btzweber@bright.net

Van Wert - Tuesday night started the road to Columbus as tournament play began for the area boys basketball teams.
At the Cougars’ Den in Van Wert, the Perry Commodores — under the direction of head coach Matt Tabler — faced off with the Ottoville Big Green of head coach Todd Turnwald in Division IV action.

The game saw the Commodores fight back from an early deficit to take the lead at halftime; however, the second half was all Big Green as they outscored the Commodores 24-15 and went 9-11 from the charity stripe to come away with the sectional win, 41-35.

The Big Green started the contest off strong with 13 points in the first quarter behind sophomore Brandt Landin’s six points. The Commodores rallied back from an early deficit in the quarter to narrow their deficit four points at the quarter break, 13-9.

The second quarter was all Commodores as they outscored the Big Green 11-4. The Commodores used some excellent outside shooting from sophomore Jared Poling to go along with the inside-outside combination of juniors Bruce Hodges and Raheem Johnson to grab and extend their lead to 20-17 going into halftime.