O-G gets bounce-back win against Bellevue

OTTAWA-They just had to wait until the right moment to strike. Ottawa-Glandorf's Nolan Duling drained a triple for Ottawa-Glandorf, putting the Titans ahead of Bellevue, 40-39. After calling a timeout and receiving thunderous applause, Duling nailed another 3-point shot at the third-quarter buzzer, putting O-G ahead of 43-39. Those proved to be the key plays as O-G defeated the Redmen at the Robert J. Hermiller Gymnasium Saturday, 57-49, in non-conference action. "I thought our defense was really good, especially after the first quarter," Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said. "We made them work for everything. We got some stops, and finally got some opportunities in transition and we were able to capitalize on that." The Titans (11-5) bounced back after a tough loss to Van Wert Friday, while the Redmen (10-6) came in after a win over rival Norwalk. "I'm really proud of the way the kids played," Bellevue coach Ed Rich said. "It's the first time we have ever played here. We knew we weren't going to get much on the officiating end of it, but our kids battled through that." The Redmen started the fourth quarter slicing their deficit in half, getting within 43-41. O-G's Brody Fortman responded with back-to-back baskets before Bellevue's Sam Bollinger scored two points on a putback, making it 47-43. "I thought we played well enough, but we couldn't do it there at the end," Rich said. "We knew they were a good team and very similar to us." After another timeout, Duling was fouled and went to the charity stripe, where he made his pair. Reid Claus nailed a trey 23 seconds later. With three minutes left, Brayton Heitmyer sank a basket before O-G took a time out. "A good team with good guards like that, you have to keep them in front of you," McGlaughlin said. "We made them shoot over us." After the timeout, Fortman was sent to the free throw line, making one of two. Caden Cramer answered with a triple. That cut the Titans' advantage to 52-49. But it was the Redmen's last threat. They were scoreless the rest of the way. Coming off the loss at Van Wert, the Titans had to have a short term memory, and McGlaughlin said they did. "Our guys responded and it was a little flat in here as far as the Supreme Court atmosphere, but that started to pick up in the second quarter and it got the crowd going." McGlaughlin said. Schumaker was the leading scorer of the night, as he finished with 20 points. "He did a really good job of just taking what they gave us," said McGlaughlin of Schumaker. "He is really good at taking the ball to the rim and he did a really good job of taking the opportunities that were given to him, and the other guys did a really nice job of creating opportunities to give the ball to him." Bollinger led the Redmen in points with 15, followed by Brown with 12. With tournament time fast approaching, the Titans are taking it one day at a time. "Every day we have to get better," McGlaughlin said. "We will worry about the tournament when the time comes. We can't worry about anything down the road, and we have to take care of the next day. That's our mentality." BOX SCORE BELLEVUE (12-7) Sam Bollinger 6-2-15, Ike Brown 5-2-12, JJ Vogel 1-0-2, Reid Claus 2-0-5, Caden Lindsey 1-1-3, Caden Cramer 2-0-5, Hudson Smith 1-0-3, Elijah Turinsky 1-2-4 TOTALS: 19-7-49 OTTAWA-GLANDORF (11-5) Brayton Heitmeyer 1-0-2, Brody Fortman 3-5-11, Adam Maag 2-0-4, Nolan Duling 2-2-8, Carson Yaeger 1-5-7, Jordan Schumaker 6-6-20, Grant Leopold 1-0-3, Dawson Miller 0-2-2 TOTALS: 16-20-57 Bellevue 10 14 15 10 –49Ottawa-Glandorf 9 13 21 14 –57 3-Point Goals:Bellevue 4 (Bollinger, Claus, Cramer, Smith); Ottawa-Glandorf 5 (Duling 2, Schumacher 2, Leopold)