Improving Knights top Paulding 63-51

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

CONVOY — Crestview head coach Doug Etzler knew it would take a total team effort for his team to defeat a strong Paulding squad and the Knight mentor was correct.

Everyone who got in the game contributed in one way or another and as a result, the Knights prevailed 63-51 over the Panthers at Ray Etzler Gymnasium Friday night. The win evened Crestview’s record at 5-5, while Paulding fell to 6-3.

“I’m really proud of our guys,” Etzler said. “They’ve got so many guys offensively that are really good and they can shoot the ball and we kind of muck it up a little bit. I think everybody who played tonight, which was pretty much our roster – they all came in and gave us very good minutes and to be a successful team that’s playing a team like Paulding, you have to have everybody step up and do their best on a night where they’re playing more because of foul trouble in the first half.”

Hayden Perrott sparked Crestview in the opening quarter by scoring 10 of his game high 23 points and leading his team to an 18-9 advantage at the end of the period.

“We thought we might have a little bit of an advantage on the perimeter quickness-wise if we could make them come out and guard us and I thought Hayden (Perrott) did a great job doing that tonight,” Etzler said.

Crestview held Paulding to single digits again in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 33-18 lead. Owen Heckler led the way with seven of Crestview’s 15 points in the period.

In the third quarter, Will Sheets scored 10 of his 14 points and Perrott added six more and the Knights increased their lead to 55-36 at the end of the period. Paulding’s Blake Rhonehouse hit two of his five treys in the third quarter and Tyson Manz added six of his points in the period. Manz added six more points in the fourth quarter.

Crestview spread the floor in the fourth quarter but the Panthers were able to outscore the Knights 15-8 in the period, prompting a pair of timeouts by Etzler.

“We really wanted to move the basketball with the pass but I didn’t think we did as good as we could have with that in the fourth quarter,” Etzler stated. “They were trying to foul but we wanted them to chase the foul and not hold it and let them come get us, but I thought we at least handled the ball well enough and made good enough passes that we could get to the free throw line.”

For the game, the Knights shot 57 percent from the floor (25-of-44) and 13-of-23 from the free throw line. Paulding was 19-of-39 shooting and 7-of-11 from the foul line. Crestview had a 27-18 rebounding advantage, including eight by Sheets and the Knights turned the ball over just seven times, compared to 11 by Paulding.

“We did a good job of taking care of the ball and that’s tough to do against a team that’s as long as they are,” Etzler said. “We tried to simulate that in practice with our JV guys but its obviously not the same type of length to go against that and we haven’t seen a lot of full court pressure this year so I’m really proud of the way the guys handled it.”

“It’s a great win for us at home,” he added. “We haven’t played extremely well at home so it’s a big win for us over the holiday break. We’ve increased our play a little bit and we’re hoping to get a little better each night.”

Crestview will travel to Antwerp tonight and Paulding will host Edon on Monday.

“It’s a tough place to play,” Etzler said of Antwerp. “Coach (Doug) Billman always has them prepared and Zaine (McMichael) is one of the best guards in the area so we’re going to have to make sure that we know where he’s at at all times. What makes him so good is he can shoot it, but he’s great at getting to the basket. If you foul him he’s going to make his free throws, but he’s crafty around the rim and we have to make sure we make everything he does tough.”

Box score

Crestview  18  15  22   8 – 63

Paulding      9    9 18  15 – 51

Crestview: Hayden Perrott 9-5-23; Liam Putman 2-2-6; Cash Hammons 4-4-8; Owen Heckler 5-2-12; Will Sheets 7-0-14

Paulding: Blake Rhonehouse 5-0-15; Jalen Manz 2-0-4; Tyson Manz 4-6-15; Javvon Stiltner 1-0-2; Xander Kuckuck 5-1-11; Grady Barton 2-0-4

JV: Paulding 33-30