Lichtle rains in school record 10 triples

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

CONVOY — To say Crestview’s Nate Lichtle had the hot hand against Hicksville is a big understatement.

The 6-2 senior guard set a single-game school record by converting 10-of-12 three point attempts in a 70-31 win over the Aces at Ray Etzler Gymnasium on Saturday. He eclipsed the previous record of nine set by current head coach Doug Etzler and he ended the game with 30 points. It was the 12th straight victory by the No. 5 Knights (15-1).

“I thought we had some advantages inside which caused them to double team a little bit and I thought we did a great job of skipping the ball, attacking their close outs and taking catch and shoot threes, and obviously Nate had it going on tonight,” Etzler said afterward. “Credit our guys – we had a guy that had it going and they got him the ball. That’s the unselfishness that we have on our squad and if we can continue to do that, we have good guys inside, we have good guys who can shoot on the outside and as long as we take good shots we like our chances.”

Lichtle hit his first trey in the opening quarter, and Wren Sheets and Gavin Etzler combined for 10 points to help give the Knights a 15-13 lead at the end of the period. Lichtle then hit four more triples in the second quarter and Crestview raced to a 35-18 halftime lead. He added four more in the third quarter to tie the record. He broke it with a trey from the top of the key less than 20 seconds into the final period.

Sheets finished with 12 points while Gavin Etzler, who hit a pair of triples, finished with 10 points. As a team, the Knights were 12-of-22 from three point range and 27-of-43 overall from the floor. In addition, Crestview hit 4-of-9 foul shots, enjoyed a 22-13 rebounding advantage and committed just seven turnovers.

Aaron Klima led Hicksville with 13 points, while Jayden Rosalez had eight points. The Aces were 11-of-32 shooting and 8-of-13 from the foul line with 13 turnovers.

“I thought Hicksville did a good job of attacking the basket in the first quarter, but we made them work hard and picked them up full court and I was hoping that would wear them down,” Etzler said. “I credit our guys for playing extremely hard. It’s not always easy on back to back nights but when you’re playing a lot of guys it makes it a little bit easier.”

Crestview will play at Lima Central Catholic on Friday and at Delphos St. John’s on Saturday.

“Two very good teams traditionally and to go their place both nights is going to be a challenge,” Etzler said. “I hope we can be very intense in practice this week to get ready for that and I hope our guys come out and play well.”

Box score

Crestview 15 20 20 15 – 70
Hicksville 13 6 13 3 – 31

Crestview: Tommy Hefner 0-1-1; Gavin Etzler 4-0-10; Mitch Temple 3-0-6; Jaret Harting 2-1-5; Nate Lichtle 10-0-30; Wren Sheets 6-0-12; Conner Sheets 1-0-2; Nasir Easterling 1-2-4

Hicksville: Aaron Klima 4-3-13; Brady Balser 2-0-6; Jayden Rosalez 4-0-8; Brayden Slattery 1-3-5; Alex Gordon 1-0-2

JV: Crestview 58-24