Cam Elwer of Delphos St. John’s shoots over a Dunbar defender in the opening game of the Ottawa-Glandorf Winter Classic on Saturday.
Dean Brown | The Lima News
OTTAWA — Delphos St. John’s started the Ottawa-Glandorf Winter Classic with an 82-54 boys basketball win over Dayton Dunbar in the first game on Saturday but it was all downhill after that for area teams.
In the second game of the day, Rocky River Lutheran West rolled over Lima Senior 77-49. That was followed by Shelby’s 59-53 win over Findlay and, in a bit of a surprise, Troy Christian’s 61-50 victory over Ottawa-Glandorf.
St. John’s (18-2) had to bounce back from a slow start after falling behind 10-0 to start its game.
Dunbar (12-9) had a 15-10 lead after one quarter but the Blue Jays went on a 24-5 run in the first 5:45 of the second quarter to take a 34-20 lead. Their lead never dropped below 10 points after that.
“I thought we handled it extremely well. I’m so proud of our guys, getting down, and then playing really good basketball for 3 1/2 quarters,” St. John’s coach Aaron Elwer said.
“It was back-to-back games with a league game (against St. Henry on Friday night) we spent a lot of time with. It was an early start (1:30 p.m.), so that was different. Unfortunately, we didn’t handle those two things well. I think we’re a mature team, I think we’re a really good team and we were able to overcome that.
“Once we got going, they had a tough time guarding us and that has held true recently with our team,” he said.
Cameron Elwer scored 38 points, including seven 3-pointers for St. John’s. After scoring five points in the first quarter, he had 17 points in the second quarter and 16 points in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second quarter. He hit 12 of 17 field goal attempts and was 6 of 8 at the free throw line.
After taking an elbow to the chest, he came out of the game with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter and did not return. St. John’s led 56-37 at the time.
“He took an elbow right to the chest. No call. That’s all I’ve got to say,” Aaron Elwer said. “It could have been a really special day for him. Not that it wasn’t, but it could have been a special game. Unfortunately, that situation took place. I feel bad for him, I feel bad for our team. But he will be fine.”
St. John’s shot 68 percent for the game (26 of 38) and 71 percent (22 of 31) in the last three quarters. The Blue Jays had 12 3-pointers, including two by Drew Boggs and one each by Aaron Moenter, Andrew Elwer, and Tyce McClain. They got 26 points from their bench.
Lutheran West 77, Lima Senior 49
Lutheran West built a 15-point halftime lead and kept adding to it in the second half. It came into Saturday’s game after defeating two teams ranked No. 1 in their division in The Associated Press state poll in a row.
First, the Longhorns beat Lutheran East, the top-ranked team in Division III last Saturday night. Then they beat Division I No. 1 Garfield Heights on Wednesday night.
Tino Yii-Junnila led the Longhorns with 18 points and Derek Fairley and Dylan Bartchak each scored 13 points.
Shawn Foster and Isaiah Wilson both had 12 points to lead Lima Senior.
Shelby 59, Findlay 53
Alex Bruskotter, who has signed with Wright State, scored 21 points to lead Shelby (17-2). Casey Lantz had 18 points and his drive to the bucket and a free throw with 1:06 left in the game gave the Whippets a lead they never lost.
Will Cordonnier scored 21 points and Javonte Hill had 12 points for Findlay (16-2).
Troy Christian 61, Ottawa-Glandorf 50
The Titans struggled offensively and defensively after taking a 13-4 lead to start the game. But that lead had disappeared by the end of the first quarter and O-G never led in the final three quarters.
Ottawa-Glandorf shot 32 percent (20 of 61) for the game and only 19 percent in the fourth quarter, which began with the Titans within six points.
Troy Christian (18-2) continually got the ball inside for lay-ups. After hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter it did not hit another one the rest of the game.
All of Troy Christian’s points came from its five starters and four of those players scored in double figures —Alex Free and Parker Penrod had 18 points, Frank Rupnik scored 12 points and Christian Brusman got 11 points.
Ottawa-Glandorf (16-3) was led by Colin White with 17 points and Caden Erford with 10 points.
Box scores
Delphos St. John’s 82, Dayton Dunbar 54
Score by quarters:
Delphos St. John’s 10 28 27 17 — 82
Dunbar 15 12 13 14 — 54
ST. JOHN’S
Cameron Elwer 38, Collin Feathers 2, Aaron Moenter 11, Andrew Elwer 5, Joel Schrader 2, Drew Boggs 6, Tyce McClain 5, Brayden Klaus 10, Grant Ulm 1, Tyler Lindeman 2. Totals: 26-18-82.
DUNBAR
Moses Sanford 8, Jimmy Hill 9, Eric Brewer 18, Lester Brown 8, Diezel Leeper 5, La’marion Williams 5. Totals: 22-3-54.
Three-point goals: DJS — C. Elwer 7, Drew Boggs 2, Aaron Moenter 1, A. Elwer 1, McClain 1; D — Brewer 4, Hill 1, Williams 1.
Records: St. John’s 18-2; Dunbar 12-9
Lutheran West 77, Lima Senior 49
Score by quarters:
Lutheran West 26 13 19 19 — 77
Lima Senior 12 12 19 6 — 49
LUTHERAN WEST
Jayson Levis 6, Derek Fairley 13, Matt Meyer 8, Dylan Bartchak 13, Tino-Yii Junnila 18, Josh Meyer 6, Kendall Compton 5, Jakaris Shelton 8. Totals: 32-6-77.
LIMA SENIOR
Jaeveon Walton 7, Isaiah Wilson 12, Shawn Foster 12, Dashad Greer 6, Jagger Hutchins 3, Noah Simpson 4, Kaden Hampton 5. Totals: 18-9-49.
Three-point goals: LW — Bartchak 3, Junnila 2, Fairley 1, Compton 1; LS — Foster 2, Hutchins 1, Hampton 1
Records: Lutheran West 18-2; Lima Senior 11-8.
Troy Christian 61, Ottawa-Glandorf 50
Score by quarters:
Ottawa-Glandorf 15 10 14 11 —50
Troy Christian 19 10 16 16 —61
OTTAWA-GLANDORF
Colin White 17, Caden Erford 10, Ross Maag 2, Grant Schroeder 5, Grady Toumazos 8, Alex Wagner 6, Brody Fortman 2. Totals: 20-2-50.
TROY CHRISTIAN
Alex Free 18, Parker Penrod 18, Frank Rupnik 12, Ethan Grise 2, Christian Brusman 11. Totals: 24-10-61.
Three-point goals: OG — White 3, Erford 2, Toumazos 2, Schroeder 1; TC —Penrod 2, Brusman 1.
Records: Ottawa-Glandorf 16-3; Troy Christian 18-2.
