Friday Flashback: Lancers top the Knights

Note: It’s Rivals United Week in Van Wert County and on the day of the annual Crestview-Lincolnview game, Friday Flashback takes us back to the 2015-2016 regular season meeting between the two rivals. Below is the story as it appeared on the VW independent Sports page.

TODD WOLFRUM/special to the VW independent

Even in freezing temperatures with bone-chilling wind, the line started to form outside Lincolnview High School more than an hour before the doors opened for the sellout renewal of Van Wert’s classic cross-county rivalry. The schools playing had both enjoyed glory days in the past, but this was the first time they had ever squared off with both teams ranked in the state’s top 11.

The game didn’t disappoint. Although Lincolnview defeated Crestview 60-48, the contest was tighter throughout than the final outcome would suggest, with both teams making the plays and exhibiting the character to validate those state polls.

In the first minute of the game, Chandler Adams scored a basket and then converted a three-point play to give the Lancers a 5-0 lead. A driving score by Trevor Neate and two free throws from Austin Leeth, along with a strangling defense, had the Knights down 9-1 by the middle of the opening quarter.

But Crestview acclimated and began to settle into better offensive sets against the pressure. A Connor Lautzenheiser trey and Javin Etzler jumper cut the Lancer lead to 14-8 shortly before the end of the first. The Lancers kept coming, though, and Adams finished the quarter with another power move inside to make it 16-8 Lincolnview after one. Adams scored nine of his team-high 15 in the opening period.

To begin the second period, Lautzenheiser drove for a score and, on the following possession, found Etzler for a three-pointer, cutting the lead to 16-13. That was as close as the Knights would get the rest of the game. After Leeth converted a three-point play and Hayden Ludwig hit a jumper, the Lancers had stretched the lead back to 21-13.

Freshmen Drew Kline and Wade Sheets both made nice driving layups for the Knights to keep it close at the end of the first half, but when Ludwig followed his own miss with a tip-in, Lincolnview took a 27-17 lead into the break.

The third quarter was the game. Both teams having built reputations for strong second half play, each came out of the locker room focused and determined. Lincolnview pushed the lead to 12 with a basket by Derek Youtsey to start. Youtsey had sat out much of the first half with foul trouble but would loom large in the second.

On their first three possessions of the second half, the Knights would get a two and a three from Etzler and then a nifty lay-up from Lautzenheiser to cut the lead to 31-24. Later, Sheets would bury a jumper to bring the Knights within five at 33-28.

Youtsey responded for Lincolnview with a trey and then another one by Josh Leiter extended the lead to 39-30. After Lautzenheiser answered with a three of his own for the Knights, Youtsey made the play of the night, draining a trey while getting fouled. The free throw completed a four-point play and gave the Lancers a double-digit lead again at 43-33.

Lautzenheiser immediately answered yet again with a triple but by the end of the third period, Lincolnview still led 45-38.

The game seemed tight down the stretch, but the Knights would never simultaneously have the ball and be within five in the final quarter. Midway through the period, Crestview seemed to have momentum when Sheets drove for a basket to make it 50-45. The Lancers then got a basket from Neate and two free throws from Youtsey to push the lead back to nine.

After Sheets connected with Etzler on a nice back door pass to cut the lead to seven with two minutes left, the Lancers went into safe mode. All they needed to do was protect the ball and make free throws. They did both.

In the final minutes, Lincolnview scored its last eight points from the charity stripe, while missing only once. The Knight pressure only produced one turnover.

Lautzenheiser led all scorers with 18 points for Crestview, which fell to 10-4 and 2-2 in the Northwest Conference. Etzler and Sheets added 12 and 7 points, respectively.

Youtsey finished with 14 and Neate with 12 points for Lincolnview, which maintained its undefeated season (15-0, 5-0 NWC).