Knights fall to powerful Spartans 70-26

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

DAYTON — Many people regarded defending Division IV state champion Richmond Heights as the best boys basketball team in Ohio, regardless of division. The No. 1 ranked Spartans had won 48 straight games entering Sunday’s state championship game, a streak that included some notable wins over powerful Division I and II teams.

Richmond Heights (29-0) dominated the second half in a way rarely seen and the Spartans defeated No. 5 Crestview 70-26 in the Division IV title game at the University of Dayton Arena. Unfortunately for the Knights, it was the largest margin of victory by a team in a championship game, regardless of division. The previous record was 43.

“The main thing I want my guys to leave here with is the memories they put together on this state tournament run,” Crestview head coach Doug Etzler said. “I have a great group of very unselfish individuals and they’re hurting right now. I’m proud of them and I wouldn’t want to be here with any other group.”

A half court trey by Mitch Temple at the halftime buzzer pulled the Knights (25-4) to within nine, 31-22 at the break. Sparked by four treys by sophomore Dorian Jones, Richmond Heights outscored Crestview 29-0 in the third quarter and carried a 60-22 lead into the final period. Braylen Salters, De’Erick Barber and Jeremy Wilson each scored five points during the quarter.

The last 1:40 of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter were played with a continuous clock. When the final horn sounded, the Spartans had outscored the Knights 39-4 in the second half. Crestview lone baskets came from Nasir Easterling and Wesyn Ludwig.

Crestview trailed 12-7 after the first quarter, with Gavin Etzler accounting for five points. The Knights then tied the game 16-16 on a triple by Nate Litchle with 4:30 left in the second quarter, but Richmond Heights answered with a 10-0 run, including eight straight points by Jones, who went on to finish with 25.

“I think we competed in the first half,” Etzler said. “I thought we did a good job of handling their pressure, we hit some shots and defensively we held them to one shot and they hit some shots but we held them to one. When we went into halftime hitting that three, we thought we had some momentum and we were pretty juiced up but things really snowballed in the second half and the game kind of got away from us quickly.”

“It was a competitive game in the first half,” Richmond Heights head coach Quentin Rogers said. “We knew they were going to come out but I think we did a good job in the second half executing the game plan, keeping the energy up and that was the biggest thing.”

Etzler led the Knights with seven points, while Carson Hunter added five. The Knights shot 11-of-35 from the floor and 1-of-4 from the foul line. The Spartans connected on 27-of-52 shots, including 11-of-24 treys, and all five free throw attempts.

The game was the final one for seven Crestview seniors – Etzler, Temple, Hunter, Lichtle, Easterling, Ludwig and Dru Nielsen.

“You have a bunch of elementary age kids that are coming to everything we do now because of what these guys were able to do on the court this year,” Etzler said. “To put into words about how proud of what they were able to accomplish this year is hard to do. There’s a lot of fond memories that these guys are going to remember for the rest of their lives.”

Box score

Spartans 12 19 29 10 – 70
Knights 7 15 0 4 – 26

Richmond Heights: De’Erick Barber 4-0-9; Demarris Winters Jr. 4-0-9; Jeremy Wilson 5-1-12; Dorian Wilson 8-2-25; Hosea Steele Jr. 3-2-8; Michael McWilliams 1-0-3; Tyson Garrier 1-0-2; Sonny Emory 1-0-2

Crestview: Gavin Etzler 3-0-7; Mitch Temple 1-0-3; Carson Hunter 2-1-5; Wren Sheets 0-1-1; Jaret Harting 1-0-2; Nasir Easterling 1-0-2; Wesyn Ludwig 1-0-2