OAK HARBOR — Eastwood’s boys basketball team had two goals this season: win a sectional championship and
chalk up 18 wins.
It did both Friday in a 61-44 victory over Margaretta in a Division III sectional final at Oak Harbor
High School.
The Eagles, 18-6 overall, advance to play Colonel Crawford (18-5) in a district semifinal at Ashland
University at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Prior to this season, Eastwood had not won a tournament game in three seasons. This year’s two
tournaments wins, to date, are the first of Eastwood coach Matt Routson’s career.
“I’m really excited. We played great as a team,” said junior Tim Hoodlebrink, who finished with 13 points
and eight rebounds. “Toward the beginning of the season, we didn’t do certain things very well, but we
have come together as a team.”
Eastwood’s last tournament win came in the 2010-2011 season when this year’s seniors were freshman.
Rebounding was the story of the game on Friday. Eastwood out-rebounded the Polar Bears 34-16, which
included 11 offensive rebounds.
“We knew we had a size advantage, and we really talked about crashing the boards,” Routson said.
Hoodlebrink was a key player in the rebounding game.
“Tim has a knack for finding the ball off the boards,” said Rouston, who is in his second season. “He is
just so athletic and just knows where to be.”
“First, I play defense and then if I can get to the boards, I get to the boards,” Hoodlebrink said.
In addition to Hoodlebrink, two other Eagles were in double-digits for Eastwood: Jake Schmeltz, 21
points; and Grant Peters, 18 points.
After taking a 32-26 lead at the half, Eastwood went on a 6-0 run to begin the third quarter and went up
38-26. The surge gave the Eagles control of the game.
Eastwood curtailed Margaretta’s Dylan Bailey, who had 16 first-half points, in the second half. He was
held to just three second-half points.
“Bailey had a great first half, and we couldn’t stop him,” Routson said. “We talked about being more
aware of where he was and we were able to get a couple stops.”
The Eagles held the Polar Bears to seven third-quarter points and extended its lead to 46-31 with 2:30
remaining in the third quarter.
Eastwood pushed its lead to 55-33 with 5:36 remaining in the fourth quarter on a Schmeltz 3-pointer.
EASTWOOD 61, MARGARETTA 44
EASTWOOD
Peters, 8-2—18; Flipse, 1-0—2; Bradley, 1-1—3; Schmeltz, 3-3-6—21; Hoodlebrink, 6-1—13; Jacoby, 1-2—4;
Coffman, 0-0—0; Smith, 0-0—0; Rahe, 0-0—0; Fertig, 0-0—0; Reyes, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 20-3-12—61.
MARGARETTA
Bailey, 8-3—19; Miller, 0-0—0; Brayer, 0-0—0; Spice, 3-1-2—11; Scott, 0-0—0; Due, 1-1-2—7; Freeh, 1-0—2;
Yates, 0-0—0; Tucker, 0-1-0—3; Moore, 0-0—0; Hensley, 1-0—2; Wiedenheft, 0-0—0; Smetzer, 0-0—0. TOTALS:
14-3-7—44.
EASTWOOD 16 16 16 13 —61
MARGARETTA 8 18 7 11 —44