Andon Ruhe of Miller City drives into the paint against Connor Sheets of Crestview on Friday night.
Jessica Trinko | The Lima News
MILLER CITY — When a game gets tight, players often huddle around their coach and look for direction.
When Miller City saw a lead that once stood at 13 shrink down to one point Friday, the Wildcats’ coach listened to his players as his team shot free throw after free throw to seal a 48-43 win against Crestview in a Division IV sectional championship game.
“Defensively and offensively, those guys kind of took it upon themselves: ‘Hey, this is what we’re seeing out here. I think we should do this,’” Miller City coach Ross Kaufman said. “And I told these guys, ‘I trust you. Go for it.’”
It seemed to work. The Wildcats only gave up one bucket in the final minute while hitting six free throws to seal the victory. Andon Ruhe scored all six of his fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line, including a clutch pair with 10.8 seconds left in the game. Miller City hit 10 of 14 free throws in the final eight minutes to seal the win.
“I feel like my teammates trusted me a lot in making those free throws,” Ruhe said. “They kept getting me the ball before I was fouled.”
The No. 4-seeded Wildcats (20-4) next face top-seeded Delphos St. John’s, which beat Lincolnview 64-38 on Friday night. They’ll play at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Elida Fieldhouse in the district semifinals.
Miller City used balanced scoring Friday night, led by Jude Otto’s 13 points, Brendan Barlage’s 11, Will Otto’s 10, and Ruhe’s 10. Ruhe also had nine rebounds.
Crestview, which ended the year at 16-8, turned to Wren Sheets for 12 points. Jaret Harting added 10 points, including one of back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter, and he added six rebounds. Hayden Perrot came off the bench to score 10.
Numbers don’t lie
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — Shawnee was nearly perfect in the first 10 minutes of its 69-35 win over Celina in a Division II boys basketball sectional championship game on Friday night in Lappin Gymnasium.
If nearly perfect sounds like an embellishment of reality, consider these numbers:
By the time the two Western Buckeye League competitors had played two minutes into the second quarter, Shawnee had a 32-4 lead.
Shawnee hit 13 of its first 19 shots. Celina made 1 of its first 19 shots. Shawnee scored 18 unanswered points in the span of five minutes late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter.
Beckett Bertke scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Shawnee. Nick Pasion had 13 points and Trevick Bertke scored 11. Braylon Gabes’ 17 points led Celina (13-11).
Shawnee (17-6) will play Napoleon (16-8) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at Liberty-Benton High School in a district semifinal game.
Shawnee’s ultra-fast start was very different from the way its 53-46 win over Celina during the regular season began.
“We were down 9-4 at the end of the first quarter when we played these guys at their place. We came out super flat. We really preached that we have to start fast. I thought our sense of urgency was really there where it needed to be,” Shawnee coach Mark Triplett said.
“It put them in a hole and then the basket starts getting a little tighter and smaller. I thought our guys’ sense of urgency was really good to start the game,” he said.
“We got some guys going offensively and it wasn’t just Beck. That’s been a key for us of late. It’s been a variety of guys doing it on both ends of the floor.”
First-half foul fest
DELPHOS — Lincolnview had no choice but to muddy up Friday night’s sectional final against top-seeded Delphos St. John’s.
That strategy worked early on, but foul trouble caught up to the Lancers, and the Blue Jays got hot in the second half to put away a 64-38 win.
Lincolnview (6-18) committed five fouls 90 seconds into the game, and it took the Lancers 2:30 in the second quarter to reach that number again. The over-aggressive Lancer defense had St. John’s in the bonus for all but three minutes in the first half.
“It was a very rugged, very slow start,” Delphos St. John’s coach Aaron Elwer said. “They were very physical and we earned the whistle in the first half on those fouls. Sometimes it’s tough to get jump-started and that’s exactly the way they wanted it. They wanted to wear us down and have us make bad decisions. They executed their game plan well in the first half, but I think halftime refocused us.”
