Sheets leads Knights past Van Wert

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Wren Sheets turned in a dominating performance and Crestview defeated Van Wert 61-44 in the lid lifter for both teams at Van Wert High School Friday night. The loss spoiled the debut of Jeremy Best as Van Wert’s head coach against his former team.

Sheets, a 6-6 senior post player, controlled the paint and scored 31 points, including 19 in the second half. His play opened things up for Hayden Perrott, who finished with 14 points, including three treys.

“I think Wren knows that this year that he needs to be very aggressive for us at the offensive end and attack the basket,” Crestview head coach Doug Etzler said. “He’s going to see a lot of double teams so he needs to make moves quick but he’s also a very good passer for us. I was really pleased with the way he went at the basket tonight.”

“I thought our young post player (Zach Crummey) played well tonight and I think we saw some glimpses of what he’s going to be able to do as we move along here but yes, Wren’s a tough matchup for anybody,” Best said. “He’s definitely one of the better players not just in the area but probably in Division VI.”

Crestview jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead to start the game but a young Van Wert team stormed back to take a 14-11 lead, with Griff McCracken nailing a trey from the left corner for the go-ahead points. A bucket by Sheets with 15 seconds left made it 14-13, a score that stood at the end of the opening period. Crummey, a 6-5 freshman, accounted for six points in the quarter and went on to finish with a team high 12 points.

The two teams seesawed back and fourth early in the second quarter. A basket by Keaten Welch gave Van Wert a 16-15 advantage, but it would turn out to be the final lead the Cougars would have all night. With Crummey forced to sit with an early second foul, Crestview went on a 12-0 run lead that pushed the score to 27-16. The Knights extended the lead to 33-18 on pair of free throws and a basket by Sheets before Van Wert’s Caden Collins beat the halftime buzzer with a bucket.

“In the first quarter they got off to a good start and then we locked in and held them to six,” Etzler said. “I was pleased for the most part that we gave them one shot and we made them shoot the ball off the bounce instead of just catch-and-shoot.”

In the third quarter, Sheets scored 11 of Crestview’s 19 points and Perrott and Tommy Heffner each drained a trey to give the Knights a 49-36 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Van Wert freshman Xavier Kelly scored all six of his points in the third period and Crummey added four points.

“We shared the ball and we hit some timely shots to get a little separation,” Etzler said. “We’re going to have different guys step up each night. Hayden shot well in the last scrimmage and in practice and I thought Braxton (Leeth) did a good job guarding Welch and making his possessions tough. We’re going to need a little bit of everybody for us to be successful.”

Sheets added eight more points in the fourth quarter while Van Wert had just one bucket in the period – a trey by McCracken to go along with five free throws.

The Knights finished the game 24-of-46 shooting and 11-of-17 from the free throw line with 23 rebounds and eight turnovers. Van Wert was 15-of-33 from the floor and 10-of-16 from the foul line with 17 rebounds and 11 turnovers.

“We’re ‘in the process,’” Best said. “Trust the process – we saw spots of some really good things from our guys. I loved our effort and intensity and we were connected and I think if we can continue to build on that, the other things will get better. I think our guys are obviously very young, very youthful and that showed tonight against a team that physically had an edge in a a lot places, plus experience.”

“We’re going to have to find a way to overcome that and combat that because we can’t use that excuse all year, that we’re young,” he added. “We’re just going to have to keep grinding.”

Crestview will return to action tonight at Miller City. It’s a rematch of last year’s sectional championship game, which was won by the Wildcats 48-43.

“They have a lot of veteran guys that played a lot of big minutes for them and they’re the team that knocked us out of the tournament,” Etzler said. “They’re really hard to play on the road. They didn’t play tonight so they’re fresh and we’re going to go in there a little bit tired but no excuses – we’re going to have to go in there and get after it. We have to stay out of foul trouble and share the basketball on offense.”

Van Wert will host Delphos St. John’s on Tuesday. The two teams were scheduled to meet tonight but the game was postponed due to a long football playoff run by the Blue Jays. The game will serve as the season opener for Delphos St. John’s.

“We go from the best post player in Division VI to one of the best players in Ohio (Cam Elwer), so that’s a challenge,” Best said. “I don’t know that we have an answer for that right now but we’ll get ready and accept the challenge. I know he’s a tremendous player – I’ve watched several times over the last several years just as a basketball fan so now I have to prepare for him as a coach. They’re a well coached team, an established program and it’ll be a tough one for us but we’ll come and play hard.”

Box score

Cougars 14   6  16   8 – 44

Knights  13 17  19  12 – 61

Van Wert: Xavier Kelly 2-1-6; Griff McCracken 3-0-9; Keaten Welch 3-5-11; Caden Collins 2-0-4; Micah Cowan 1-0-2; Zach Crummey 4-4-12

Crestview: Hayden Perrott 5-1-14; Liam Putman 1-0-2; Tommy Heffner 3-3-10; Will Sheets 2-0-4; Wren Sheets 11-9-31.

JV: Crestview 46-25