Knights stun Delphos St. John’s in OT

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

DELPHOS — It was quite a finish to the 2024-2025 boys basketball regular season.

Crestview, ranked No. 5 in Division VI by MaxPreps, used a Tommy Heffner layup at the buzzer to force overtime and from there, the Knights went on to defeat Division VII No. 2 Delphos St. John’s 66-61 at Robert A. Arzen Gymnasium on Saturday. The Knights, winners of 16 of their last 17 games, finished the regular season 18-4, while the Blue Jays sport a 19-2 record going into the tournament.

After a pair of Jackson Wiechart foul shots gave the Blue Jays a 53-51 lead with 4.4 seconds left, Heffner drove the length of the court and used a left handed layup to tie the game as time expired to force the extra session. From there, the Knights outscored the hosts 13-8, while holding Delphos St. John’s to a single basket in overtime to claim the win.

“In overtime we got the tip and scored and never looked back,” Crestview head coach Doug Etzler said. “I’m proud of the grit we showed. It was a great atmosphere for high school basketball and fun to be a part of.”

“It really was a great game between two really good teams that are having great years,” Delphos St. John’s head coach Aaron Elwer said. “Credit to both teams for playing hard and competing for 36 minutes.”

Heffner led Crestview with 19 points, while Wren Sheets scored 18 points and Hayden Perrott added 10, including five in overtime.

The Knights found themselves down early and trailed 16-7 at the end of the first quarter. All-Ohio guard Cam Elwer scored 10 of his game high 23 points in the opening period, including a pair of treys. Crestview’s points came on a pair of Sheets baskets and a triple by Perrott.

“We got really good shots in the first quarter that didn’t fall for us and Cam came out on fire and had 10 points,” Etzler said.

In the second quarter, Heffner scored eight points, including five from the foul line and Will Sheets added five more to help trim the deficit to 31-25 by halftime. All of the Blue Jays’ second period points came on three points, including two by Easton Elwer, who went on to finish with 16 points. 

“Our guys settled down in the second quarter and cut into the lead and scored right before the halftime buzzer to make it a six point ball game at half and it was our ball coming out,” Etzler said.

The Knights scored on their first possession of the second half, then converted a Delphos St. John’s turnover into a bucket, which made it 31-29. Cam Elwer put in a pair of three pointers and accounted for eight of his team’s third quarter points and the Blue Jays led 44-40 entering the fourth quarter.

“We kept talking about keeping it close to give ourselves a chance at the end and it worked out,” Etzler explained.

In somewhat of an oddity, the Blue Jays ended the game with just six two bound baskets, but hit 13 treys and went 10-of-11 from the foul line. By comparison, the Knights had just three triples but put in 23 conventional baskets and went 11-of-14 from the foul line.

Crestview will host Lincolnview in the Division VI sectional finals at 7 p.m. Friday, while Delphos St. John’s will host New Knoxville or Waynesfield-Goshen in the Division VII sectional championship game the same night.

Box score

Crestview   7  18  15  13  13 – 66

St. John’s 16  15  13    9    8 – 61

Crestview: Hayden Perrott 3-3-10; Braxton Leeth 3-0-7; Liam Putman 2-0-4; Tommy Heffner 6-7-19; Owen Heckler 1-0-3; Will Sheets 2-1-5; Wren Sheets 9-0-18

Delphos St. John’s: Jackson Wiechart 1-2-4; Tyce McClain 1-0-3; Drew Boggs 2-0-6; Cam Elwer 7-5-23; Andrew Elwer 3-1-9; Easton Elwer 5-2-16

JV: Delphos St. John’s 37-26