Schoenberger’s big first half leads Upper over Bucyrus

By BRIAN HEMMINGER

City editor

The first half of Upper Sandusky’s game against Bucyrus was the Luke Schoenberger show.

The sophomore scored 24 of his game-high 27 points in the game’s first 16 minutes as Upper Sandusky ran away with an 83-62 victory in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference matchup Friday at Upper Sandusky.

“It’s funny; I just said to our assistant coach, ‘When is Luke gonna break out?’ Upper Sandusky coach Jeff Winslow said. “He is a gym rat. He works his tail off in the weight room. He made over 75,000 3s in the offseason. His goal next summer in the offseason is 100,000. … He’s a really good shooter when his feet are set. We were making the extra pass and making it easy for him.”

Schoenberger made 6-of-7 3-pointers in the first half and finished 7-of-8 from beyond the arc.

“Coming into this, I wasn’t shooting very well,” Schoenberger said. “I knew that sometime the shots had to start falling. It was just a matter of focusing and putting it in the rim. When I’m hitting my 3s, I feel my best.”

With the six 3s in the first half, Schoenberger was on pace to threaten the school record of 11 made 3s shared by Jon Diebler and Jevon Dible.

“I had no idea I was on pace for (the record),” Schoenberger said. “I’ve got a goal now.”

The game was close early despite Upper Sandusky (6-2, 3-2 N10) making its first seven 3-point attempts as Bucyrus (0-8, 0-5 N10) moved the ball well in the half court and either scored driving to the rim or finding an open man on the backside of Upper Sandusky’s pressure defense.

“The only thing improving for us right now is offense,” Bucyrus coach Brian Hargis said. “We can score. We’ve known we can score.”

Upper Sandusky led 23-17 after the first quarter, but the Rams pulled away with a 13-0 run to begin the second quarter.

Time and time again, the Rams would quickly outlet the ball down the sideline and beat the Bucyrus defense down the court for a quick layup.

“The emphasis we’ve had all week is sprint to corners in transition and throw the ball ahead,” Winslow said. “We did a good job doing that tonight and got some layups out of it. Even if we do that and don’t get a quick score, we can run our offense better because now the defense has to get back and they’re not matched up too easy. That’s been one of our points of emphasis the last few weeks and we’re starting to understand it.”

The heavy pressure and extreme tempo put the Rams on top 46-25 at halftime.

“We gave up 8-10 fast break layups off our makes,” Hargis said. “That’s the difference in the game. They’re a tough team. I think they were the better conditioned team and it showed.”

Bucyrus easily could have wilted in the second half, but the Redmen hung tough with Upper Sandusky the rest of the way, scoring 37 points between the final two quarters, which kept pace with the Rams.

“I challenged them at halftime to win the third and fourth quarter and get on the bus with some momentum,” Hargis said.

Upper Sandusky finished with 14 made 3-pointers. The Rams shot over 50% from the field and were a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.

“The reason we’re shooting so well right now is we’re moving the basketball and we’re passing up a good shot for a great shot,” Winslow said. “When we do that, our guys are really good shooters. Our kids are getting a lot better at that as we move through the year and that’s the kind of shooting team we can have when we move the ball.”

For Bucyrus, the Redmen remain in search of their first win of the season. Hargis said he knows what they need to do if they’re going to end their losing streak.

“It’s not a mystery. If we’re gonna win games, we have to start defending and valuing our possessions more,” Hargis said. “High school basketball is all about rebounding and defense. Until my guys learn that and buy in, we’re gonna be in a hole.”

Besides Schoenberger, Upper Sandusky was led by 14 points from Brock Montgomery, 11 points from Josh Heilman and nine points from Kaimen Iles.

Bucyrus was led by 24 points from Georgie Floyd, 14 points from Demaris Munn-Page and nine points from Witten.

Upper Sandusky also won the junior varsity game 58-28. Ethan Smith and Zeke Baldwin both scored 10 points to lead the Rams.

Next up, Upper Sandusky is off until it hosts Buckeye Central at 5 p.m. Jan. 4.

BUCYRUS (0-8, 0-5 N10): Floyd 9-2-24, Munn-Page 6-1-14, Witten 4-1-9, Coppler 3-2-8, Cosey 2-0-4, Blizzard 1-0-3. Totals 25 6-8 62.

UPPER SANDUSKY (6-2, 3-2 N10): Schoenberger 10-0-27, Montgomery 4-4-14, Jo. Heilman 5-0-11, Iles 4-1-9, Craig 3-0-8, Gibson 3-0-7, Ju. Heilman 2-0-4, Romich 1-0-3,

3-point goals: Schoenberger 7, Floyd 4, Craig 2, Montgomery 2, Blizzard, Munn-Page, Romich, Jo. Heilman, Gibson.

Score by quarters

Bucyrus             17          8             17          20          — 62

Upper Sandusky          23          23          19          18          — 83

Junior varsity: Upper Sandusky won 58-28.