Cameron Elwer of Delphos St. John’s drives to the hoop against Coldwater on Friday night.
Chris Howell | The Lima News
COLDWATER — The moment itself, was as big as it could’ve possibly been.
But as we’ve all learned over the past two seasons, no moment is too big for Cameron Elwer.
With 4.1 seconds left and St. John’s deadlocked with Coldwater at 57, Elwer needed only a shred of daylight to catch an in-bounds pass from Austin Moenter and sink a fadeaway three from the corner, sending the Blue Jays home with a 60-57 win and at least a share of the MAC championship.
Both teams entered Friday night 7-0 in the conference.
With the game and the league title on the line, it seemed as if everyone in the gym knew where the ball was going on that final possession. But that assumption was wrong.
“Before we called a timeout with four seconds left, we had Aaron (Moenter) on a layup, so we tried to run that again, but they adjusted,” St. John’s coach Aaron Elwer said. “They fouled and that took time off the clock. It put pressure on us to make the right call. Any coach will tell you that it’s not about plays, it’s about players and fortunately, we have a lot of them. We have a really good one as well.”
“I was supposed to set a back-screen for Aaron (Moenter) and he was going to get the first look to see if my guy would help off on him,” Cam Elwer said. “I didn’t see if he was there, but there was screen-to-screen action with Drew (Boggs). I don’t know how Austin (Moenter) passed it. I was not expecting the ball, but it came to me, and I knocked it in.”
Elwer’s game-winning triple gave him 40 points on the night. As the entire Delphos side of the crowd stormed the court, Elwer looked over to the bench for his father and the two shared a moment of celebration.
Aaron Elwer said, “It’s hard to enjoy moments like that as a dad when I’m so about coaching and the next play, but someday I’ll look back on it and see Cameron as the hardest worker that you’ll ever meet. I see it every day. Kids who work hard and trust the process are easy to root for. Cameron has a lot of fans and he deserves it.
“Tonight he had it going. He had one goal in mind and that was to win.”
St. John’s (19-2) now sits alone at the top of the MAC standings at 8-0 with a chance to win the conference outright next week against Marion Local.
Coldwater falls to 16-4 overall and 7-1 in league play.
The Cavaliers held a one-point lead at halftime (33-32). St. John’s was ahead 47-44 after three and trailed by as many as six in the fourth before tying the game at 57 with 1:08 to go.
Baylen Blockberger paced Coldwater with 24 points. Owen Kunk added 12.
Aaron Moenter was the second-highest scorer for the Blue Jays with seven. Drew Boggs finished the night with six points on a pair of triples.
Only 11 turnovers were committed in the game. Coldwater had fewer with five and out-rebounded St. John’s 20-17.
The Blue Jays shot 58% from the field (21/36), while the Cavaliers converted 20 of 43 shot attempts for 46%.
Delphos St. John’s 60, Coldwater 57
Score by quarters:
Delphos St. John’s 14 18 15 13 – 60
Coldwater 14 19 11 13 – 57
DELPHOS ST. JOHN’S
Cameron Elwer 40, Aaron Moenter 7, Drew Boggs 6, Andrew Elwer 5, Austin Moenter 1, Joel Schrader 1, Totals 21-8-60
COLDWATER
Baylen Blockberger 24, Owen Kunk 12, Luke Schwieterman 7, Brady Lefeld 7, Caleb Schroer 5, Cody Depweg 3, Totals 20-9-57
Three-point goals — DSJ: C. Elwer 6, Boggs 2, A. Elwer 1, Aaron Moenter 1; CW: Blockberger 4, Kunk 2, Schroer 1, Lefeld 1
Records — Delphos St. John’s 19-2, 8-0 MAC; Coldwater 16-4, 7-1 MAC
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter @Lima_Howell
