NAPOLEON — Perrysburg’s boys just made a mess of the Northern Lakes League standings.
The ’Jackets went to Napoleon on Tuesday second in the NLL, and walked away atop the standings after a
65-57 win over the Wildcats (6-2, 4-1).
Perrysburg, Napoleon, Maumee and Anthony Wayne are all tied for first at 4-1 in league play.
Bowling Green is a game back at 3-2.
The ’Jackets (5-3 overall) travel to AW (5-1 overall) on Saturday.
“It feels great coming off of that tough Whitmer loss,” Perrysburg’s Shane Edwards said. “We just wanted
to get a win under our belt over a new, tough NLL team.”
Perrysburg was defeated by Whitmer last Wednesday, 44-36 in a game dominated by defense.
Unlike the Whitmer game, the ’Jackets were able to hold on to their second half lead to come out
victorious against Napoleon.
After trailing by one at halftime, Perrysburg used a 25-13 advantage in the third quarter to gain an
11-point lead, 51-40, a lead it would never lose.
“In the second half we came out and did our thing and came out with the win,” said Scott Milne, who had a
team-high 23 points for Perrysburg.
“We came out and executed our game plan much better than we did in the first two quarters.”
“I think in the first half we came in second for a lot of loose balls and stuff like that,” said
Perrysburg head coach Dave Boyce. “(Napoleon) made some of those hustle-type plays, and in the third
quarter I think we did a much better job of winning those battles and setting the tone.”
The new tone for the third was evident almost instantaneously after halftime.
Just 20 seconds into the third, Milne nailed a triple and followed it up a minute later with layup to
give the ’Jackets a four-point lead.
Milne scored 11 points in the third quarter, including two baskets from beyond the arc. He had four
3-pointers in the game.
The threat of Milne’s outside shooting also opened up the inside game, where Perrysburg really took
advantage.
The ’Jackets shot 8-of-12 (67 percent) from two-point range, which was one of the reasons for their lead
extension.
“I think we made better decisions offensively. We pushed the ball and we finished on the break,” Boyce
said. “Then we hit a couple threes and I think that loosened them up a little too.
“(Napoleon was) playing aggressive defense and they were all over the place,” Boyce added. “We just took
what they gave us. At times it was inside, at times it was outside, at times it was drive-and-dish.”
Perrysburg’s infamous zone defense contained the high-scoring offense of Napoleon for the majority of the
game.
The Wildcats’ offense, centered around junior Jordan Lauf, never penetrated Perrysburg’s defense
consistently and was forced to settle mainly for jump shots.
Napoleon shot just 18-of-50 (36 percent) from the field, but it did have the constant scoring threat of
Lauf.
The 6-foot 5 inch junior scored a game-high 33 points, but he was essentially the only threat to the
’Jackets.
“He’s tough and we didn’t get the job done stopping him,” Boyce said. “But I thought we rebounded well
when we had to rebound and we made some plays on the perimeter that helped us make their other players,
perhaps not as effective.”
Perrysburg won the junior varsity game 59-24. Chris Schimmoeller led the ’Jackets with 12 points. Mason
Cajka and Matt Kaczinski each added 10.
PERRYSBURG 65, NAPOLEON 57
PERRYSBURG
Milne, 5-4-1—23; Byrd, 4-0—8; Fox, 2-1-0—7; Thomas, 1-0—2; Moschetti, 0-0—0; Pfleghaar, 2-0—4; Johnston,
0-0—0; Edwards, 6-1—13; Patterson, 4-0—8. TOTALS: 24-5-2—65.
NAPOLEON
Brown, 0-0—0; F. Lankenau, 0-2—2; Plassman, 0-0—0; Harris, 1-0—2; A. Lankenau, 0-0—0; Myles, 1-2-2—10;
Lauf, 7-3-10—33; Huber, 4-2—10. TOTALS: 13-5-16—57.
PERRYSBURG 13 13 25 14 —65
NAPOLEON 13 14 13 17 —57
Junior varsity: Perrysburg, 59-24.