Knights start strong, top Shawnee 68-55

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

CONVOY – Crestview had the hot hand early and rode it to a 68-55 victory over Shawnee in the home opener at Ray Etzler Gymnasium on Friday.

The Knights raced out to a 16-0 lead, with Nate Lichtle, Mitch Temple and Nasir Easterling combined for 14 points, while playing lockdown defense. Keegan Wilson accounted for Shawnee’s only bucket late in the opening period.

The lead ballooned to 23-2 early in the second quarter on back-to-back baskets by Connor Sheets and a triple by Carson Hunter.

“A great start to the game was key for us tonight,” Crestview head coach Doug Etzler said. “I thought we did a really good job of sharing the basketball and getting everyone quality touches tonight.”

As expected, the Indians fought back and trimmed the deficit to nine, 29-20, with Will McBride scoring 12 of his game high 23 points in the second quarter. Lichtle quickly put the lead back to double digits with a trey and the Knights went on to enjoy a 35-24 halftime lead.

An early third quarter triple by Gavin Etzler helped push the lead back to 16, 40-24, and Crestview maintained a double digit lead for the remainder of the quarter and led 50-37 entering the final quarter. All of Shawnee’s fourth quarter points came on three pointers, including two by McBride and two by Beckett Bertke. However, Etzler answered with a pair treys and Wren Sheets added a pair of key baskets. Etzler and Temple combined to go 6-of-7 from the foul line in the final 90 seconds to ice the game. As a team, the Knights went 11-of-12 from the free throw line.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of answering Shawnee’s runs in the third and fourth quarters,” the elder Etzler said. “We had really good balance tonight and we constantly stressed getting great shots and not settling for contested shots.”

Etzler led Crestview with 16 points, Lichtle added 12 and Temple and Sheets each added 11.

The Knights (2-0) will play at Parkway tonight, while Shawnee (0-2) will travel to St. Henry tonight.

Box score

Crestview 16 19 15 18 – 68
Shawnee 2 22 13 18 – 55

Crestview: Gavin Etzler 4-4-16; Mitch Temple 3-4-11; Carson Hunter 2-1-6; Jaret Harting 1-0-2; Nate Lichtle 4-1-12; Wren Sheets 5-1-11; Connor Sheets 2-0-4; Nasir Easterling 2-0-6

Shawnee: Will McBride 6-8-23; Dominic Lynch 1-0-2; Toby Freiberger 1-1-3; Keegan Wilson 2-0-4; Nick Pasion 3-0-8; Beckett Bertke 5-0-12; Brady Gabes 1-0-3

JV: Crestview 47-42