BOYS BASKETBALL: Sandusky holds on to beat rival Ross

The Blue Streaks pulled out of a nosedive in the nick of time.

After coughing up a 14-point lead over a 4-minute stretch of the fourth quarter Thursday, Sandusky finished on a 8-2 spurt over the final 1:40 to pull away for a 66-59 victory against Fremont Ross at Sandusky High School.

“We’re trying to work on that as we mature and develop as a basketball team,” Streaks coach Steve Keller Jr. said of the fourth-quarter run from the Little Giants. “Sometimes we have to be able to make better decisions, and sometimes we just have to defend better. But tonight I felt we needed to defend better.

“Sometimes when a team is making a run on us, we’re able to stem the tide with a little pressure. Tonight I thought we did it in the half court when we needed to.”

Sandusky (6-11, 3-4) also did it on the boards as Rayshawn Daniels, Cordney Stickland and Tristen Jeffries grabbed crucial rebounds to help fuel the game-winning spurt.

“We got glass,” Keller said. “We did a nice job of everybody trying to rebound. You know it’s got to be team rebounding in late-game settings. All five guys need to know we have to get a rebound.”

The Streaks built a 56-42 lead with a 20-4 run that started on a Strickland lay-up with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter and ended with a free throw from Jeffries with 6:06 left in the game.

Ross (3-11, 1-7) scored 11 straight points, then stretched the run to a 15-2 spurt on a pair of free throws from Shunnar Gamble to cut the deficit to 58-57. Dominique Stovall and Daniels righted the Sandusky ship with four points each over the next 70 seconds.

“We had a great run there,” Little Giants coach Mark Gedeon said. “We called a timeout with six minutes to play to change our defense and get the kids focused. I thought the guys we had on the floor did a great job getting it close.”

Gamble had game-highs in points (22) and rebounds (13), with eight boards over the final eight minutes. Skylar Reffner scored seven of his 13 points during the fourth-quarter run and Greg Smith finished with 10 points.

Jeffries led Sandusky with 15 points and Strickland scored10, with Jay Page adding nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

“Tristen continues to improve as a sophomore,” Keller said. “It’s improvement in all areas of the game, including preparation and practice habits.

“We’re trying to handle situational basketball better and better and better, and I am really proud of the kids tonight. I thought we played extremely hard, I thought we competed and we were just blessed by the good Lord to get a ‘W’ tonight.”

Sandusky opened with a 53-40 victory in the jayvee game with Delon Roldan-Johnson tossing in 13 points and Vanuel Williams adding 10. Diante Pettiford scored nine to lead the Little Giants.