LIMA – Spencerville and Ottawa Glandorf punched their tickets on Wednesday night for a date on Saturday afternoon in the Division 3 Lima district finals against one another.
After falling behind in the early moments of their opening contest against Bluffton, Ottawa Glandorf raced to the gas pedal and never let up as they defeated the Pirates 63-42 for their second victory of the season against the Pirates.
Leading the charge for the blue and gold was junior Colin White who raced ahead of the pack and hammered down a thunderous two-handed slam dunk to open the scoring for his crew. Teammates Caden Erford and Hunter Stechschulte combined for seven in the opening stanza to push the Titans to a 12-9 lead.
Held to just a trio of free throws through the first five minutes of the second quarter the Pirates slipped further and further away on the scoreboard until the 74th triple of the season from Marek Donaldson closed the gap to 23-15 with three minutes left in the half.
Ottawa Glandorf’s final three minutes before the horn delivered with a bang as White again tossed down a rim rattling effort and was joined in scoring by Levi Unterbrink, Stechschulte, Erford, and Grant Schroeder to amass a 28-17 halftime advantage.
Three point goals were the call of the day for the third quarter as the Titans continued their offensive barrage from behind the arc with five triples from the hands of three different players. Levi Unterbrink opened the parade from behind the arc with a pair and was quickly joined by White for a pair and a final from junior teammate Grant Schroeder as part of a 21-point third period.
Bluffton orchestrated their own symphony of deep shots in the quarter as shots from Marek Donaldson, Carson Soper, and Terron Boblitt repeatedly pulled the deficit down to 12.
Carson Soper controlled the fourth quarter scoring for Bluffton with eight of their 10 points but could never draw the lead back into single digits and White connected on the last three of his game high 20 markers and Theo Maag finished off the potential rally with a two-handed slam dunk.
Bluffton, led by Soper’s 13 sees their season come to an end with a 16-9 mark while #1 ranked Ottawa Glandorf improves to 21-3 and will face Spencerville on Saturday in the district finals.
Scoring:
OG (63):
Grant Schroeder 9
Theo Maag 7
Levi Unterbrink 10
Hunter Stechschulte 7
Colin White 20
Caden Erford 10
Bluffton (42):
Marek Donaldson 8
Carson Soper 13
Terron Boblitt 8
Landen Worchester 2
Branson Hilty 2
John-Paul Yoder 6
Spencerville opened game two with a white hot flourish but found themselves forced to hold on in the closing minutes as they defeated Liberty Benton 44-39 to secure their spot in Saturday’s finals.
Carter Sudhoff pushed back a missed shot from a teammate and nearly dunked the ball back for a 2-0 lead and was quickly rewarded for his efforts in the post moments later with a second basket and a 4-0 advantage. Sophomore Carder Orr and senior Dylan Smith kept the scoring for the Cats in the first three plus minutes with makes to force an LB timeout at 8-0.
BVC Player of the Year Cason Doolittle connected for the first blue and white markers of the evening at 4:04 but celebrated a short lived accomplishment thanks to a Josh Henline opening basket that put the NWC champions back up by eight at 10-2.
Leading to the theory that basketball is just a game of runs the Eagles did just that as they finished out a 6-0 run into the first buzzer thanks to Doolittle and a five point effort from standout junior Carson Conaway.
Doolittle hit for all six points for his charges in the second quarter while his opponents utilized scoring from three players including Owen Sensabaugh who splashed his 42nd triple of the year to send the Bearcats into the stoppage leading 21-14.
Through the course of the third eight minutes of play the Eagles again continued to make runs and chip away at the Spencerville advantage before taking their first lead late in the quarter.
Three point goals by Doolittle and Conaway opened the run for Liberty Benton while a pair of shots from inside by Seth Elchert and Lincoln Garlock brought the Eagles within striking distance for Cason Doolittle to bring his team ahead 31-30 with a make and the first LB lead since 2-0 with :50 remaining.
Senior Dylan Smith, a 1st team Northwest Conference selection this season put the Bearcats on his back for moments in the fourth stanza as he raced into the paint and connected on four of the five Spencerville field goals in the period, including the first that gave his team a 32-31 lead on the opening possession of the final eight minutes.
Lincoln Garlock tied the game seconds later at 32-32 with 6:35 showing on the clock but was not able to pull his team back in front as he missed the second free throw. Liberty Benton would go on to connect on 5 of 6 in the period after hitting just 7 of 14 in the same span in last weeks win over Carey.
For their part in the free throw shooting contest the Bearcats did just enough to secure the lead far enough out so as not to be touched, hitting on 6 of 10 opportunities. Josh Henline hit on all four chances in the final eight minutes to finish off the Eagles chance of a comeback late by putting his team up 44-39.
Liberty Benton (21-4) began the season with a 16-0 mark but faltered down the stretch as they lost four of their final nine contests. Cason Doolittle led the Eagles with 20 points in his final game.
Spencerville with the win ties the school record for wins in a season set last year at 21 and will return to Lima Senior on Saturday afternoon for a 2pm tilt against Ottawa Glandorf. Dylan Smith led the Bearcats with 16.
OG vs Spencerville can be heard live starting at 1:30pm with the pregame on WZOQ Radio.
Scoring:
Spencerville (44):
Josh Henline 8
Dylan Smith 16
Owen Sensabaugh 6
Carter Sudhoff 6
Carder Orr 7
Blake Sommers 3
Liberty Benton (39):
Kameron Garlock 2
Carson Conaway 8
Cason Doolittle 20
Lincoln Garlock 4
Seth Elchert 5