{"id":126918,"date":"2020-01-15T04:55:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T09:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=126918"},"modified":"2020-01-15T15:19:31","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T20:19:31","slug":"coaches-corner-crestviews-gregory-etzler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/01\/15\/coaches-corner-crestviews-gregory-etzler\/","title":{"rendered":"Coaches Corner: Gregory and Etzler"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Crestview\u2019s girls\u2019 and boys\u2019 basketball teams seem to be picking up steam at the midway point of the 2019-2020 regular season. Lady Knights head coach Mark Gregory and Knights coach Doug Etzler shared their thoughts on what\u2019s transpired so far and what\u2019s ahead for their respective teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Gregory<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite last night\u2019s 39-38 overtime loss to Coldwater, Crestview head coach Mark Gregory likes the direction his team is headed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do have some momentum right now,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cI think we are getting healthy, shooting the ball better, and coming together as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark Gregory<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lexi Gregory is averaging 15.7 points per game, and the senior team leader is just 17 points away from reaching a rare 1,000\/1,000 club – 1,000 career points and 1,000 career kills, which she did during volleyball season. Olivia Cunningham averages 9.7 points per game and Bailey Gregory adds 9.0 points per game for the Lady Knights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gregory also noted that he likes how his team has gelled at this point of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlaying together as a group is extremely important,\u201d Gregory said of team chemistry. \u201cWe have played very unselfishly the last couple of weeks. That is what it takes to be really good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really like this group a lot. They know when to have fun and they know when to compete. Lots of great kids up and down our roster. Excited to see what this second half of the season brings to us,” Gregory added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lady Knights will return to action tomorrow at Delphos Jefferson, then will host Van Wert on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to continue to communicate on the floor, rebound, shoot the ball well, and keep being unselfish,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cIf we do that, we could be really special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Doug Etzler<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crestview Knights have won two of their last three games and are 4-8 (1-2 NWC) just past the halfway point of the regular season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the area that I have seen the most improvement has come at the offensive end of the floor,\u201d head coach Doug Etzler said. \u201dWe have been doing a much better job of moving both physically and moving the basketball. This has allowed us to get much better shots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Doug Etzler<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur guys have a better grasp of our offensive principles and because of this we have scored the basketball a little better the last three games,\u201d the coach added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the first nine games, Crestview averaged 44 points per game, but during the last three games, the Knights averaged 60 points per contest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Etzler is seeing more balanced scoring among the players, something that\u2019s a big key to future success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is very important for us to be as balanced as possible scoring wise,\u201d Etzler explained. \u201cIf we can get three players into double figures, we usually have a pretty good chance to win. In our last three games we have had great balance and we have played some of our best basketball offensively. Different guys are stepping up each night which has been good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine of Crestview\u2019s first 12 opponents currently have winning records. The next four opponents \u2013 Delphos Jefferson, Pandora-Gilboa, Ada and Celina are at or below .500. However, Etzler isn\u2019t looking past anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be honest with you we are trying to focus on one game at a time,\u201d Etzler said. \u201cWe have played some really good opponents so far. We try to approach each game individually and focus on what we need to do to be successful in that game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach opponent brings something different to the table and we do our best to make sure we are prepared for what we will be facing. Obviously with our current record being below .500 we are working hard to improve that. We are trying to put a solid 32 minutes together. We have played several games this year against really good teams where we were able to put a good half or a good three quarters together. We are working on putting it all together and trying to play a complete game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday night\u2019s game against Delphos Jefferson will be at home, followed by Saturday\u2019s game at Pandora-Gilboa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor Crestview\u2019s girls\u2019 and boys\u2019 basketball teams seem to be picking up steam at the midway point of the 2019-2020 regular season. Lady Knights head coach Mark Gregory and Knights coach Doug Etzler shared their thoughts on what\u2019s transpired so far and what\u2019s ahead for their respective teams. Mark Gregory Despite last […]<\/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-126918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 17:29:32","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\/126918","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=126918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}