PERRYSBURG — The Bobcats stung the Yellow Jackets again Wednesday night in the first round of the
Northern Lakes League Tournament.
The Bowling Green High School boys defeated Perrysburg 62-53 behind five 3s and 20 points from senior Eli
Brown.
With the victory the Bobcats will move on to face Anthony Wayne in Whitehouse tomorrow at 7:15 p.m.
“We’re super excited. We knew we could beat them; we beat them once this year. But we knew they weren’t
going to lay down because they are a really good team and (Dave) Boyce is a heck of a coach. But we are
excited to get our first win in the tournament,” BGHS head coach Marshal Headley said.
The game started out with a 7-0 run by Perrysburg, as the Yellow Jackets came in looking for revenge
after their 46-43 loss to the Bobcats on Feb. 5.
The Bobcats fought back, making it just a 12-11 Perrysburg lead at the end of one quarter thanks to a
couple of 3s from Brown.
Brown continued his hot shooting in the second quarter as he hit a long distance shot early, but would
not see another one go down in the half. He led all scorers after one half with nine points, but the
Yellow Jackets maintained their one-point lead, 26-25.
Perryburg’s Joe Bohman led the Yellow Jackets with seven points at the break. He wouldn’t net a single
point in the second half.
The Bobcats flirted with taking the lead in the second quarter.
Senior Kaleb Gerken, who had four points for the Bobcats at the break, was a driving force in the third
quarter. He exploded at the beginning of the second as he fought for position down low and was able to
make frequent trips to the free throw line. He finished with 17 points, in part due to five made free
throws, with four of those coming in the third quarter.
At the end of three quarters Bowling Green was up 40-38.
“I think in the first half we didn’t realize how physical this game was going to be and we adjusted to it
in the second half.” Headley said.
Perrysburg’s Kannon Klusmeyer also had a nice second half, finishing as the Yellow Jackets’ leading
scorer with 12 points on the night. Matt Watkins also netted 11 points and was the only other Perrysburg
player in double figures on the night.
“I think they were the more aggressive team, they were the more physical team and they carried the action
in the second half,” Boyce said.
The Bobcats continued to stretch the lead in the fourth, with sophomore Brock Hastings hitting a corner 3
out of the gate and Brown hitting two more 3s to go 5 of 5 from beyond the arc for the night.
Brown was able to find himself in good shooting pockets and showed an uncharacteristic scoring ability in
the win.
“He’s a pass-first type of player, usually he passes up some shots but tonight he was feeling it and he
shot the ball really well especially in the first half. I mean he’s the engine that runs our whole
team,” Headley said.
The Bobcats pushed the lead to as much as 11 in the quarter as Ryan Jackson frequented the free throw
line at the end of the game. He finished with 12 points and was the third Bobcat to score in double
figures on the night.
With the loss Perrysburg is eliminated from the NLL tournament and their next game will be in the OHSAA
tournament against Toledo Bowsher next Saturday.
BOWLING GREEN 11 14 15 22—62
PERRYSBURG 12 14 12 15—53
BOWLING GREEN
Brown, 1-5-3—20; Gerken, 7-0-5—17; Jackson, 3-0-6—12; Sayen, 1-0-2—4; Hastings, 0-1-0—3; Cook, 1-0-0—2,
Suelzer, 1-0-0—2; Brandt, 1-0-0—2; Furnas, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 14-6-16—62
PERRYSBURG
Klusmeyer, 5-0-2—12; Watkins, 5-0-1—11; Shultz, 0-3-0—9; Bohman, 2-1-0—7; Andrew Hunt, 3-0-0—7; Boros,
1-0-1—3; Sanchez, 1-0-0—2; Gerrard, 1-0-0—2. Totals: 18-4-5—53
