For the first six minutes of the opening quarter, the Tinora Rams basketball team looked like that shiny new toy every kid wants at Christmas. Unfortunately, by the end of the game, Rams fans in attendance thought they were visited by the Grinch who stole that shiny new Christmas gift.

A near full house, pre-Christmas crowd at Tinora High School saw The Rams basketball team light up the scoreboard like a Christmas tree in the first seven minutes, racing out to a quick, dominating 19-4 lead over the visiting Wauseon Indians.

Wauseon’s Brandon Vajen opened the scoring with a deep three from the right wing to give the visiting Indians a brief 3-0 lead, over the next six minutes, Tinora would outscore Wauseon 19-2 to lead 19-5.

Tinora’s Adam Spychala would drain three quick three pointers in the initial quarter for nine points, while teammate Owen Ackerman would slash and dash his way to seven first quarter points.

After Spychala’s third make with 2:56 in the first quarter gave the Rams a 16-5 lead, Wauseaon’s Chad Burt would ask for his second timeout within 90 seconds. This timeout would be pivotal over the next 38 minutes for the Indians.

Despite a 19-5 advantage after a Tinora Aiden Rittenhouse three with 1:55 remaining in the initial quarter, the Indians and their floor leader Tyson Rodriguez would not let up. Rodriquez would go on a personal 8-0 run in approx 30 seconds to end the quarter, cutting the once Tinora big lead to just 19-13 after one quarter of play.

After the above-mentioned Burt timeout, the Indians went from a man defense to a zone defense, which seemed to crack the code on the Tinora offense.

The second quarter saw more of the Indians offense start to flow, and its zone defense would limit the Tinora offensive output. Wauseon limited the Rams to just 3 points in the second quarter, while bucketing eight, and despite the struggles, Tinora still lead the Indians at the half 22-21.

Tinora was lead in the initial half by Adam Spychala’s 12 points on four made three pointers, while Wauseon was led by Tyson Rodriguez and his 12 points.

Despite trailing most of the first half, the Indians wasted little time grabbing the lead from the Rams as Trey Parsons would score within the first five seconds of the new quarter, drawing the third foul on Tinora’s Owen Ackerman. 

The Trey Parsons bucket gave the Indians a 23-22 lead, and the bucket seemed to ignite Parsons over the next seven minutes, as he would bucket 13 second half points, 10 in the third quarter. Great defense, crisp passing, and timely cutting fueled the Indians attack in the quarter.

A back and forth third quarter would see the Indians exit with a 35-34 advantage over Tinora.

The final stanza would see quite a battle midway through before the Indians would pull away down the stretch for a 56-45 win over Tinora.

Tyson Rodriguez’s first points of the second half came at the start of the fourth quarter on a deep three pointer that gave Wauseon a 38-34 lead. Rodriguez would bucket 12 fourth quarter points on his way to a game high 24 points.

Tinora would fight back, tying the game at 38-38 on an Owen Ackerman layup at the 7:00 mark of the final period.

Another Rodriguez deep three broke the tie, the Indians grabbed a 41-38 lead, a lead they would never relinquish over the final 5 minutes. 

Nicholas Stinner was also a main part of the Indians rally, Stinner would bucket eight second half points in the Indians comeback as Wauseon outscored the Rams 21-11 over the final eight minutes.

Wauseon scoring: Parsons 15, Rodriguez 24, Vajen 5, Stinner 12

Tinora scoring: Ackerman 16, Welling 4, Rittenhouse 8, Spychala 15, Lieb 2

Wauseon improves to 3-2 and will take part in the Steve Williman Holiday Classic at Findlay High School on December 29 & 30.

Tinora falls to 1-4 and will travel to take on the Liberty Center Tigers (1-1) on Saturday, 12/23.