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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Div. I District Semifinals: FHS to face revitalized Perrysburg squad

Diamond Mine Direct
By DAVE HANNEMAN

STAFF WRITER

Perrysburg was looking for perfection.

What the Yellow Jackets got was a rude awakening. And possibly a large does of incentive.

Perrysburg was unbeaten, ranked No.5 in the state and riding a 19-game winning streak when the Yellow Jackets faced Sylvania Southview in the final game of the regular season.

Instead of a perfect ending to the Northern Lakes League campaign, however, the Yellow Jackets were upended 76-67 and had to settle for a share of the NLL title with the Cougars.

After stewing on that loss for a week, Perrysburg opened sectional tournament play by thumping Bowling Green 71-38. Now it is a seemingly revitalized Perrysburg team, 20-1 overall, that will face Findlay (13-8) Thursday at 7 p,m in the Division I district semifinals at Liberty-Benton.

"They are a very balanced team, a very solid team offensively and defensively," said Findlay High coach Jim Rucki.

Perrysburg teams have traditionally featured a big, dominant big man in the middle. This year's squad is more guard-oriented.

The Yellow Jackets do have decent size in 6-foot-5 junior David Hieber and 6-4 sophomore forward Charlie Hughes.

While Hughes (12.1 ppg) can be a force inside, Hieber (13.6 ppg) is just as likely to pop outside. He's hitting 43 percent of his 3-point shots and along with Neal Linthicum (14.9 ppg, 41 percent on 3-pointers) gives Perrysburg excellent firepower on the perimeter. Point guard David Boyce is averaging 8 points and handing out 9.1 assists per game.

"They are very balanced. All five of their starters are scoring around anywhere from 9 to 14 points a game," Rucki said. "They have a couple of kids who shoot the ball well, they're a good passing team and as a group they play very well together."

Perrysburg's season has created its own level of expectations. And to that extent, that can be an advantage for Findlay.

"We're the underdogs, and that takes a little bit of the pressure of," Rucki said. "But we're trying not to worry too much about (Perrysburg). We want to play our game, so we need to focus on what we do."

Luke Kraus has led Findlay, averaging 21.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists. The 6-1 junior guard scored 24 points in Findlay's 58-49 win over Anthony Wayne in the sectional final. Those 24 points moved him past Dave Sorenson (967) and into fourth place on Findlay High's career scoring list with 985 points.

Garrett Bugay has averaged 8.7 points and Kevin Krucki 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds. Jeff Cole is averaging 3.2 points and Zach Bundy 3.8. Matt Strzempka, a 6-3 junior who was averaging 6.7 points and 4.4 rebounds when he broke his hand in late January, returned to the lineup for the sectional final.

Thursday's winner will face either Mansfield Senior (17-4) or Ashland (14-7) Saturday in the district final at Bowling Green State University.

Contact staff writer Dave Hanneman at:

(419) 427-8408

Send an e-mail to Dave Hanneman
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