Delphos St. John’s edges Van Wert 74-73

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

All-Ohioan Cam Elwer scored 39 points but a free throw by his younger brother, Andrew Elwer, with 3.5 seconds proved to be the difference as Delphos St. John’s defeated Van Wert in a thriller, 74-73, on Tuesday. The game served as the season opener for the Blue Jays (1-0), while Van Wert fell to 0-2.

The fourth quarter was a seesaw battle. Delphos St. John’s led by as many as six on several occasions in the period, including 67-61. A triple by Cohen Bragg made it 67-64 with 3:05 left, then Keaten Welch tied the game with a trey of his own. Welch then gave the Cougars a 69-67 lead with 1:20 left, but Cam Elwer canned a trey five seconds later to make it 70-69. Van Wert freshman Zach Crummey’s offensive rebound and layup with 33 seconds left put the Cougars ahead 71-70, but a pair of Cam Elwer foul shots gave the Blue Jays a one point lead with 21.5 seconds left. Crummey scored again to tie the game 73-73, but Andrew Elwer converted the first of two free throws to win the game. Welch got off a desperation half-court shot at the buzzer but it came up short.

Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best noted that despite the loss, he was encouraged by a lot of things.

“We talked after the game that that’s the expectation – that’s how we’re going to play, that’s the culture we’re going to rally around,” Best said. “Everybody was connected again today and those are things we’ve been talking to the guys about in the four or five weeks that we’ve been together. I haven’t gotten one cross look or mixed emotion about what we’re doing – these guys have bought in.”

Van Wert opened the game with a quick 8-0 lead, only to see Delphos St. John’s battle back and tie it 15-15 at the end of the first quarter. The Blue Jays took their first lead of the game early in the second period when Drew Boggs canned a left corner triple. The Cougars led 31-26 on a Welch bucket with 2:40 left until halftime, then took a 33-32 lead into halftime.

Cam Elwer, a 6-2 junior, took over in the third quarter by scoring 15 points, including 10 consecutive points and the Blue Jays led 54-50 entering the final period.

“I went and watched that kid play 5-6-7 times last year and no one’s able to contain him,” Best said of Elwer. “We did for some possessions and in certain scenarios but that’s why he is what is – he’s earned everything he’s gotten. He’s a tremendous player. If you guard him hard he drives by you, if you lay off he can shoot it, he’s just a phenomenal player and one of the better players I’ve seen come through here in a long time.”

 Welch scored eight points in the third quarter and Bragg added five, including a buzzer beater. The duo combined for 15 points in the fourth quarter. Welch led Van Wert with 24 points, Bragg added 16 and McCracken and Crummey each tallied 13 points.

“We think we have some guys offensively who can help us out and some nights it’s situational, we don’t know who’s going to step up on some nights,” Best said. “Just the progress in the last three days – what we improved on from Friday to tonight, I’m just super proud of them because that’s the expectation every time we practice, every time we put a uniform on, that’s the expectation we’re going to play with.”

The Cougars were 28-of-47 from the floor, including 9-of-12 from three point range, and 7-of-10 from the foul line. Van Wert had just seven turnovers and out-rebounded the Blue Jays 18-16. Delphos St. John’s was 26-of-50 shooting and 14-of-17 from the free throw line with eight turnovers, compared to seven by Van Wert.

Van Wert will host Parkway on Friday while Delphos St. John’s will be home to Kalida the same night.

Box score

Van Wert  15  18  17  23 – 73

St. John’s 15  17  22  20 – 74

Van Wert: Xavier Kelly 1-1-3; Griff McCracken 4-2-13; Keaten Welch 9-3-24; Caden Collins 1-0-2; Micah Cowan 1-0-2; Zach Crummey 6-1-13; Cohen Bragg 6-0-16

Delphos St. John’s: Jackson Wiechart 1-2-4; Brayden Klaus 5-1-11; Drew Boggs 2-0-6; Cam Elwer 14-7-39; Andrew Elwer 4-2-10; Easton Elwer 1-1-3; Maddox Kroeger 0-1-1

JV: Delphos St. John’s 39-33