By Yaneek Smith
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
OAK HARBOR — Despite being able to rally from a 15-point deficit and hold a lead late in the third quarter, Eastwood ultimately ran out of gas, falling, 64-55, in a loss to Oak Harbor.
Rocket forward Ethan Stokes hit a fadeaway jumper early in the second quarter to push Oak Harbor’s lead to 22-7, but the Eagles went on a 21-8 run to cut the deficit to 30-28 at the half. Drew Luidhardt and Andrew Lewis scored five points apiece in the quarter to help pace Eastwood.
“We’ve been struggling with our slow starts, and that got us tonight,” said Eastwood coach Jason Faykosh. “They started off strong and hit some three-pointers. We started defending them a little bit better and shots started falling for us in the second quarter.”
For the game, the Rockets made 10 three-pointers and the Eagles connected on five of them.
“We fell in love with the three-pointer, and then our defense slowed up,” said Oak Harbor coach Eric Sweet, describing why his team lost the lead. “We allowed some backdoor cuts and they (scored inside).”
With the score tied at 44-44 after three quarters, Stokes made his patented fadeaway jumper to break the tie early in the fourth quarter, but Luidhardt scored on a drive to tie the score.
However, Stokes nailed a jumper on the ensuing possession to spark a 12-4 run, giving the Rockets the lead for good at 48-46.
Andrew Badenhop scored Eastwood’s four points during the run, and after a timeout with 3:21 remaining and Oak Harbor holding a 58-50 lead, Drew Kachmarik scored inside and Kadyn Donnell, who led his team with 12 points, hit a three-pointer with just over two minutes to play, cutting the deficit to three points.
But Rocket guard Carson Steinbrick, who had 17 points to lead all scorers, drained a deep three-pointer from the left wing with 1:43 to play, swinging the momentum back in Oak Harbor’s favor.
“We had a good start to the fourth quarter,” said Sweet. “We took a timeout with five minutes to play and I told the guys to catch their breath. We hit some big shots. On defense, we locked back in and got some stops.”
The Rockets outscored the Eagles, 20-11, in the fourth quarter.
“They slowed the game down and took control (in the fourth quarter),” said Faykosh. “They have some really good players.”
In the second half, there were six ties and four lead changes.
Lewis and Badenhop scored nine points apiece to pace Eastwood while Luidhart finished with eight.
Oak Harbor got 15 points from Stokes and 14 from Michael LaLonde.
In the third quarter, both teams landed punches as three points would be the largest difference in the score for those eight minutes.
Coming out of a timeout with 2:02 to play in the third quarter, Carson Slate made a deep three-pointer with 1:30 to go, and following a bucket by Kachmarik, Stokes hit two free throws to tie the score going into the fourth quarter.
The loss, the Eagles’ first in Northern Buckeye Conference play, drops Eastwood to 4-3 and 3-1 in the league. The Rockets are now 4-2 and 3-1 in the conference. Both teams are now tied for first place in the league, and the NBC has no teams with an unblemished record in the conference. Genoa is also 3-1 in the league, as is Fostoria.
“I think it’s going to be three losses to win the league. It’s a dogfight,” said Sweet. “It’s a good league.”
