Knights pull away from Lincolnview 56-40

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

CONVOY — A dominating performance on the boards and a late second quarter run sparked Crestview to a 56-40 win over county rival Lincolnview at Ray Etzler Gymnasium on Friday night.

The Knights (14-4, 5-1 NWC) held a commanding 40-17 rebounding advantage in the game, with 6-8 senior Kalen Etzler accounting for 17 of those boards to go along with 27 points, while 6-3 senior Carson Kreischer also had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

“I’m really proud of how our guys competed tonight,” Crestview head coach Doug Etzler said. “We thought coming in we would need to limit their transition baskets and control the boards and for the most part I thought we did a really good job. This was a big win for us.”

“This is another game I believe the opposing team had more offensive rebounds than we had total,” Lincolnview head coach Brett Hammons said. “You are never going to win a game with those kinds of stats.”

The two teams went back and forth in the first quarter with Crestview grabbing a 16-14 lead on a late offensive rebound and return shot by Etzler. In the second quarter, the Lancers went up 20-16 on a bucket by Creed Jessee and a layup by Landon Price. After an Etzler basket with three minutes left, Jessee scored again, but it was the final time Lincolnview would crack the scoreboard before halftime. Crestview closed the period with a 6-0 run, including a big trey by Gavin Etzler.

The Knights pulled ahead by 10, 34-24 midway through the third quarter and by the end of the period, Kalen Etzler had drained three triples and scored 13 points.

“Offensively, I thought we did a good job of attacking from the inside out,” the elder Etzler said. “In the third quarter Kalen really scored at a high level, hitting three big treys to provide us with some separation going into the fourth quarter.”

Crestview opened the fourth quarter with a 44-32 lead and Kreischer went to work, scoring six points in the final stanza, while Etzler added four more. Lincolnview’s Clayton Leeth scored five of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.

40 points marked the fewest in a game for Lincolnview this season and the Lancers finished 16-of-48 from the floor and 4-of-10 on free throws. Collin Overholt led Lincolnview with 13 points.

“I thought the majority of our kids played hard,” Hammons said. “We didn’t do the little things right especially after the shot went up.”

“Defensively we were really locked in for four quarters tonight,” Etzler said.

Crestview will play at non-conference rival Wayne Trace tonight and Lincolnview (12-4, 4-2 NWC) will travel to Coldwater tonight.

Scoring summary

Crestview 16 10 18 12 – 56
Lincolnview 14 8 10 8 – 40

Crestview: Kalen Etzler 12-0-27; Rontae Jackson 0-3-3; Gavin Etzler 2-0-5; Brody Brecht 1-2-4; JJ Ward 2-0-5; Carson Kreischer 5-2-12

Lincolnview: Clayton Leeth 4-1-10; Aaron Cavinder 1-0-3; Collin Overholt 5-2-13; Landon Price 1-0-2; Jake Bowersock 3-0-6; Creed Jessee 2-1-6