Jeffcats use ‘D’, height to down Lancers

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

The Delphos Jefferson Wildcats played tenacious defense and used their size to control the boards en route to a 54-44 Northwest Conference victory over Lincolnview Friday night.

With two post players measuring 6-4 and 6-5, and two guards standing at 6-0, the taller Wildcats out-rebounded the Lancers 20-10 during the game, and outscored Lincolnview 18-9 in the fourth quarter.

“They wanted it more,” Lincolnview head coach Brett Hammons said. “They executed better than us, we didn’t rebound and we got stagnant in our half-court offense.”

“It’s kind of been the common theme of our year — teams push us around down low, and we need to get tougher,” Hammons added.

The Lancers trailed 36-35 to start the fourth period. The Wildcats scored with 4:48 left on a basket by Drew Reiss.  Lincolnview responded with a three-pointer by Caden Ringwald to tie the game at 38. Delphos Jefferson countered with a trey by Tyler Bratton, but Chayten Overholt drilled a triple to tie the game at 41 with 4:03 remaining in the game. The basket would prove to be Lincolnview’s final points until just five seconds were left on the clock.

The Wildcats went on a 12-0 run, including a three-pointer by Jace Stockwell and five points by Reiss to seize control of the game. Lincolnview’s final points came with five seconds left in the contest, on a basket and free throw by Tristin Miller.

“We knew going in that Ringwald, Rager, Overholt, and the Miller boys could stroke it,” Delphos Jefferson head coach Jordan Jettinghoff explained. “We knew if we extended a little bit and made them get into the lane into our ‘bigs’, they would be bothered by our height, and we did an absolute fantastic job in the fourth quarter of executing the game plan.”

The Lancers led 10-6, including a buzzer-beating by Overholt at the end of the first period. In the second quarter, Delphos Jefferson’s Brenen Auer scored eight consecutive points, but it was Stockwell’s trey at the buzzer that tied the game at 26 at halftime.

The Wildcats opened the third quarter by scoring the first eight points to lead 34-26.  The Lancers didn’t score until the 4:01 mark, when Ethan Kemler hit a basket, followed by a trey by Overholt.  A buzzer-beating basket by Ringwald trimmed the deficit to 36-35 at the end of the period.

Overholt led all scorers with 18 points, including 12 in the first half.  Stockwell and Auer each scored 16 for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats (7-9, 4-1 NWC) will play at Arlington tonight.

The loss dropped Lincolnview to 8-9 (2-4 NWC). The Lancers will host Delphos St. John’s tonight.

Box score:

Lincolnview            10  16   9   9–-44

Delphos Jefferson   6   20 10 10–-54

Lincolnview (44) — Caden Ringwald 7, Ryan Rager 5, Chayten Overholt 18, Ethan Kemler 6, Tristin Miller 8.

Delphos Jefferson (54) — Jace Stockwell 16, Drew Reiss 8, Brenen Auer 16, Alex Rode 6, Tyler Bratton 3, Davion Tyson 3.

JVs: Delphos Jefferson won 28-24.