Gerber leads Raiders past Lincolnview

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A 22-3 scoring blitz to start the third quarter lifted Wayne Trace past Lincolnview 59-39 at Lincolnview High School on Saturday. It was the first loss of the season for the Lancers.

The Raiders held a 22-19 lead to start the second half, but quickly blew the game open with an 11-0 run to extend the lead to 33-19. After Lincolnview’s Aaron Cavinder knocked down a trey, Wayne Trace answered with another 11-0 run, pushing the advantage to 44-22. During the two runs, Nate Gerber scored eight of his game high 23 points, while Jace Vining added six of his 17 points and Cameron Sinn five of his seven points during the run.

“You can’t let a team shoot 77 percent in a quarter and get 22 points off 12 turnovers,” Lincolnview head coach Brett Hammons said. “They’re too good of a team and you can’t allow them to get on a roll like that. It’s a learning experience for us and it’s something we have to do better at.”

“We were just determined that we weren’t going to let them stand around and run their sets against us, so we extended our zone and tried to trap them when we could, and they threw it in our hands a few times,” Wayne Trace head coach Jim Linder said. “Our kids played tremendously well, followed our game plan explicitly and stayed out on their shooters.”

The Lancers finished the game with 14 turnovers, while Wayne Trace had eight.

The game was close in the first quarter, with Lincolnview’s Creed Jessee draining a pair of treys to help give the Lancers a 13-11 lead at the end of the period. Jessee went on to finish with a team high 12 points, while Cavinder finished with 10.

After a 15-13 Lincolnview lead early in the second quarter, the Lancers went scoreless for nearly five minutes, while Wayne Trace used a basket and three pointer from Gerber and two foul shots from Reid Miller to lead 20-15.

“He’s the first guy we’ve seen who can do things with that length and that size,” Hammons said of Gerber. “Give him credit, he works on his game.
He’s smooth and he shoots it high and he’s just an intelligent basketball player, and the rest of the guys feed off him.”

Along with 23 points, Gerber finished with 10 rebounds and the Raiders enjoyed a commanding 31-18 advantage on the boards. Alex Reinhart chipped in with eight rebounds, while Cavinder and Jake Bowersock each had five for Lincolnview.

Lincolnview (2-1) will host Spencerville on Friday and Fort Jennings on Saturday, while Wayne Trace (3-2) will host Miller City on Friday, then will travel to Van Wert on Saturday.

Scoring summary

Lincolnview 13 6 8 12 – 39
Wayne Trace 11 11 22 15 – 59

Lincolnview: Landon Price 1-0-3; Garrett Richardson 1-0-2; Clayton Leeth 2-0-4; Aaron Cavinder 4-0-10; Collin Overholt 1-0-2; Jake Bowersock 3-0-6; 4-1-12

Wayne Trace: Cameron Sinn 2-2-7; Reid Miller 2-2-6; Trevor Speice 1-1-1; Nate Gerber 10-1-23; Jace Vining 7-0-17; Alex Reinhart 2-1-5

JV – Wayne Trace 51-47 (OT)