Knights down Delphos St. John’s 53-42

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

ELIDA — Crestview head coach Doug Etzler was hoping for a strong start and his team delivered.

The top seeded Knights (21-3) jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first quarter, then scored the first six points of the third quarter on the way to a 53-42 win over No. 5 seed Delphos St. John’s in the Division IV district semifinals at the Elida Fieldhouse on Tuesday.

The win avenged a 48-43 loss to the Blue Jays on February 4 and it put Crestview in Friday’s district championship game against Ottoville.

“We talked about it with our guys that we really needed to get off to a good start,” Etzler said. “Playing at their place we didn’t and we got down 20-9. We needed to set the tone tonight and they did a good job getting back in it but every time they made a run I thought our guys really stepped up and made a big run for us.”

Gavin Etzler scored five of Crestview’s first nine points and Nate Lichtle added a late triple to give the Knights a 12-5 lead at the end of the opening quarter. Landen Grothaus scored all five points for the Blue Jays.

Freshman Cameron Elwer scored seven points in the second quarter to help Delphos St. John’s close the gap and an offensive rebound and layup by Austin Moenter at the buzzer pulled the Blue Jays to within four, 22-18 at halftime.

Wren Sheets opened the third quarter with a quick bucket and foul shot and Mitch Temple drilled a triple to push Crestview’s lead to double digits for the first time, 28-18 less than two minutes into the period. However, Delphos St. John’s went on a 9-2 scoring run to close the quarter, including a pair of baskets by Elwer and a bucket and free throw by Ethan Druckemiller. By the end of the period, the Blue Jays trailed by just three, 30-27.

Once again, Crestview answered the bell, with Carson Hunter opening the fourth quarter with a trey from the right corner and Lichtle adding back-to-back baskets and a free throw to extend the lead to 38-27.

“It was big to get a stop and then get a three point play on the first possession and we made some plays to get that cushion back to 10,” Etzler said.

Lichtle later added the backbreaker, a trey from the left corner with 3:20 left, giving Crestview a 43-30 lead. Meanwhile, Elwer scored 14 of his team’s 15 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a game high 25 points.

“We were going to face guard him the whole night and then any time he came off a ball screen or dribble handoff trap him just to try to get the ball out of his hands as much as possible and make other guys take shots,” Etzler said. “It didn’t work to perfection but he’s a great player and I thought we really made him work for everything that he got tonight. He’s going to score points…they run everything through him and I thought our guys really battled. Jaret (Harting) and Carson did a great job of making his touches really tough tonight.”

Hunter and Lichtle each finished with 13 points while Temple added 12. Sheets finished with five points and nine rebounds. As a team, Crestview was 16-of-30 from the field and 15-of-23 from the foul line.

The Blue Jays (17-8) connected on 14-of-41 shots, including just 4-of-23 from long range, and 10-of-12 from the free throw line.

Crestview will face No. 3 seed Ottoville (19-5) for the district championship at 6 p.m. Friday at Elida. The two teams met on December 30 and the Knights posted a 65-45 win. Ottoville knocked off No. 2 seed Kalida 38-34 in the first semifinal game of the night.

“They showed tonight why they’re here,” Etzler said of the Big Green. “They got out last year so it’s going to be a battle. We can’t worry about what happened earlier in the season because we’re both different teams and whoever comes out and plays well on Friday night is going to get it done and I think either team could do that.”

Box score

Crestview 12 10 8 23 – 53
St. John’s 5 13 9 15 – 42

Crestview: Gavin Etzler 2-1-6; Mitch Temple 2-6-12; Carson Hunter 4-4-13; Jaret Harting 2-0-4; Nate Lichtle 4-3-13; Wren Sheets 2-1-5

Delphos St. John’s: Landen Grothaus 2-0-5; Nolan Schwinnen 1-0-2; Cameron Elwer 8-6-25; Austin Moenter 1-2-4; Ethan Druckemiller 2-1-5; Aaron Moenter 0-1-1