Knights come up short vs. Miller City

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

MILLER CITY — Despite a furious fourth quarter rally, Crestview’s season came to an end in the Division IV sectional finals at Miller City on Friday.

The No. 5 seed Knights trailed the No. 4 seed Wildcats 39-28 with five minutes remaining in the game but a barrage of treys, including two by Jaret Harting and three by Hayden Perrott, and a layup by Connor Sheets helped pull Crestview to within one, 44-43, with 25 seconds left on the clock. However, Miller City (20-4) used free throws to secure a 48-43 victory and the sectional championship. The loss ended Crestview’s season at 16-8.

“All year we were so close,” Crestview head coach Doug Etzler said. “We were 13 points away from being a 20-win team. They never quit but we couldn’t get over the hump and make plays late in the game. We had a couple of box out opportunities and didn’t get the rebound, but wasn’t because of a lack of effort.”

Along with the fourth quarter treys, Crestview applied a full court press at times in the third and fourth quarters, which seemed to bother and disrupt the Wildcats.

“Defensively we picked up the pressure a little bit and I don’t want to say they played a little tentative at times and played not to lose instead of playing to win which played in our favor, but when you dig that big of a hole against a really good team it’s tough to climb the mountain and get all the way back,” Etzler said. “Just a play here or here maybe could have changed the tide.”

Owen Tobe came off the bench to score five points and Miller City led 13-8 after the first quarter. The lead grew to 22-15 by halftime and the Wildcats spend much of the first quarter doubling and tripling Wren Sheets, who scored 31 during the regular season matchup between the two teams. Sheets scored seven points in the first half and ended the game with 12.

“We got a lot of really good open shots in the first half but if you’re going to beat a team like Miller City at their place, you have to make those shots and we didn’t tonight and it got us in a hole,” Etzler said. “We had to do some things differently but I’m proud of the way our guys responded.”

In the third quarter, Miller City’s lead grew to 33-20, but the Knights scored the final five points of the quarter, including a triple by Tommy Hefner.

Crestview finished the game 18-of-40 from the floor, including 6-of-16 from three point range. The Knights were 0-of-7 from beyond the arc in the first half. Crestview connected on just 3-of-7 foul shots and had 16 rebounds and 11 turnovers. Harting and Perrott each scored 10 points, with all of Perrott’s points coming in the final period.

Miller City was 14-of-28 shooting, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, 14-of-18 from the free throw line with 19 rebounds and 11 turnovers. Jude Otto led the Wildcats with 13 points and Andon Ruhe finished with 10 points, including six from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats will face No. 1 seed Delphos St. John’s in the district semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Elida.

For Crestview, the game was the final one for four seniors – Harting, Kellin Putman, Connor Sheets and Isaac Kline.

“What a great group of guys,” Etzler said. “They were a part of something really special last year and played in big role in that and then this year, their attitude and effort every single game, every single day at practice – they were great leaders for us. They played extremely hard every single night and I think they did a great job of letting our younger guys know what the standard is and what the expectations are for us to be successful. I’m really proud of them.”

Box score

Miller City 13 9 11 15 – 48
Crestview 8 7 10 18 – 43

Miller City: Brendan Barlage 3-2-9; Ethan Barlage 1-2-4; Jude Otto 5-13-13; Will Otto 2-1-7; Owen Tobe 2-0-5; Andon Ruhe 2-6-10

Crestview: Hayden Perrott 3-1-10; Tommy Hefner 3-0-7; Jaret Harting 4-0-10; Wren Sheets 5-2-12; Connor Sheets 2-0-4