Ottoville’s Carter Horstman (left) and Lima Central Cathoilc’s Matthew Quatman compete for the ball during Friday night’s game at Ottoville. See more high school basketball photos at LimaScores.com.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
OTTOVILLE — Ottoville’s Kellen Schlagbaum made his final home game special.
The Big Green senior poured in a game-high 24 points to help Ottoville capture a 56-51 come-from-behind-win against Lima Central Catholic in a non league affair Friday night.
With the win, Ottoville, which won its third straight contest, improves to 16-4 on the season. LCC, which has lost five of its last six contests, falls to 6-11 for the year.
“It was senior night and we will ride those six seniors as long as we can and hopefully tonight is one of those indicators,” Ottoville head coach Keith Utendorf said. “We have six seniors that have been through a lot and have had a lot of success and for them to have the game, especially Kellen, to have the game I am really proud of him.
Schlagbaum said he knew it was his last time in front of the home crowd and added that he fed ff their energy.
“It was a good environment here and a lot of people came out to support us,” Schlagbaum said. “I knew it was my last time playing here and without the energy from the crowd we coudn’t have pulled it out “There was a lot of resilience from the guys and we pulled out the win.
“It means a little more because every one is here to watch you on your last game and I will never play here again and so it was a lot of fun to play here and go out on a good note.”
Utendorf added that Schlagbaum’s shooting the past two games has been off but that was rectified against LCC.
“We are going to go as far as he takes us with the help from everybody else and I think that is what is special. Tonight it was Kellen and the other night it was Carter. Different guys have stepped up throughout the year and we have had a lot of senior and veteran leadership.”
LCC, who threw up a 1-2-2 zone against Ottoville, stymied the big green for much of the contest as they battled to make buckets.
“We didn’t shoot the ball really well, especially our shooters and a lot of shooters were on the bench with three or four fouls so we had to piece together some things with guys that really haven’t played a lot together especially when someone throws a 1-2-2 different zone at us. To be honest teams tried that earlier in the year and it did not work.
“I thought our guys executed, got layups and starting moving in that zone and got key shots when we needed them.”
With five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter the score was knotted at 48-48 with just under five minutes left in the game but Schlagbaum nailed one of his three 3-pointers to give the Big Green the lead, its first since the fourth quarter. From there, the Big Green defense helped complete the task by allowing the T-Birds just three points in the final five minutes of the game.
The T-Birds’ lone field goal in the fourth quarter was a 3-pointer by Matthew Quatman.
Seventeen of Schlagbaum’s points came in the second half.
“It was fun,” Schlagbaum said about hitting that clutch trey in the fourth quarter. “Obviously we look to someone in the big moment and I like to think me and Michael (Turnwald) are guys to go to in that situation. Obviously they trust me and I trust them so it is mutual.”
At the end of the first quarter, Ottoville led 15-14 but in the second stanza, the T-Birds, thanks to some solid defense and shooting opened up a 31-26 lead at halftime and maintained the five-point advantage going into the final eight minutes.
For LCC, Carson Parker finished with 14 points and Parker Judy added 11 points. Billy Bourk scored eight points and snared 11 rebounds.
“Our calling card is our defense especially in the fourth quarter and the second half,” said Utendorf who watched the Big Green limit the T-Birds to just six points in the final quarter. “When we kept them off the foul line I thought the did a pretty good job. We were reaching and kind of lunging in the first half and gave them opportunities in the first half.
“In the second half we boxed out and limited them to one possession and finished defensive possessions and then came down here and Kellen played huge in the second half, offensively, by hitting big shots.”
Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.
