Knights, WT win district tourney titles

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

ELIDA — The Crestview boys’ basketball team is headed to the Division IV regional tournament after a 54-39 victory over Miller City that earned the Knights yet another district tournament title.

As he has most of the year, senior Damian Helm led Crestview offensively with 17 points, while Tyson Bolenbaugh added 12 points and Cam Etzler scored 9 points for the Knights. Adam Niese was the Wildcats’ top scorer with 16 points.

Both teams started slow, with Crestview up by three, 8-5, at the end of the first quarter. The Knights’ offense then got in gear in the second stanza and outscored Miller City 18-7 to go up by 14 points, 26-12, at the half.

The Wildcats got five of those points back in the third quarter with a 19-14 run that cut the Crestview lead to 9, 40-31, with one quarter to go. But the Knights were up for anything Miller City had left and outscored the Wildcats 14-8 to take home the district crown.

Crestview was 19 of 44 from the field (43.2 percent), including 8 of 18 from three-point range (44.4 percent). The Knights made 8 of 9 free throws as well (88.9 percent).

Miller City made 10 of 41 shots from the field (24.4 percent), including 2 of 16 three-point attempts (12.5 percent). The Wildcats were much better at the line, knocking down 16 of 20 free-throw attempts (80 percent).

Crestview had edge in rebounding, bringing down 34 boards to 25 for the Wildcats. The Knights also had three more turnovers than Miller City, 9-6.

With the win, Crestview (26-0) will travel to Bowling Green State University on Tuesday for a regional semifinal game against Ottawa Hills that will start at approximately 8 p.m.

In the Division IV title game at Van Wert, the Wayne Trace Raiders defeated Ayersville 53-25, to advance to the regionals. Ethan Linder led the Raiders with 15 points, while Corbin Linder added 10 points for Wayne Trace.

The Raiders (22-3) will play Buckeye Central (23-2) in a regional semifinal game at BGSU on Tuesday.