That coveted jump-start that St. John’s needed to put the game away came in the third quarter.
The Blue Jays (21-2) scored the first six points of the second half to go up 33-15. Lincolnview answered with threes from Cal Evans and Max Hammons, but once the lead was cut down to 10 (33-23), Cameron Elwer and Andrew Elwer hit shots from deep, and the game was never close again.
Andrew Elwer hit four threes on the night and finished with 12 points, second in scoring to Cameron Elwer, who put together another 30-point performance, shooting 10 of 18 from the floor. The Elwers combined to sink eight of The Blue Jays’ 10 three-pointers in the game.
Surviving a slow start
OTTOVILLE – Ottoville wanted to set the tone early in Friday’s Division IV boys basketball sectional final against Parkway at L.W. Heckman Gymnasium.
However, it took a little while before the Big Green separated from the Panthers.
After a slow start in the first half, Ottoville pulled away in the second half for a 49-36 victory over Parkway to notch a sectional title.
Win the win, Ottoville (17-6) will face Pandora-Gilboa (21-2) in a district semifinal this coming Tuesday at the Elida Fieldhouse with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. Pandora-Gilboa defeated Delphos Jefferson in a sectional final on Friday, 58-37.
Parkway ended its season with an overall record of 13-11.
“It took us a little bit to get going,” Ottoville coach Keith Utendorf said. “There were some offensive rebounds they (Parkway) got and extra possessions. One of our biggest keys in every single game is (controlling) the glass (rebounds). I thought after the first few minutes, we did a really great job of making sure we secured the basketball against their physicality and their pressure. Once we got it and made sure we secured it, then we could play at our pace. So, credit to our guys for doing that.”
Despite getting off to a slow start on Friday, Ottoville led the entire 32 minutes.
For the game, Landon Horstman led Ottoville and all scorers with 16 points. Horstman came away with nine rebounds and three steals. Michael Turnwald scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Turnwald scored 11 of those points in the first half, including all seven of Ottoville’s first-quarter points. Keaton Schnipke had 10 points, four rebounds, and three assists for the Big Green.
Defense makes the difference
PERRY TOWNSHIP – With the loss of several key players from last year’s team, Perry first-year boys basketball coach Thomas Nolte realized that to be successful this season, this year’s squad needed to play extremely hard at the defensive end.
In Wednesday’s Division IV sectional semifinal game against Northwest Central Conference-foe Temple Christian, Perry’s defensive pressure helped pave the way for a 38-27 victory over the Pioneers.
With the win, No. 8 seed Perry (8-15) will play No. 2 seed St. Henry (17-5) in a sectional final on Friday at St. Henry with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
With the loss, Temple Christian ended its season with a record of 8-15.
During the regular season, Perry defeated Temple Christian in a Northwest Central Conference matchup, 44-36.
“That (defense) has been our staple ever since we came together back in November,” Nolte said. “We talked about playing defense at a high level. We want to have active hands and active feet. We really haven’t done that the past couple of weeks. But tonight, I thought we did a good job with our hands and feet and caused some turnovers.”
Temple Christian turned the ball over 15 times on the night, while Perry turned it over 11 times.
Brady Shively and Marcus Hill led Perry on Wednesday with 10 points apiece. Shively had three assists and two steals. Hill had five steals and two assists. Za’mere Daniel had seven points and nine rebounds. Jason Thomas added six points, seven boards, and three blocks for the Commodores.
Dawson Clay, a 6-foot-5 senior forward led Temple Christian with nine points and 14 rebounds. Teammate Malachi Menke added eight points and four rebounds for the Pioneers.
Big scorers
Several area boys basketball players topped the 15-point plateau in recent games:
• Maddox Underwood of Upper Scioto Valley tallied a game-high 28 points in a win over Fort Recovery. He scored his 1,000th career point in a loss to New Bremen.
