BLUFFTON — Delphos St. John’s head coach Aaron Elwer admits that at the start of the tournament he gets a little nervous on how his team is going to perform. But the Blue Jay head coach’s concern subsided pretty quickly after his team jumped out to a fast start and never let up in its 53-43 victory over Lincolnview on Friday night.
Delphos St. John’s improves to 11-12 and advances to the sectional final against Columbus Grove at 7:30 p.m. at Bluffton University on Friday. Lincolnview ends its year with a 5-18 mark.
“I am proud of our guys,” Elwer said. “I’m sure every coach gets a little nervous before the first tournament game whether it is their first year or their 15th and so I had some of those nerves and I’m sure our guys did but you wouldn’t have know that. I was really, really proud of them. I thought we set the tone on both ends and I thought we made things really difficult on them and to see a few of them go through the rim early allowed us to gain confidence and hopefully this experience will allow us to become confident on Friday night.”
By applying a strong defensive pressure, Delphos St. John’s jumped out to a 13-2 lead after the first four minutes and finished the first period owning a 18-5 advantage.
In that first eight minutes, the Blue Jays forced five turnovers to convert buckets. It also helped that Landon Grothaus stroked a pair of 3-pointers to spearhead the offense.
The lead grew to as much as 20-points in the second period and it stayed that way for the rest of the game as Lincolnview could never get closer than 10 points the entire night.
Three Blue Jays scored in double digits with Grothaus leading the way with 14 points and Landon Elwer chipping in 11 points. Aaron Moenter added 10 points.
Elwer said he liked that the team was putting the ball in the basket but reiterated that it was about getting stops and preventing the Lancers from getting into an offensive groove.
“Everybody is about the scoring but on the other end it was about getting stops,” Elwer said. “We talk so much
about stops and trying to string those together and I don’t know how many we had in a row there but it is something that we practice and talk about in film sessions and meetings.
Elwer added that he think it helped that they played Lincolnview recently (Jan. 29) and understood what they needed to do defensively. The Blue Jays held the Lancers to 44 points.
“I thought we guarded them pretty well that night and so we had a little extra prep for them so I thought our guys took toe the scouting report and understood their X’s and O’s and we take a lot of pride in that ,” Elwer said. “We tried to take them out of their comfort zone and they run so many things and their execution is so good and if they get comfortable they can get a lot of good-look opportunities and I thought we did a good job of that.”
Lincolnview’s Garrett Richardson was the lone offensive bright spot for the Lancers as he pumped in a game-high 20 points.
Kalida 49, Cory-Rawson 18
BLUFFTON — Kalida got its postseason off in impressive fashion thanks to its defense as the Wildcats recorded a 49-18 victory over Cory-Rawson in the Division IV sectional opener at Bluffton University Tuesday.
With the win, Kalida improves to 11-12 and plays Putnam County rival Leipsic at Bluffton University at 7 p.m. Friday night. Earlier in the year Leipsic beat Kalida, 64-50, back on Jan. 22.
This marks the fifth time this season Kalida has held a team to under 30 points and the first time this season they have held the opposition to under 20 points.
The Wildcats’ pressure allowed them to force a number of turnovers and convert them into points and when the Hornets did get into their end of the court, Kalida remained relentless and prevented Cory-Rawson from establishing any type of effective offense.
“The ball pressure was good tonight,” Kalida head coach Ryan Stechschulte said. “We forced them into some turnovers and made them uncomfortable.
After the first quarter, Kalida jumped out to a 16-5 lead and the Wildcats’ defense was even better in the second quarter, limiting Cory-Rawson to two points and gaining a 30-7 lead by halftime.
In the first half, Cory-Rawson had 13 turnovers. The Hornets’ lone two points came on two free throws with just under a minute left in the second period.
By the end of the third quarter, Kalida was up 40-12.
Offensively, the Wildcats probed and prodded their way through the Hornet’s multiple zone looks to score buckets.
Kalida’s Justin Siebeneck led all scorers with 13 points and Jaden Smith chipped in 11 points.
“They didn’t get much into a flow tonight,” Stechschulte said. “It is a new place and a new environment and it is the first tournament game for some kids who haven’t played in a tournament game. We got a couple of days to prepare look at some things. We will nit pick some stuff in practice but right now.”
The Wildcats turn their attention to Leipsic and Stechschulte understands the task at and will need a strong defensive effort against the Vikings and Putnam County League player of the year Mason Brandt.
“He (Brandt) got 40 on us the first time and so what ever we did the first time we have to guard him better than that I guess,” Stechschulte said. “But here is the thing about that is that the kid is so good, I didn’t think we did a bad job but when he is like that nobody in the district that can do what he does.”
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