Ottoville’s Keaton Schnipke (33) and Landon Horstman (10) get in position grab a rebound during last week’s game at Bath.
David Trinko | The Lima News
OTTOVILLE — Teams look for a challenge in their nonleague basketball schedules.
Ottoville’s Landon Horstman, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, wasn’t just looking for something outside the Putnam County League. He sought something outside his sport.
“I think it’s nice that we get to play these more physical teams,” Horstman said following Saturday’s game at Bath. “A lot of schools have football; we don’t have football. This kind of shows us how to play more physical teams. I think it gives us a little step.”
The Big Green, with a record of 3-0 going into Tuesday night’s game vs. Antwerp, certainly seem to be taking a step in the right direction. Horstman scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds against Bath last week, a Division II school that wore T-shirts supporting cancer survivors that read, “The game honors toughness.”
“They kind of try to shove you around a little bit, and you’ve got to try to stand your own ground,” Horstman said.
Fellow forward Keaton Schnipke (6-3, senior) added 15 points in that game.
“We like to keep it our style, run them up and down the court,” Schnipke said. “We want to run them out if they don’t run as many people deep as we do.”
The Big Green also have some strong guard play with seniors Michael Turnwald and Jace Langhals also scoring and defending well for the team.
Ottoville finished 19-6 last year and runner-up in the PCL. Ottoville exacted revenge on its lone league loss to Kalida in the tournament last year before losing to eventual state champ Crestview in the district finals.
With five letter winners back from last year, including three seniors and two juniors, the Big Green are hoping for big things. Their schedule is built to make them a better tournament team, playing teams they respect on their off nights from the PCL.
“Our non-league schedule, we’ll put up against anybody in Division IV because of the teams like Bath and everybody else that we play and will end up playing in the next few weeks,” said Keith Utendorf, Ottoville’s coach. “I feel that’s part of the reason why we get better over the course of the year, because of the teams that we play.”
Ottoville has a pair of home games this weekend, starting with Friday night at home against Fort Jennings in a nonconference game. The two schools, separated by about three miles, also play Jan. 26 in the official league matchup. The Big Green follow that up with Northwest Conference power Spencerville on Saturday.
It’s all part of the plan for a team that hopes to keep continuing to grow. Utendorf used Horstman’s big game as an example of progress for the whole program.
“I’m really proud of him because he’s a young guy that came along last year towards the end of the year,” Utendorf said. “We like the trajectory we’ve got, not only with him but the rest of our guys as we continue to develop.”
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
