It was a movie played many times before Thursday night at the theater known as Sandusky High School in a Greater Buckeye Conference matchup between visiting Marion Harding and host Sandusky.

Unfortunately for the Blue Streaks, the result was the same as Sandusky was outscored 18-0 behind the 3-point line in a 67-63 loss to the Presidents.

Despite leading scorer Jarrod Williams being in street clothes, Sandusky (4-7, 1-3) had a 51-47 lead entering the fourth quarter. But a 13-0 run by Harding (10-1, 4-0) in the first 2:21 of the quarter opened up a lead it rode to victory.

At key moments in the Presidents’ scoring run, the Streaks appeared to get caught in a numbers game in transition.

“They are very good in transition, and their guard play is as good as we’ll see all year,” Sandusky coach Steve Keller said. “The (Shawn) Dyer kid has a Division I college offer, and the (Marvin) Owens kid is real nice. We just got hurt in transition, and those two knocked down some shots.

“But once again we’re just trying to strive to play that 32-minute game, and after tonight I think we’re getting closer to that.”

After a back-and-forth first half that saw the Presidents take a 36-30 lead, Sandusky gained control in the third quarter with a 9-of-14 shooting performance and two turnovers while outscoring the Presidents 21-11.

Cordney Strickland scored 10 of his game-high 24 points in the quarter as Sandusky closed out the period with a 9-4 scoring run over the final three minutes to take the 51-47 lead.

Behind points from Dominique Stovall, Jay Page and Strickland, the Streaks were able to make it a one-possession game, at 64-61, with 1:37 left and again on a basket by Page with 21.4 seconds left at 66-63. However, the Streaks were unable to convert a chance to draw closer and Harding’s Shaquille Smith split a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left to go up four points — the final margin.

The Presidents had great scoring balance, with Smith scoring 16, Owens adding 14 and Jake White and Dyer scoring 13 each. Dyer also had seven rebounds and four steals.

Caleb Young added 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting for Sandusky, while Jay Page scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds. Jaron Green added seven rebounds, and Strickland contributed six as the Streaks held a 33-23 rebounding advantage. They also shot 44 percent from the floor.

“I’ll take what our guys did tonight every night with competing and playing hard,” Keller said. “We got to the offensive glass. We had rebound putbacks. But we just didn’t put them in. It wasn’t because of effort and the lack of wanting to make a play. 

“I’ll take that any day, because we can get better at working on finishing and doing the things that need to be done to finish a game.”

Sandusky hosts Fostoria (3-6) Saturday in a non-conference game.