Sherman's late bucket lifts Kenton over Elida

ELIDA - Garrick Sherman, the 6-foot-10 Kenton senior and future Michigan State basketball player, had an underwhelming five points and three fouls at halftime of the Wildcats' game at Elida.

The second half was much different for Sherman. He picked up only one foul, but poured in 20 points, including the game-winner with 4.6 seconds left to lead Kenton to a 49-48 Western Buckeye League win.

Down one point after Alex McAdams tipped in a Reggie McAdams miss with less than 20 seconds left, Kenton (8-3, 1-2 WBL) tried to get the ball to Sherman three times; the first two resulted in non-shooting fouls.

"The kids came out and did what we had to do. We had two fouls to give, and we used them wisely," Elida coach Denny Thompson said.

The third time, Sherman set up on the left block and leaned in, netting the leaning 10-footer.

"Early on, I tried to get my teammates involved, get their confidence up," Sherman said. "Second half, I decided I needed to put more effort into finding my shot; be more aggressive, basically."

Sherman made 12 of 19 field goals. In addition to his 25 points, Sherman pulled down 16 rebounds and blocked a shot.

"It was good to see Sherman step it up in the second half and say, ‘Hey, I'm going to take this game over.' That's something our team really needed," Kenton coach Terry Rowe said.

The loss spoiled a great outing from Elida guard Bo Mathias. The 6-1 senior scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half.

"What can you say about Bo Mathias? He's healthy, he's doing great things," Rowe said. "It was a great victory for us to overcome his performance in the second half."

Mathias hit three free throws during the final 2:45 of the first half, during which Elida trimmed a 23-11 Kenton lead to a 25-21 halftime deficit. Not coincidentally, Sherman was on the bench during that span after picking up foul no. 3.

Todd Craft drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing and Reggie McAdams hit a pair of free throws and a bucket with 6 seconds on the clock during the run.

"They're a different team, and you can see it when he's not on the floor," Thompson said. "I think there's a lack of confidence there, and they got a little skittish."

After two early Mathais buckets in the second half - a 15-footer and a drive down the right - and a put-back by Desmond Ragin, the Bulldogs (4-7, 0-3 WBL) took a brief 27-25 lead.

They would fall behind by as many as six points late in the third, but the Bulldogs again took the lead with 5:09 left in the fourth. There were five more lead changes in the remaining time, culminating in Sherman's 24th and 25th points of the night.