Ottoville’s Michael Turnwald splits Fort Jennings defenders Jarron Swick (12) and Brandt Menke (14) Friday night in Fort Jennings.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
FORT JENNINGS — The rematch of the backyard rivalry between the Ottoville Big Green and the Fort Jennings Musketeers took place on Friday night at Fort Jennings. In December the Big Green handled their Putnam County League foe 70-58.
However, this time 32 minutes would not be enough to settle the affair as the teams went into overtime before the Big Green pulled away with a 62-57 victory.
Keaton Schnipke led Ottoville with 19 points including a key three-pointer with 2:01 to go in regulation, tying the game at 55, and eventually sending the contest into the extra frame.
“They’re getting better and better as the year goes on and they’ve had some circumstances that are unfortunate for them, but their kids are playing their tails off and they gave us everything that we wanted tonight,” Ottoville coach Keith Utendorf said. “Obviously I’m going to credit our kids for coming out and making some tough stops at the end. It was going to be a game of runs and it was always going to be a highly emotional game.”
Jarron Swick nailed seven in a row from the line for the Musketeers, leading the way with 18 points.
After Ottoville scored the first bucket, the Musketeers ran off the next seven, capped off by back-to-back scores from Bryce Gasser (13 points), giving Fort Jennings an 11-9 lead after one.
Landon Horstman (14 points) got the scoring started for the Big Green in the second quarter by tying the contest at 11 all. That would be the start of an 8-0 spurt for Ottoville.
Andy Moorman drained a three midway into the period, giving the Big Green their biggest lead of the game at 23-14, but the Musketeers battled right back.
Swick drained a three of his own, starting a 7-0 run for Fort Jennings. Gasser then added a shot from the paint in the waning seconds of the first half to send the Musketeers into the break with a 27-25 lead.
The second half would be just as exhilarating as the first with six ties and neither team gaining more than a six-point edge.
Swick gave the hosts a 35-29 advantage with his second three of the contest two minutes into the third. However, Ashton Miller gave Ottoville the lead back at 38-37, hitting two from the line with 2:30 showing on the clock.
The lead changed hands three times in the final stanza, but Schnipke went on to hit key shots in the final two minutes, including the aforementioned triple that sent the game to an extra four minutes.
“Keaton hit that big shot for us to get that momentum and then the stops at the end kind of solidified things, but yeah we also hit some big free throws,” Utendorf said. “We weren’t right from the foul line early on, but we made stops when we needed to.”
Micahel Turnwald gave Ottoville the lead for good on a pair of free throws with just over a minute left.
Dave Boninsegna wrote this for LimaScores.com.
