Lancers pull away from Ottoville 72-48

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Lincolnview led wire-to-wire but at one point, the Lancers needed a spark and they found it in the third quarter.

After a free throw by Ottoville’s Ashton Miller trimmed Lincolnview’s lead to 37-32 with just under five minutes left in the third period, Lancer head coach Brett Hammons turned to his bench, which paid immediate dividends. Jackson Ingledue hit back-to-back triples, including a deep attempt from the right wing, Grant Zielke scored and Zander Coil turned an offensive rebound into a layup and just like that, Lincolnview’s lead ballooned 47-35. From there, Lincolnview cruised to a 72-48 victory, putting the Lancers at 5-1 on the season.

“We had some foul trouble and we brought Jackson in and he hit those two huge threes and Grant got a bucket for us and Zander made one and that’s why we have a bench,” Lincolnview head coach Brett Hammons said. “They’re there for us and they step up when we need them and I thought they executed tonight on both ends.”

“I thought we found a little bit of a rhythm offensively in the second quarter,” Ottoville head coach Keith Utendorf said. “Ash had to get us through a murky sort of start. It was 37-32 so we had a chance. What we’ve seen this year is we’ve kind of had a lull offensively and that unfortunately leaks into the defensive end. Our kids gave effort, we’re trying to find the right mix, so I think it’s going to take a while.”

“That’s a really good Lincolnview team,” he added. “They can really score with the basketball. They have a lot of guards, they have a lot of athletes out there.”

After the bench run, Max Hammons hit four foul shots, Chayse Overholt turned a steal into a layup and Hammons buried a triple at the buzzer to give the Lancers a commanding 56-39 lead. Hammons went on to finish with a team high 23 points.

“He’s kind of the leader of our team,” Hammons said of his oldest son. “He’s consistent, the ball’s in his hands a lot and he had a stretch struggling to score but he just finds a way. We’re probably not where we’re at without his playing ability and give credit to him – he puts in a lot of work.” 

Marshall Hammons started the fourth quarter with a steal and layup, then Lincolnvew used the free throw line and two more treys by Ingledue to increase the lead.

The Lancers led 13-7 after one quarter, but Ottoville (1-6) scored the first five points of the second quarter. Lincolnview was able to stretch the advantage to 27-17 on an offensive rebound and layup by Marshall Hammons, before leading 32-24 at halftime. Miller scored Ottoville’s first 12 points of the game and finished with 28 before fouling out with just over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a huge handful,” Hammons said of Miller. “I thought we were guarding him well (in the first half) and he was just making shots and credit to him and his effort.”

For the game, the Lancers connected on 24-of-58 shots (41 percent), including 12-of-31 (39 percent) from three point range, and 12-of-17 (71 percent) from the foul line. In addition, Lincolnview finished with 27 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end, and committed just four turnovers.

“Coach Utendorf was switching up his defenses and I thought we did a good job of getting out and running and not letting them get set up,” Hammons said. “We were able to get some stops, get out and run and get the game the way we wanted to be played.”

The Big Green converted 16-of-50 action shots (32 percent) and 11-of-16 free throws (60 percent), with 28 rebounds and 12 turnovers. 

Lincolnview will host Fort Jennings tonight (5 p.m. junior varsity start) while Ottoville will travel to Paulding.

Scoring summary

Lincolnview 13  19  24  16 – 72

Ottoville         7  17  15   9 – 48

Lincolnview: Holden Price 1-0-3; Max Hammons 6-6-23; Zander 2-0-5; Jackson Ingledue 4-0-12; Gavin Evans 4-2-10; Chayse Overholt 4-3-12; Grant Zielke 1-0-2; Marshall Hammons 2-1-5

Ottoville: Ashton Miller 10-5-28; Nick Quartana 1-1-3; Joe Leis 2-1-7; Jayden Wueller 1-0-2; Colton Knippen 1-0-2; Nick Brandeberry 0-2-2; Grady Leach 0-2-2; Evan Altenburger 1-0-2

JV: Ottoville 53-46

Freshmen: Lincolnview 39-20