{"id":115299,"date":"2019-03-22T18:42:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T23:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=115299"},"modified":"2019-03-22T19:41:58","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T00:41:58","slug":"knights-to-play-for-division-iv-state-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/03\/22\/knights-to-play-for-division-iv-state-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights to play for Division IV state title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLUMBUS — Javin Etzler scored 25 points, all in the second half, and pulled down 12 rebounds to power Crestview past Richmond Heights 59-49 in the Division IV state semifinals at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Javin and Kalen Etzler celebrate after a basket against Richmond Hts.<\/strong> Wyatt Richardson\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Knights (27-1), ranked No. 2 in the state, will play No. 1 Berlin Hiland (28-1) for the Division IV state championship at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re one step closer to our goal and our dream,\u201d Crestview head coach Jeremy Best said after the win. \u201cWe had to fight against a really good basketball team that presented us with some challenges that for all intents and purposes we hadn\u2019t really seen all year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview trailed the Spartans 25-23 at halftime, but Etzler converted a pair of layups and drilled a triple early in the third quarter to give the Knights a 30-27 lead. However, Richmond Heights (21-7) rattled off seven straight points, including a rare four point play by Jamarr Talbert Jr., and the Spartans took a 34-30 lead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ensuing basket foul shot by Etzler pulled the Knights to within one and sparked a 14-1 run that gave Crestview a 44-35 lead at the end of the period. Derick Dealey drained a trey, Etzler converted another basket and free throw, Drew Kline hit a pair of foul shots and Etzler, who scored 16 points in the quarter, ended the run with two more free throws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy teammates kept telling me to just keep shooting and to keep going strong to the basket,\u201d Etzler said. \u201cI think it got me going, my team going and got our momentum going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought we made them crack a little bit, I thought we wore on them as much as they were wearing on us in the first half,\u201d Best said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bucket by Talbert pulled Richmond Heights to within two, 46-44 with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter, but Crestview closed the game on a 13-2 run, and held the Spartans scorless for the final 3:42 of the game, with Etzler accounting for seven of those points and Kline adding three more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights finished the game 20 of 27 from the foul line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought it was a physical game,\u201d Richmond Heights head coach Quentin Rogers said. \u201cI think the game was lost with those 27 free throws. We had 12, and 26 fouls to 16.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Derick Dealey fires from long range. <\/strong>Wyatt Richardson photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t really do anything defensively to disrupt us,\u201d Rogers continued. \u201cIt came down to them knocking down free throws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealey had the hot hand for Crestview in the first half, scoring 15 points, including a trio of three pointers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were focused on Javin and that\u2019s what got me going,\u201d Dealey said. \u201cMy teammates got me the ball and they were doubling off me so I had to take advantage of the open shots I was given, and that opened up Javin in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights opened the game with a 5-0 lead on a layup by Kalen Etzler and a trey by Dealey, and Crestview enjoyed a 12-10 lead after one quarter, but Richmond Heights grabbed a 19-14 lead halfway through the second period. Anthony Maxie Jr. hit a pair of foul shots, Talbert scored on a tip-in, Gbolahan Adio scored and Maxie scored on a dunk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealey tied the game 19-19 with a trey and a pair of free throws, but Richmond Heights went on to lead 25-23 at halftime on a buzzer beating tripe by Talbert, who went on to finish with 12 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just talked at halftime about what we\u2019ve talked about all year, and I know it\u2019s corny, but when we talk about loving one another and having care and concern for one another, and these guys do. They rallied around that and dug deep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview\u2019s opponent, Berlin Hiland, rallied to defeat St. Henry 57-50 in the first game of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scoring summary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview 12 11 21 15 \u2013 59
Rich. Hts. 10 15 10 14 \u2013 49<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview: Kalen Etzler 1-5-7; Wade Sheets 2-0-4; Javin Etzler 8-8-25; Drew Kline 0-5-5; Derick Dealey 6-2-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richmond Heights: Curtis Houston II 4-4-13; Jevontae Jones 2-0-4; Gbolahan Adio 4-1-10; Anthony Maxie Jr. 1-2-4; Jamarr Talbert Jr. 4-1-12; J\u2019Maine Carter Jr. 1-0-3; Isaiah Martin 1-0-3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor COLUMBUS — Javin Etzler scored 25 points, all in the second half, and pulled down 12 rebounds to power Crestview past Richmond Heights 59-49 in the Division IV state semifinals at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on Friday. The Knights (27-1), ranked No. 2 in the state, will play No. 1 Berlin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 02:04:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}