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While the Redskins moved to 1-1 in the division and 4-3 overall, the Pirates, recent champs in the Pioneer Sugar Tournament, saw their record dip to 1-1 and 5-2. Beach's only other setback was a narrow four-point loss to unbeaten Reese.

After an up-and-down December, the Redskins came out with a solid performance against a tough team. They jumped out to a 19-14 lead in the first quarter and led the rest of the way.

"We played very good defense," said Sandusky coach Kurt Long. He later added, "Every guy came in and did a little something for us. We had nine guys score."

One big difference for the ‘Skins was their ability to shut down the Pirates' perimeter offense.

"I think they only had two or three threes and they have guys that average three or four a game," noted Long. "No. 14, (Alex Talaski) had none. Sam Stevens pretty much shut him down. I think he only got a couple of shots off." Stevens, an athletic 6' senior forward, also contributed eight points.

Sandusky, which led, 30-21 at the half, built a 12 point lead in the third quarter when Stevens and senior point guard Derek Neumayer teamed up to convert two turnovers into lay-ups. First it was Stevens that stole an inbounds pass and fed Neumayer for an easy two. Seconds later, Neumayer came up with a defensive stop and lobbed ahead to Stevens for the driving lay-up to make it 37-25.

The Pirates closed the gap to five, 39-34, by the end of the quarter and then to three early in the fourth. That's when 6'4" senior Matt Grabitz popped in a pair of short jumpers to put Sandusky up 43-36. Beach never came closer than five the rest of the way.

Long also credited Grabitz's play underneath on the defensive end. "I thought Matt Grabitz did a really good job, defensively. Harbor Beach is going to get some points in the paint because they have such big, physical kids."

Neumayer paced Sandusky's scoring with 14 points and also added five steals. Grabitz, meanwhile, turned in a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Brett Buchholz, a burly senior post player, led Harbor Beach with 14 points.

Sandusky travels to Reese this Friday night in a GTC crossover game. The Rockets are off to an 8-0 start this season. The ‘Skins return to East play on Tues., Jan. 15 with a key division match-up at Ubly.