Moschetti, Thomas help Jackets shake off rust against Bedford in 70-54 win

Bedford's Adam Swisher, center, battles Perrysburg's Quinn Thomas for a rebound. Thomas had a career-high 18 points in the win.

THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH
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Bedford's Adam Swisher, center, battles Perrysburg's Quinn Thomas for a rebound. Thomas had a career-high 18 points in the win.

The red cheeks lighting up the faces of Perrysburg’s players were the result of a long holiday layoff, not the frosty temperatures outdoors.

Their coach had seen this before.

“Coming out of Christmas is always a crapshoot,” Dave Boyce said. “I thought we looked tired early.”

Following an ugly eight-point opening quarter, the Yellow Jackets shook off the excess sweets in their bellies on Friday to roll over visiting Bedford 70-54 and remain unbeaten.

PHOTO GALLERY: Click here for more photos from this game

Nick Moschetti continued the scintillating start to his senior season, eclipsing 20 points for the fifth time in six games. He finished with 28 points, and like his team, started to kick his game into gear at the end of the first half.

Bedford (2-2) got 18 points from Bradley Boss, who knocked down two 3-pointers in each half.

“You’re not in shape from Christmas,” said Moschetti, who scored only four of his points in the first quarter. “Coming out here and practicing one day is not a lot of time to prep for them.”

There will be no rest for the weary, as Perrysburg (6-0) hosts Whitmer later today.

His team trailing 23-21 midway through the second quarter, Boyce called what turned out to be a momentum-shifting timeout. His team was beginning to hit shots, but so was Bedford, creating a trade-off at both ends that did not sit well with Perrysburg’s coach.

“I told them we’re content to trade baskets,” Boyce said. “We’re doing some good things on offense but we’re going down on defense and watching them score.”

Perrysburg's Nick Moschetti, who had 28 points, shoots against Bedford on Friday. He has scored at least 20 in five of six games.

His message got across. Moschetti soon after tied the game with a bucket before Matt Mesker turned a turnover into a layup for Perrysburg’s first lead. It was the first of three Bedford turnovers to finish the quarter. The Yellow Jackets closed the half on a 10-2 run — with Moschetti accounting for six points — to enter the break up 29-25.

“We knew he was capable of doing that,” Bedford coach Nick Lowe said of Moschetti. “I thought in the first half, until late in the second quarter, we did a nice job of containing him.”

Surprising to Lowe was the play of Perrysburg guard Quinn Thomas. Nowhere in the scouting report did it show Thomas as a shooting threat, but the junior knocked down four 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 18 points. His 3 with less than three minutes to go ended Bedford’s 7-0 run and buried the Kicking Mules in a 62-51 hole. Paying extra attention to Moschetti in the lane, Bedford left Thomas unattended in the right corner, where Moschetti found him.

“He was always out there ready to shoot,” Moschetti said. “He was hitting on everything.”

Added Lowe: “We weren’t aware he was capable of doing that. He’s a competitive high school athlete, and he put his team on his shoulders a little bit.”

Perrysburg’s Trevor Hafner, whom Boyce called “one of the most game-changing guys we’ve had come off the bench in years,” scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, capping a 10-0 run and building the lead to 54-37. Hafner finished with eight points, as did post Nate Patterson.

Contact Ryan Autullo at: rautullo@theblade.com, 419-724-6160 or on Twitter @AutulloBlade.