Rivals set to battle it out for 1st place in NBC

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

For Genoa basketball, it starts with 6-7 forward Walter Plantz.
The sophomore, who earned honorable-mention status in Division III last season, is averaging 18.5 points and 10.1 rebounds and has been a force both on offense and defense for the Comets.
But it isn’t a one-man show with Genoa, which faces Eastwood on Jan. 6 in Northern Buckeye Conference play in the Press Game of the Week.
Last year, the Comets swept the Eagles, defeating them, 55-52, in the second game and 50-38 in their first meeting.
Genoa lost Jon Huston (13.1 points, 2.2 assists) to an injury in the 57-51 loss to Oak Harbor on Dec. 8, and he hasn’t played since then. But despite the injury to Huston, the Comets have been on a tear, winning four straight games, all by double figures.
“There are some underclassmen that have stepped up, and we’ve relied on them the last few games,” said Genoa coach Jon Sandwisch. “Ryan Routson, he’s been a starter, he has stepped up. Jake Woollard and Myles Mollenhauer have stepped up, too.”
Aiden Brunkhorst, a 6-3 senior guard, is third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.3 points, and is virtually tied with Plantz in rebounding with 10.2 per game.
Genoa is currently 6-1 and 3-1 in the conference, tied with three other teams – the Eagles (4-4, 3-1), Oak Harbor (4-2, 3-1) and Fostoria (5-2, 3-1).
But there’s a long way to go for the Comets.
“Right now, we’re just forming our identity as a basketball team. We return only three varsity guys, and one of those guys was a sophomore. We only returned two seniors and a sophomore,” said Sandwisch. “We’re relying on a lot of young guys. We’re playing three sophomores and a freshman, finding ourselves and our identity and finding what makes us go.”
Huston was a starter before he got hurt, but the currently starting lineup has three sophomores and includes Routson (5-6), Woollard (6-1) and Brunkhorst, three guards, plus Plantz and 6-3 forward Denver Stewart with Mollenhauer, a 6-1 freshman guard, coming off the bench.
Sandwisch is familiar with Eastwood dating back to his playing days at Woodmore.
“Coach (Jason) Faykosh is doing a great job. Eastwood basketball has been consistent with Coach (Todd) Henline and Matt Routson, who is now on our staff, and Henline again (coming back for a second stint), and now Faykosh,” said Sandwich. “It’s a community that supports its athletes. Our school districts are very similar.”
Sandwisch knows it starts in the middle with Plantz.
“He puts in a lot of time. Basketball is important to him, and he works hard at it. The biggest thing is he helps with athleticism and scoring, and right now, we’re learning how to play every game where each team has a plan against him, whether it’s a zone, a box-and-1 or a double team,” said Sandwisch. “Walt dictates a lot on defense. Guys have stepped up and played well around him.”
As for the Eagles, they’ve lost three in a row after losing to Archbold (62-46), Oak Harbor (64-55) and Liberty-Benton (55-34), teams with a combined record of 15-5 (.750). That was preceded by wins over Van Buren (60-52) and Lake (69-66). Eastwood began the season with wins over Maumee (66-62) and Otsego (57-52), the latter of which came in overtime, before losing to Bowling Green, 62-52.
In the victory over the Flyers, Drew Kachmarik scored 22 points, DayQuan Oliver finished with 20 and Andrew Badenhop had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
It was a nail-biter with Andre Lewis scoring on a drive to give the Eagles a 60-59 lead with 2:14 remaining, and Eastwood never trailed again. But Flyer guard Carter Behlmer hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to keep the Flyers within three points at 69-66, so after a timeout, Kachmarik was fouled, but he missed both free throws. Lake guard Jay Blazevich grabbed the rebound, but his outlet pass was stolen by Caleb Souder, and the Eagles ran out the clock.
The starting lineup has been in flux, but currently, it’s Kachmarik (6-3) and Badenhop (6-1), two forwards, with Lewis (5-10), Oliver (5-10) and Souder (5-11), three guards, with Drew Luidhardt and Kadyn Donnell coming off the bench.
“We play seven guys pretty evenly,” said Faykosh.
Eastwood has hit a rough patch, but Faykosh, now in his second season coaching the team, knows his team just has to weather the storm.
“We knew, before our season began, that six of our toughest games were stacked up against each other. We knew it would be a struggle. Oak Harbor was a tough one because we were coming off a back-to-back,” he said. “We’ve struggled the last three games, but all were against good teams. We’ve shown some good things and competed well. Hopefully, we can get through these last three games and steal a win.
“We’ve talked about some of the things we need to improve going forward. We’ve had slow starts in the first quarter and have dug ourselves in a hole and we’ve had to dig our way back. We got out to a lead against Archbold; it’s something we’re improving on a little bit. We want to be playing our best basketball coming down the way for our second round of league games.”
Faykosh, an Eastwood alum, is very familiar with Genoa’s program.
“It’s a great program, they’ve got a great player in Plantz, which is a tough matchup for us,” Faykosh said. “They’ve had a lot of success (recently). Back when I played for Eastwood, that was always our toughest league game. It should be a competitive game.”