{"id":85211,"date":"2017-03-11T08:35:07","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T13:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=85211"},"modified":"2017-03-11T08:35:07","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T13:35:07","slug":"st-johns-downs-knights-in-district-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/03\/11\/st-johns-downs-knights-in-district-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"St. John’s downs Knights in district finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

ELIDA — Tim Kreeger and Owen Rode each scored 14 points, and the top-seeded Delphos St. John\u2019s Blue Jays defeated the No. 2 seed Crestview Knights 48-36 in last night\u2019s Division IV district championship game at Elida.<\/p>\n

\"Crestview's
Crestview’s Javin Etzler (15) shoots from the top of the key over a Delphos St. John’s defender during Friday’s Division IV district tourney finals at the Elida Fieldhouse.<\/strong> Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Blue Jays (19-4) will play Holgate in Tuesday night\u2019s 8 p.m. regional semifinals at Bowling Green State University, while the Knights finished their season at 17-7.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. John\u2019s did things to us that we really couldn\u2019t counter,\u201d Crestview head coach Jeremy Best said. \u201cYou could say we didn\u2019t play well, but it was more they played better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade Sheets hit a basket and a three-pointer in the opening quarter, but the Blue Jays countered with the same by Rode, and two baskets by the 6-8 Kreeger.<\/p>\n

After trailing 11-9 to end the first period, the Blue Jays opened the second quarter with a quick basket by Rode, but Javin Etzler responded with a bucket. Kreeger knocked down a basket, before the Knights took a 17-15 lead on a free throw by Brett Schumm, a trey by Grant Schlagbaum and a basket by Drew Kline. Kline finished with a team-high eight points.<\/p>\n

St. John\u2019s counted with two free throws by Kreeger, then a triple by Richard Cocuzza with 47 seconds left in the quarter. Kline drilled a trey with 22 seconds left, but Kreeger beat the halftime buzzer with a short shot to give the Blue Jays a 22-20 lead at the break.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had five or six turnovers in the first quarter, and that\u2019s typically not what we do,\u201d Best said. \u201cWe gave up too many offensive rebounds, and we felt really good to be only down by two at half.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knights finished the game with 15 turnovers, and were out-rebounded 29-25.<\/p>\n

Rode had nine rebounds, and Kreeger finished with seven.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays started to pull away in the third quarter, and led 31-24 halfway through the period, with Rode accounting for seven points.<\/p>\n

Despite scoring just two baskets in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, Derek Dealey\u2019s trey pulled the Knights to within four, 40-36 with exactly two minutes left.\u00a0 Those would be the final points scored by Crestview.\u00a0 The Blue Jays iced the game with free throws by Rode, Cocuzza, Collin Will and Jared Wurst.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids fought, they have all year, and we talked to them about how we\u2019re proud of them for that,\u201d Best said. \u201cI think our kids learned a lot about respecting the process of a season, respecting the process of preparing for games, practicing hard, and respecting opponents.<\/p>\n

Two seniors — Caleb Bagley and Spencer Rolsten — played their final game for Crestview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank our two seniors, and their parents and their families, for their dedication to our program,\u201d Best said.<\/p>\n

Box score:<\/p>\n

Crestview \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 9 \u00a0 11 \u00a0 9 \u00a0 \u00a07\u2013-36<\/p>\n

Delphos St. John\u2019s \u00a0 \u00a0 11 \u00a011 \u00a013 \u00a013\u2013-48<\/p>\n

Crestview (36) — Drew Kline 8, Wade Sheets 7, Javin Etzler 6, Grant Schlagbaum 5, Derek Stout 4, Brett Schumm 3, Derick Dealey 3.<\/p>\n

Delphos St. John\u2019s (48) — Tim Kreeger 14, Owen Rode 14, Richard Cocuzza 9, Jared Wurst 4, Josh Warnecke 4, Collin Will 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor ELIDA — Tim Kreeger and Owen Rode each scored 14 points, and the top-seeded Delphos St. John\u2019s Blue Jays defeated the No. 2 seed Crestview Knights 48-36 in last night\u2019s Division IV district championship game at Elida. The Blue Jays (19-4) will play Holgate in Tuesday night\u2019s 8 p.m. regional semifinals […]<\/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-85211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 13:13:36","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\/85211","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=85211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}