Knights pull away from Fort Jennings

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

CONVOY — It was close for a quarter, but Crestview changed all of that in the second quarter and beyond Tuesday night at Ray Etzler Gymnasium.

The Knights led Fort Jennings 10-9 after one quarter but after making a defensive switch, seized control in the second quarter with an 18-3 scoring advantage and from there, Crestview held the visitors to just 29 percent shooting from the floor and went on to post a 58-36 victory over the Musketeers. The win put the Knights over .500 (4-3), while Fort Jennings dropped to 3-3.

Wren Sheets scored six of Crestview’s first quarter points, then added six more in the second quarter as five different Knight players scored in the period, which allowed Crestview to stretch the lead to 28-12 by halftime. While the offense came alive in the second quarter, head coach Doug Etzler noted a defensive switch was a big key.

“Fort Jennings got off to a good start and we struggled early in our man defense,” he explained. “They attacked the basket and we gave up some scores at the rim. When we switched to the 1-3-1 zone defense I thought our guys did a good job of taking away their penetration and made them settle for contested jump shots.”

“I thought we did a good job on the boards and also got some baskets in transition,” he added.

In the third quarter, Hayden Perrott hit a basket and a trey, one of just two on the night by Crestview and Will Sheets added a pair of buckets as the Knights carried a 45-22 lead into the fourth quarter.

Wren Sheets led Crestview with 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven steals.

“Wren was really good for us,” Etzler said. “Overall I’m very pleased with our win over a good Fort Jennings team that is going to win a lot of games this year.”

Perrott finished with nine points and Will Sheets added eight points and seven rebounds. In all, eight Knight players scored and Crestview finished the game 22-of-52 from the floor and 12-of-18 from the foul line. The hosts enjoyed a 34-26 rebounding advantage and had just eight turnovers, compared to 14 by Fort Jennings.

The Musketeers finished the game 13-of-45 shooting and 4-of-5 from the foul line. Calvin Menke led Fort Jennings with seven points, while Owen Calvelage and Brant Menke each added six points, with all of Menke’s points coming in the opening quarter. Jarron Swick, who entered the game averaging 16 points, was held to two points on a pair of third quarter foul shots.

Crestview will host Columbus Grove Friday night, and Fort Jennings will travel to Ayersville the same night.

Box score

Crestview    10  18  17  13 – 58  

Ft. Jennings  9    3  10  14 – 36

Crestview: Hayden Perrott 3-2-9; Huxley Grose 1-0-3; Braxton Leeth 2-0-4; Jacob Schumm 1-0-2; Liam Putman 3-0-6; Tommy Heffner 3-1-7; Will Sheets 4-0-8; Wren Sheets 7-5-19,

Fort Jennings: Owen Calvelage 2-0-6; Calvin Menke 2-2-7; Sam Dube 1-0-3; Jarron Swick 0-2-2; Brandt Menke 3-0-6; Hudson Maag 2-0-5; Adam Hoersten 1-0-2; Ian Howbert 2-0-5

JV: Crestview 47-32