 2024-25 season opener for both teams."We have some experienced guys who have played varsity before," said BJ Raymond, a former prep standout at Toledo St. John's in his first year as Start's head coach."(Findlay) is young, and we knew that by speeding them up it would give them a little bit of trouble because when they get in the half-court they can shoot that thing. We wanted to close out on them hard and make it difficult for them."I give credit to our guys. They did that tonight."Findlay trailed just 13-8 after Blade Wendt's 3-pointer late in the first quarter. Start then blew things wide open, forcing several turnovers with its trapping press, raining down six 3-pointers from all angles, and limiting Findlay to a single basket during a 29-2 barrage that left nothing in doubt but the final margin."Nobody's going to give us anything so we have to take it. That's our mentality," Raymond said after Start forced Findlay into 17 first-half turnovers and got a number of second- and third-shot opportunities by hitting the offensive boards."We let our lead get to us in the second half and took our foot off the gas. To be a championship-winning team – not a good team but a championship caliber team – you can't have let downs."Hit hard by graduation, Findlay started four juniors and a sophomore. Only three players on the roster had seen varsity time before, and that was mostly in late-game mop-up action last season.Facing a team like Start right out of the gate had to be unnerving."It's hard to mimic those things in practice," Grose said."You can put multiple defenders out there. You can arrange drills with certain rules but at the end of the day you can't mimic the athleticism of a team like that and how quick they are going to be and how aggressive they are going to be."We have nine guys stepping on a varsity floor for pretty much the first time, and that's really tough to prepare for."J'Siah Jefferson led Start with 23 points. The senior guard scored 16 points in the second quarter and 21 in the first half, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave the Spartans a 45-16 lead."He's a ball of energy," Raymond said."He's been in a lot of wars. He's our senior leader and I love how he came out in the first half and set the tone for us."Wendt led Findlay with 14 points and shared the team lead in rebounds with Miles Bailey, Both had five. Beck Garmong added seven points for the Trojans, who next play at Oregon Clay on Thursday.A young Findlay team will be older and wiser by then, but Grose, despite the numbers on the scoreboard, was already seeing progress in the later stages of Wednesday's opener."Even as the game wore on we started to understand where we needed to get the ball to, we were able to get a guy flashing open, instead of turning it over we were getting the ball in the front court and getting a shot or an opportunity …."(Start) was switching defenses from man-to-man top zone and we didn't do a good job of adjusting to that. As a coach you can go over those things in practice in preparation, but recognizing things like that in a game is going to be important for us moving forward."START (1-0)J'Siah Jefferson 7-12 4-4 23, Edwards 1-7 1-2 4, Miekle 0-2 0-0 0, Mikolajczyk 3-6 1-2 9, J'Khai Jefferson 5-7 2-8 12, Jeffries 0-2 1-2 1, Wells 0-0 0-0 0, Porter 2-4 0-0 6, Welleans 1-4 0-0 2, McDonald 3-5 0-0 6, Allen 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22-51 9-16—63.FINDLAY (0-1)Drew 0-2 0-0 0, Garmong 2-7 2-4 7, Wendt 5-10 0-0 14, Bailey 2-4 0-0 4, McKanna 0-5 0-2 0, Flowers 0-0 2-2 2, Korkos 0-6 0-0 0, Imke 0-1 0-0 0, Scott 1-1 0-0 2, Sadler 0-1 0-0 0, Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10-37 4-6—29.Start 19 26 13 5—63Findlay 8 8 8 5-293-POINT GOALS: Start 10-21 (J'Siah 5-6, Jeffries 0-1, Porter 2-3, Edards 1-4, Mikolajczyk 2-5, Allen 0-2); Findlay 5-16 (Garmong 1-3, Wendt 4-8, Bailey 0-2, Korkos 0-3).REBOUNDS: Start 31 (Mikolajczyk 6); Findlay 33 (Wendt 5, Bailey 5, Korkos 4).TURNOVERS: Start 13; Findlay 27.JUNIOR VARSITY: Start, 44-35.FRESHMEN: Findlay 37-26.