Findlay zones out Bulldogs

FINDLAY – Findlay High's boys basketball team was in a zone in Saturday's 47-33 win over Elida.And that can be broken down in a whole bunch of ways.Strategically, Findlay 2-3 zone was devastatingly effective. It neutralized the drive-to-the-hoop quickness of guards Jonathan Payne and Marcus Hill, frustrated Elida into a 3-of-17 accuracy from 3-point range and 10-of-28 (35.7 percent) night shooting overall and held the Bulldogs to single-digit scoring in all four quarters."We played zone probably three quarters of the game on Thursday," FHS coach Ryan Grose said of a 59-57 win over Toledo Start."The biggest worry I have playing it is if you can rebound out of it. So far we've been able to do that, and that's made it tough on teams."Metaphysically, the Trojans were in a zone as well."It's something that's working for us right now, and I think the kids have confidence in it," Grose said after the Trojans chalked up their third straight win, their fifth in the last seven games and improved to 7-10 overall."When you have confidence in something that's working, you stick with it."Elida coach Ryan Howard was not surprised when Findlay came out in a 2-3 zone."We've not shot the ball real well this season, so we've been seeing that (zone) a lot, especially lately," Howard said."The execution is there. We just haven't been able to reward ourselves with knocking down buckets."Findlay and Elida were deadlocked 7-7 when Marcus Bishop nailed a 3-pointer and Luke Crates followed with another. Crates' basket off a Bishop assist put Findlay up 15-7.Steals by Blade Wendt and Bronson Drew led to three free throws. Another steal and transition basket by Drew capped a 13-0 run that had Findlay on top 20-7 at the first quarter break. Except for one dicey stretch late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, Findlay, whose margin of victory in its six previous wins was 5.7 points, maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.Bishop led a balanced Findlay offense with 10 points. Wendt had nine points, Jack Rhoades eight and Drew seven.Payne had 10 points and Gavin Tickle nine for a 3-16 Elida team in a bit of a rebuilding mode."We made a regional run last year," Howard said."(But) We lost four, five seniors from that group, Parker Crim (a 6-foot-3, 250-pound all-Ohio linebacker) was an early-entry into Illinois for football, and a guy who would have been our point guard moved to Detroit."I'm not making excuses. Our guys are working hard, they're learning. I'm proud of the way they battled back in the third, fourth quarter, but things haven't fallen our way this year."Elida erased most of a 13-point deficit late in the third quarter when Jayden Davis nailed a 3-pointer and Jonan Snyder scored back-to-back inside. When Tickle put back an offensive rebound to open the fourth quarter, Findlay's once healthy lead was down to five, 31-26.Findlay got a huge boost off the bench, though, from juniors Cooper McKanna and Jayden Thompson, who were pressed into additional service when senior center Hudson Yeager injured an ankle and had to be helped off the floor in the final minute of the third quarter.McKanna made 3-of-4 free throws and Thompson added another to push Findlay's lead back to nine (35-26).Rhoades scored on a strong drive to the basket, Drew made 1-of-2 free throws after a steal and Bishop scored on a nice feed from Thompson on a back-door cut. With Rhoades, Drew and Wendt converting 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch, Findlay pulled away for the 14-point victory."Both those guys (McKanna, Thompson) were able to step in tonight and do some good things for us," Grose said."They're both juniors. They happen to be in a situation where they're behind a couple of other guys right now, but we always tell them to stay ready."That's been our mentality. You never know when your opportunity is going to come, so take advantage when it's there. We may need those guys to step even more depending on Hudson's injury."Findlay travels to Perrysburg to take on Buckeye Division leading Perrysburg (12-5, 5-1 NLL) on Tuesday, and will host Napoleon (2-15) in an NLL cross-over game on Friday. ELIDA (3-16)Payne 4-9 0-0 10, Tickle 2-3 5-6 9, Hill 0-1 0-0 0, Jostpille 0-2 4-4 4, Altenbach 1-4 0-0 2, Bruin 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 1-2 1, Hinkle 0-0 0-0 0, Snyder 2-2 -0 4, Davis 1-7 0-0 3. TOTALS: 10-28 10-12—33.FINDLAY (7-11)Wendt 2-8 3-6 9, Crates 2-3 0-0 5, Bishop 4-9 0-0 10, Rhoades 2-5 4-8 8, Yeager 2-4 0-0 4, Stechschulte 0-3 0-0 0, Drew 1-1 5-6 7, McKanna 0-1 3-4 3,Thompson 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 13-33 16-26—47.Elida 7 8 9 9—33Findlay 20 7 4 16—473-POINT GOALS: Elida 3-17 (Payne 2-5, Hill 0-1, Jostpille 0-1, Altenbach 0-3, Davis 1-7); Findlay 5-16 (Wendt 2-8, Crates 1-2, Bishop 2-5, Rhoades 0-1).REBOUNDS: Elida 26 (Tickle 7); Findlay 22 (Rhoades 7, Yeager 4).TURNOVERS: Elida 24; Findlay 14.