SIDNEY — Sidney keeps racking up assists, steals and rebounds — and wins.
The Yellow Jackets had another well-rounded performance in a 64-41 win over Bellefontaine on Tuesday. The squad grabbed 33 rebounds, had 15 assists and 13 steals.
The team’s selfless play continues to be evident. Sidney averaged 14.4 assists per game last season while scoring 62.5 points per game and is averaging 17.5 assists this season while scoring an average of 63 points.
Solid ball handling is evident, too: the Yellow Jackets (5-1) have a 2.0 assist to turnover ratio this year after posting a 1.1 last season.
It all starts on defense according to coach John Willoughby. If the Yellow Jackets create turnovers and limit squads to one-shot possessions early in games, they shot well enough offensively to get a lead and keep it.
“We made sure we came out being aggressive defensively, because that dictates how we play the rest of the game,” Willoughby said. “If we’re lackadaisical on the defensive end early, we can struggle.”
There were no early struggles. Sidney built an 11-1 lead in the first four minutes and led 17-3 at the end of the first quarter.
A big key according to Willoughby was junior guard Myles Vordemark, who held Bellefontaine leading scorer Kaden Reames to four points. Reames averages 10 points per game and scored 21 in a loss to Graham last week.
“Myles is becoming our top defender by shutting down the best guards,” Willoughby said. “He played an excellent game today.”
Vordemark scored five points and had nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.
He wasn’t the only one who did well. Junior wing Sam Reynolds led Sidney with 23 points, brought down six rebounds and had four assists and four steals.
Reynolds is averaging a Miami Valley-League best 19.7 points per game while shooting 59.8 percent from the floor. He ranks second in the league with an average of 9.3 rebounds.
“He probably could have played varsity last year, but we kept him on JV and let him build that confidence of being able to score,” Willoughby said. “He became a really good scorer, and that’s carried over to varsity. He’s a great shooter, takes it to the hole on fast breaks, but probably the best thing about it is his rebounding.
“… Going into the season that was one of the things we thought we could struggle at, being weak at rebounding. It’s nice to see Sam fighting (for rebounds). He plays hard. Landon Davis is doing an excellent job (at rebounding) too, and if we can get Jaden (Swiger) rebounding more too, that’ll be pretty good.”
Swiger, a senior center, did on Tuesday. He brought down eight rebounds and scored 12 points. Davis scored eight points and had four rebounds. Freshman guard Julius Spradling scored 10 points and had three steals.
Sidney was joined on Tuesday by 6-foot-4 sophomore forward Mitchell Davis, who played his first game of the season. He had missed the start of the season while recovering from a nose injury.
“We’re going to need him down the schedule here, so it’s good to get him out playing a little bit,” Willoughby said.
Bellefontaine switched to a zone defense in the second quarter and slowed the pace, but the Yellow Jackets finished the quarter with a 12-8 scoring edge to push the lead to 29-11 at halftime, then used an 18-12 advantage in the third to take a 47-23 lead into the fourth.
“A couple of teams have played us zone,” Willoughby said. “I like our offense in a zone. We just have to remind them a couple of times to get the ball moving instead of holding it.
“I don’t mind teams playing zone against us. Sam’s a great shooter, Julius is a great shooter, Myles and Landon hit the 3, then we’ve got a good inside-outside and can get it to the high post and then to Jaden, and we have good cutters.
“That’s one thing I like about this team. They don’t stand and watch somebody go one-on-one. …And we’re pretty good passers and unselfish. It’s fun to watch them play.”
The Yellow Jackets will play their final game of 2021 on Thursday when they travel to New Carlisle Tecumseh (3-4). The Arrows beat Bellefontaine 57-42 in a Central Buckeye Conference contest on Dec. 3.
Tecumseh junior guard Collin O’Connor averages a CBC-best 23.1 points per game.
