Knights, Raiders, Cougars at BGSU

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The three schools are separated by 20 minutes or less – it’s a triangle of sorts between Van Wert, Crestview and Wayne Trace.

In addition to being close in proximity and non-conference rivals on the basketball court, all three have something in common – they’ll each play regional semifinal games at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center. Crestview (22-3) will start things off at 8 p.m. tonight in a Division IV game against Mohawk (23-3), then Wayne Trace (20-6) will take the court at 6 p.m. tomorrow for a Division III semifinal matchup against Canton Central Catholic (16-9). Van Wert’s turn comes at 8 p.m. Thursday, as the Cougars (18-7) take on Rossford (21-4) in Division II action.

The winners from each of those three games will return to Bowling Green for regional championship games at 6 p.m. Friday, and 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday respectively.

The three teams were forced to survive harrowing games during district competition. Van Wert needed a buzzer beating trey by AJ Proffitt to defeat St. Marys Memorial 56-55 on Thursday. Crestview came back from a 14-point deficit late in the third quarter to defeat Ottoville, 63-61, in double overtime in the district finals, and Kyle Stoller’s triple with just over two seconds left gave Wayne Trace a 50-49 win over Emmanuel Christian.

Teams that are still alive in the tournament usually have some sort of special characteristic and for Crestview, head coach Doug Etzler believes it’s a close bond between the players.

“I like how close our guys are,” Etzler said. “They hang out with each other off the court which I think carries over to playing well together on the court. They are a great group of unselfish players that have done a great job of putting the team first in everything we do.”

For Van Wert, it appears to be a group of players not easily fazed and a squad that is very focused.

“We are having a lot of fun right now,” head coach Ben Laudick said. “Our practices are full of energy and guys are getting after each other. We are locked in when it comes to the game plan and guys are doing everything they can to execute it.”

Both teams have been busy preparing for their respective opponents and after playing tournament opponents they faced during the regular season (Crestview – Miller City, Delphos St. John’s, Ottoville; Van Wert – Elida, St. Marys Memorial, Defiance), the coaches agree it’s different now.

“Mohawk is the first tournament opponent that we have not faced in the regular season so it makes preparing for them a little more difficult,” Etzler said. “Mohawk is a very balanced team, but they are led by their 6-6 senior A.J. Hess who can play both inside and also can shoot it from three. They do a good job of getting Hess touches and he is a very skilled player that can put the ball in the basket in a variety of ways.”

“What makes Mohawk so good is that you can’t just key on Hess because they have a very good supporting cast of players that are very capable of having big nights if you put too much emphasis on stopping Hess,” he continued. “Obviously we are going to do our best to make Hess have to work extremely hard to get the basketball while not allowing any of their guards to get wide open shots.”

“When you get to this point of the season, every team left is really good,” Laudick said. “Rossford has a 6-9 post player that can play inside/out and they put four other guys on the floor that can play and have specific strengths. We need to be solid on their post player and force others into their weaknesses. We need to continue to play unselfish basketball and play with high energy and enthusiasm on both ends of the floor.”

Wayne Trace took a different path to the regional semifinals. The Raiders played Ottawa Hills, Delta, Swanton and Emmanuel Christian in the sectionals and district, four teams that were unknown. However, head coach Jim Linder said he believes playing Van Wert and Crestview during the regular season helped prepare his team for the tournament. In fact, he said the regular season games between the three schools helped each one get to this point.

“Most definitely it has helped all of us,” Linder said. “All three of us have played each other for years and there’s no doubt northwest Ohio is a hotbed for basketball and good basketball. All three schools have had really good basketball programs over the years. There’s no doubt about it – the competition in our area has always prepared us for tournament and ironically you can see that start in third fourth fifth sixth grade…you can kind of see the talent coming.”

During the regular season, the Raiders lost to Van Wert 58-55 and Crestview 45-43. The Cougars beat Crestview 66-47 in the regular season finale.

Every regional game involving Crestview, Wayne Trace and Van Wert will air live on 99.7 WKSD.