St. John’s downs Knights in district finals

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

ELIDA — Tim Kreeger and Owen Rode each scored 14 points, and the top-seeded Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays defeated the No. 2 seed Crestview Knights 48-36 in last night’s Division IV district championship game at Elida.

The Blue Jays (19-4) will play Holgate in Tuesday night’s 8 p.m. regional semifinals at Bowling Green State University, while the Knights finished their season at 17-7.

“St. John’s did things to us that we really couldn’t counter,” Crestview head coach Jeremy Best said. “You could say we didn’t play well, but it was more they played better.”

Wade Sheets hit a basket and a three-pointer in the opening quarter, but the Blue Jays countered with the same by Rode, and two baskets by the 6-8 Kreeger.

After trailing 11-9 to end the first period, the Blue Jays opened the second quarter with a quick basket by Rode, but Javin Etzler responded with a bucket. Kreeger knocked down a basket, before the Knights took a 17-15 lead on a free throw by Brett Schumm, a trey by Grant Schlagbaum and a basket by Drew Kline. Kline finished with a team-high eight points.

St. John’s counted with two free throws by Kreeger, then a triple by Richard Cocuzza with 47 seconds left in the quarter. Kline drilled a trey with 22 seconds left, but Kreeger beat the halftime buzzer with a short shot to give the Blue Jays a 22-20 lead at the break.

“We had five or six turnovers in the first quarter, and that’s typically not what we do,” Best said. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds, and we felt really good to be only down by two at half.”

The Knights finished the game with 15 turnovers, and were out-rebounded 29-25.

Rode had nine rebounds, and Kreeger finished with seven.

The Blue Jays started to pull away in the third quarter, and led 31-24 halfway through the period, with Rode accounting for seven points.

Despite scoring just two baskets in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, Derek Dealey’s trey pulled the Knights to within four, 40-36 with exactly two minutes left.  Those would be the final points scored by Crestview.  The Blue Jays iced the game with free throws by Rode, Cocuzza, Collin Will and Jared Wurst.

“Our kids fought, they have all year, and we talked to them about how we’re proud of them for that,” Best said. “I think our kids learned a lot about respecting the process of a season, respecting the process of preparing for games, practicing hard, and respecting opponents.

Two seniors — Caleb Bagley and Spencer Rolsten — played their final game for Crestview.

“I’d like to thank our two seniors, and their parents and their families, for their dedication to our program,” Best said.

Box score:

Crestview                   9   11   9    7–-36

Delphos St. John’s     11  11  13  13–-48

Crestview (36) — Drew Kline 8, Wade Sheets 7, Javin Etzler 6, Grant Schlagbaum 5, Derek Stout 4, Brett Schumm 3, Derick Dealey 3.

Delphos St. John’s (48) — Tim Kreeger 14, Owen Rode 14, Richard Cocuzza 9, Jared Wurst 4, Josh Warnecke 4, Collin Will 3.