{"id":203923,"date":"2026-03-18T20:41:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=203923"},"modified":"2026-03-18T20:41:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:41:58","slug":"tale-of-the-tape-lancers-vs-flyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/03\/18\/tale-of-the-tape-lancers-vs-flyers\/","title":{"rendered":"Tale of the Tape: Lancers vs. Flyers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The best of the best remain and will compete at the 104th OHSAA boys basketball state tournament at Wright State University and the University of Dayton, which runs through Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lincolnview Lancers are representing Van Wert County, but the area has four other teams competing as well \u2013 Marion Local, Delphos St. John\u2019s, Kalida and Lima Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of those teams \u2013 Lincolnview and Marion Local \u2013 will meet in the Division VI state semifinals at the Ervin J. Nutter Center at Wright State University at 8 p.m. Friday. The winner will move on to the Division VI state championship game, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the University of Dayton. The opponent will be Berlin Hiland or Kirtland.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Senior guard Holden Price and the Lincolnview Lancers will play in the Division VI state semifinals on Friday. Photo courtesy of Hanna Young<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s been well documented that Lincolnview is the biggest turnaround team of the season, but most fans surely couldn\u2019t have predicted a run to the state semifinals. The Lancers have defeated Hicksville, Tinora, Gibsonburg, Crestview and Colonel Crawford to get to this point. Colonel Crawford came in as the defending regional champion but Lincolnview raced out to a 14-8 first quarter lead and never looked back on the way to a 58-45 victory. The Lancers did suffer a costly loss in that game though. 5-10 junior guard Zander Coil, a threat to score and a more than solid defender, went down with a broken collarbone late in the third quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Lincolnview\u2019s fourth state tournament appearance (1996, 1997, 2016). The Flyers won the Division IV state title in 1997 and finished as the runner-up in 1996 and 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Flyers endured a close district semifinal game against New Bremen (43-41), but have cruised since, including a 57-43 win over No. 2 and previously undefeated Tri-Village in the regional finals. In that game, the Patriots were held to 25 points below their season average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense has been the calling card all season for the Flyers, holding 17 opponents to 40 points or less. Offensively, Marion Local has a balanced attack featuring Brayden Mescher (13 points per game) and Kale Ahrens (12.9 points per game).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Marion Local was at the state tournament last season and defeated Colonel Crawford 52-38 in the semifinals before falling to Woodsfield Monroe Central 43-35 in the championship game. This is the seventh state appearance for Marion Local (1975, 1984, 2003, 2004, 2018, 2025). The Flyers won state titles in 2003 and 2018 and finished as the runner-up in 2004 and last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a comparison of the two teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincolnview Lancers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Record:<\/strong> 22-5 (7-1 NWC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular season wins:<\/strong> Wayne Trace, Upper Scioto Valley, Continental, Lima Central Catholic, Ottoville, Fort Jennings, Kalida, Fort Recovery, Spencerville, Miller City, Columbus Grove, Antwerp, Bluffton, Parkway, Delphos Jefferson, Paulding, Crestview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular season losses:<\/strong> Ada, Van Wert, Allen East, Delphos St. John\u2019s, Arlington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tournament wins:<\/strong> 38-29 Hicksville, 59-45 Tinora 59-45, 52-40 Gibsonburg, 53-46 Crestview, 58-45 Colonel Crawford<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current winning streak:<\/strong> five games<\/p>\n\n\n

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Senior guard Jackson Ingledue has popped in some timely three pointers along the tournament trail. Hanna Young photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Average points per game: <\/strong>61<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opponents points per game:<\/strong> 51<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading scorers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Max Hammons 5-9 junior guard 17.8 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gavin Evans 6-0 senior forward 11.4 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshall Hammons 6-2 freshman guard 10.7 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chayse Overholt 5-11 senior guard 8.9 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zander Coil 5-10 junior guard 5.8 ppg (off bench)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holden Price 5-7 senior guard 3.3 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M<\/strong>arion Local Flyers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Record:<\/strong> 25-1 (8-1 MAC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular season wins:<\/strong> Fort Recovery, New Knoxville, Bath, St. Henry (twice), Celina, Anna, Jonathan Alder, Botkins, Parkway, Van Wert, New Bremen, Jackson Center, Fort Loramie, Coldwater, Spencerville, Minster, Russia, Wapakoneta, Versailles, Van Buren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular season loss:<\/strong> Delphos St. John\u2019s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tournament wins:<\/strong> 43-41 New Bremen, 52-23 Ada, 69-45 Fort Recovery, 57-43 Tri-Village<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current winning streak:<\/strong> 15 games<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Average points per game:<\/strong> 57.4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opponents points per game: <\/strong>38.5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading scorers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brayden Mescher 6-2 senior 13.0 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kale Ahrens 6-3 junior 12.9 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant Kremer 5-11 senior 9.7 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brennan Hess 6-5 sophomore 7.4 ppg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke Everman 6-3 junior 5.7 ppg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports The best of the best remain and will compete at the 104th OHSAA boys basketball state tournament at Wright State University and the University of Dayton, which runs through Sunday. The Lincolnview Lancers are representing Van Wert County, but the area has four other teams competing as well \u2013 Marion Local, Delphos […]<\/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-203923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 08:21:40","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\/203923","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=203923"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203958,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203923\/revisions\/203958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}