• Shawn Foster of Lima Senior scored 27 points in a two-point loss to Sadusky.
• Braylon Gabes of Celina led all scorers with 21 points in a first-round win over Van Wert.
• Alex Sanders of Upper Scioto Valley scored 20 points in a 58-45 win over Fort Recovery. He scored his 1,000th career point in a loss to New Bremen.
• Jarron Swick of Fort Jennings had 20 points in a one-point loss to Parkway.
• Colin White of Ottawa-Glandorf scored 20 points in a 37-point win over Van Buren.
• Caleb Gabes of Celina tallied 20 points in a 20-point victory over Van Wert.
• Ian Howbert of Fort Jennings collected 19 points against Parkway.
• Carson Clum of Allen East scored 18 points in a first-round win over Riverdale.
• Caden Erford of Ottawa-Glandorf contributed 17 points in a 77-40 win over Van Buren.
• David Etzkorn of Eldia led all scorers with 17 points in a 61-42 win over Defiance.
• Demarr Foster of LCC scored 17 points in a 53-30 win over Ada.
• Ethan Young of Allen East contributed 16 points in a 62-49 win over Riverdale.
• Amari Wash of Elida had 16 points in a 19-point victory over Defiance.
• Noah Payne of St. Marys scored 16 points in an eight-point victory over Kenton.
BOYS BASKETBALL RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
Friday
Shawnee 68, Celina 35
Delphos St. John’s 64, Lincolnview 38
Miller City 48, Crestview 43
Ottoville 49, Parkway 36
Sandusky 59, Lima Senior 57
New Bremen 64, Upper Scioto Valley 45
St. Henry 72, Perry 48
Marion Local 55, Minster 45
Ottawa-Glandorf 77, Van Buren 40
Liberty-Benton 55, Coldwater 49
Spencerville 59, Allen East 44
Wayne Trace 50, Columbus Grove 39
Elida 61, Defiance 42
St. Marys 57, Kenton 49
Pandora-Gilboa 58, Delphos Jefferson 37
LCC 55, New Knoxville 39
Anthony Wayne 42, Wapakoneta 40
Paulding 56, Evergreen 36
Antwerp 58, Holgate 31
Findlay 71, Waite 21
Wauseon 64, Bryan 34
Tuesday
Games ended after The Lima News deadline. Find scores, game stories, photos and more on LimaScores.com.
D-IV district semifinals at Elida
Delphos St. Johns vs Miller City, 6 p.m.
Pandora-Gilboa vs Ottoville, 7:30 p.m.
D-IV district semifinals at Wapakoneta
LCC vs New Bremen, 6 p.m.
St. Henry vs Marion Local, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday
D-III district semifinals at Lima Senior
Ottawa-Glandorf vs Liberty-Benton, 6 p.m.
Spencerville vs Wayne Trace, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
D-II district semifinals at Liberty-Benton
Elida vs St. Marys, 6 p.m.
Shawnee vs Napoleon, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
D-IV district final at Elida
TBD, 6 p.m.
D-IV district final at Wapakoneta
TBD, 6 p.m.
Saturday
D-II district finals at Liberty-Benton
TBD, 6 p.m.
D-III district finals at Lima Senior
TBD, 6 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
Saturday
Columbus Grove 48, Miller City 35
Ottawa-Glandorf 47, Delphos Jefferson 45
Marion Local 52, Minster 50
Versailles 38, Norwood 31
Crestview 51, Ayersville 23
Bryan 61, Liberty-Benton 54
Wednesday
D-IV regional semifinals at Elida
Columbus Grove vs Gibsonburg, 6 p.m.
Crestview vs Tiffin Calvert, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
D-III regional semifinals at Elida
Ottawa-Glandorf vs Liberty Center, 8 p.m.
Saturday
D-IV regional finals at Elida
TBD, 1 p.m.
D-III regional finals at Elida
TBD, 6 p.m.
