'It means everything': Sprutte, Southeast hoops snag first sectional title in a decade

PALMYRA TWP. — Thirty-five minutes before tip, the gym was still mostly empty and the court was cleared.

Out came Garrett Sprutte, headphones on, as he headed to the Southeast bench and took a seat.

The Pirates senior sat there alongside a few coaches — alone in his thoughts, just him and the music — before the start of Friday's sectional final and also his final home game.

It was the calm before the storm — for Sprutte and for Southeast, which topped Crestview 58-49 for its first boys basketball sectional title since the 2012-2013 season.

"It means everything for the program," Sprutte, who led all scorers with 28 points, said. "The best record we've had in years was my sophomore year and we went 12-12, and playing with my older brother and all those people, I wanted to beat that this year, and we got it done."

The storm was hefty — as the 24th-seeded Pirates (13-11) sprinted out to a 31-7 lead behind a bevy of transition buckets.

The storm was also a team affair. If Sprutte was thunder, constantly booming toward the basket with devastating force, there were crackles of lightning everywhere.

Junior Zach Keto, who scored the first points of the night with a 3-pointer, totaled 10 points. Freshman Cohen Richardson initiated fast breaks alongside Sprutte to also finish with 10.

"We knew that we could get that team in transition," Richardson said. "So whenever we got a rebound, we were looking to push it."

The storm was enough — enough to hold off a much better effort in the second half by the 31st-seeded Rebels (9-15), who rallied within 12 but never got any closer.

Southeast storms ahead

Crestview hung around early.

Then, the Southeast storm began.

Up 7-4 midway through the first quarter, Sprutte drained a 3-pointer, then set up another 3, as he took a pass from junior Joe Sharish off the latter's defensive rebound, drove hard and kicked to Richardson for a 3-pointer and a 13-5 lead.

"He's a true scorer, but what's taken us to the next level is he is still scoring [and] he's now getting others involved," Pirates coach Matt Dillon said of Sprutte. "When he's scoring 25 and then we're getting six, eight, 10 from the other kids, that's when we get good. And I think it took him a while to feel comfortable passing the ball to some kids, and he's starting to do that, and that's been a big difference in our season."

The Pirates ended the quarter on a 14-3 run, capped by Richardson heaving the basketball equivalent of a go route to Sprutte, who raced under it for a layup and a 21-7 advantage.

"I knew I could trust him if I threw it up and he's going to get it," Richardson said. "I know I can put that pass in a spot where he's going to have an opportunity to score."

Then came another big run as the Pirates scored 10 straight points to start the second quarter, starting with Keto sending the ball to Richardson, who kept it flying around the horn to Sprutte for his second 3-pointer. Sprutte then snagged a defensive board and charged up court, finding Keto for an almost instantaneous bank shot. Minutes later, Sprutte found Keto yet again, as the junior slipped the Crestview defense in transition for a 3 and a 31-7 lead.

"Zach Keto has made some really big strides and he's able to score a little bit now," Dillon said. "He's defending. I don't know that we took him out for more than 30 seconds. You got to be in great shape to play like that."

Keto is one of many players who have stepped up big to lift Southeast to its first winning season in several years.

Richardson quickly emerged as a sharpshooter this year and has increasingly shown off other elements of his game. Junior Joe Sharish had a preposterous 12 rebounds, nine in the first half, to limit second chances for the Rebels and kick-start a number of Pirates fast breaks. Senior Case Myers did a little bit of everything, including a couple of nice assists to Sprutte in the fourth as Southeast sealed the win.

"He's pretty much my neighbor," Myers said of Sprutte. "Our sophomore year, we didn't spend any time apart from each other, so we've always had some chemistry, and it just really shows on the court now."

Beyond any individual, Dillon pointed to a team that shook off any number of tough losses in a brutally competitive Portage Trail Conference to make history Friday night.

"As we got down in the middle of the season, what we were really proud of is when we would lose a game — and you're going to lose games, that's life — we bounce back," Dillon said. "And that was what really impressed the coaching staff. You would lose a game and you're thinking, 'Man, next week's going to be tough,' but the kids came back and listened and did what we asked, and we're super proud of that."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Garrett Sprutte, Southeast basketball secure elusive sectional title