GALION, Ohio — Jackson Todd was relentless.
Todd scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as Ontario rallied for a 56-42 win over Port Clinton in the opening game of a Division II sectional semifinal doubleheader at Galion High School.
The Warriors (18-5) trailed the Redskins (4-19) 27-24 at halftime and 32-26 early in the third before Todd went to work. He scored on an offensive rebound and putback with 4:48 remaining in the period, igniting a game-changing 13-2 Ontario run.
Todd did most of his damage around the rim, scoring on several second-chance opportunities.
“The whole second half of the season we knew that we didn’t rebound as well as we did in the first half,” Todd said. “We emphasized that a lot in practice, anticipating misses and attacking the glass as hard as we can.”
The Warriors outscored Port Clinton 18-10 in the third quarter and 32-15 in the second half.
“At the half we talked about our energy level not being very good. We came out of the half and I thought our energy level was good but about three minutes went by and the score was still the same,” Ontario coach Joe Balogh said. “We’ve got some veteran kids and they didn’t panic.”
Short-Handed: Port Clinton played without 6-foot-3 guard Skyler Cook and 6-foot-5 forward Joey Brenner, who is headed to Hillsdale (Mich.) College to play football. Redskins coach Von Graffin used a seven-man rotation.
“When you’re playing 6 1/2 kids, you’re going to wear down,” Graffin said. “Our bigs are the guys who are hurt and it made a difference. They wore us out.
“Max Rumbarger (a 5-foot-8 guard) led us in rebounding in the first half. That shows you how small we were.”
Rumbarger and 5-foot-6 point guard Kaleb Mizener did an admirable job of handling Ontario’s pressure. Port Clinton turned the ball over just four times in the first half.
“I though our guards did a tremendous job of handling their pressure,” Graffin said. “We had four turnovers at halftime, but you’ve got to play 32 minutes and not 16.”
Separation: Leading 42-37 after three, the Warriors began to pull away in the fourth. Port Clinton cut Ontario’s advantage to 46-40 on a Dean Colton layup with 3:42 remaining, but the Warriors closed on a 10-2 run to win going away.
Todd and Trey Jordan scored all 14 of Ontario’s points in the fourth quarter. Jordan finished with 15 points, while freshman Chance Mott bounced off the bench to score nine.
“We did a much better job of attacking the gaps in the zone with our penetration in the second half,” Balogh said. “We were a little tentative in the first half, but Trey and Jackson were getting to the basket in the second half.”
Up Next: Fourth-seeded Ontario will play No. 3 Vermilion at 6:15 p.m. Friday for a sectional title.
