Cameron Elwer (11) of Delphos St. John’s drives to the hoop past Trevor Stearns (2) of Parkway on Tuesday night.
Chris Howell | The Lima News
ROCKFORD — Cameron Elwer is a tough customer.
The 6’1” sophomore guard proved that once again with 33 points in a physical 54-41 win over Parkway on Tuesday.
St. John’s hit just 12 shots from the field but took advantage of Parkway’s defense that at times, was overly aggressive, resulting in 21 trips to the free-throw line for the visiting Jays.
St. John’s (12-2) made the most of those opportunities by knocking down all 21 shots from the stripe. Individually, Elwer was responsible for 17 of those makes.
“That’s a good feeling to have as a coach, knowing that you have guys that shoot the ball well, especially from the line. Kudos to Cameron for shooting it well at the free-throw line tonight and leading us in scoring,” Delphos St. John’s coach Aaron Elwer said. “He’s been guarded in so many different ways and I’m so proud of him for staying cool and calm in those situations where they were trying to make things physical for him.”
Defensively, Parkway (9-4) threw Trevor Stearns, Fletcher Smith, and Wyatt Carpenter at Elwer, but early traps created open looks from beyond the arc for the Jays, resulting in four first-half threes.
“He’s a heck of a player,” Parkway coach Doug Hughes said of Elwer. “He sets up his teammates and he scores at all levels. I haven’t seen a high school player in a long time who has a pull-up jump shot like he does with as good of an all-around game as he does. He’s a tough matchup, especially with good shooters around him.”
St. John’s began the second quarter with 10 straight points, a three from Andrew Elwer and the remaining seven from Cam Elwer. The Jays carried a 24-16 lead into the break.
The second half opened with nine straight points from St. John’s followed by a 10-0 run from Parkway. The Panthers made it a six-point game with 5:47 to go, but Andrew Elwer hit his third three of the night and Cam Elwer scored the next 10 St. John’s points before checking out at the 1:23 mark.
“That’s a typical league game between two really good basketball teams,” said Elwer. “Parkway had won six games in a row and we kind of knew what we were going to get from them. I thought our guys handled it well. We had them on the ropes twice, then we had some breakdowns and they took advantage of it. Fortunately for us, we had the ability to hold on and extend it there a little bit toward the end with some big shots.”
Parkway got 17 points from Trevor Stearns, 10 of those in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers shot 33 percent from the floor (15/45) compared to 40 percent from Delphos St. John’s (12/30). The Jays committed more turnovers at 8-5 and the two teams broke even in rebounding with 19 apiece.
Score by quarters
Delphos St. John’s 14 10 13 17 – 54
Parkway 12 4 12 13 – 41
Delphos St. John’s
Cam Elwer 33, Andrew Elwer 9, Drew Boggs 6, Austin Moenter 4, Tyce McClain 2. Total 9-21-54
Parkway
Trevor Stearns 17, Caiden Berry 8, Wyatt Carpenter 6, Xavier Samples 6, Brayden Bruns 2, Douglas Hughes 2. Total 16-9-41
Three pointers: DSJ — C. Elwer 2, A. Elwer 3, Boggs 2; PW —Berry 2.
Records: Delphos St. John’s 12-2; Parkway 9-4
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter at @Lima_Howell
