KALIDA – Behind a big night from junior William Miller the Ottoville Big Green remained the Putnam County League’s lone unbeaten as they downed host Kalida 43-36 on Friday night at Richard L. Kortokrax Court.
On the opening possession of the contest the Ottoville junior raced down the right side and splashed home the first of his three first period triples to put his squad on top 3-0. Kalida’s only scores in the opening eight minutes came from the right hand of 6’0 senior Brandon Miller who cut the Ottoville lead to 3-2 with a basket and put his troops on top 4-3 with a pair of free throws with 5:19 to go.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats the points by Miller would not only be their only scores in the first eight minutes, they would also represent their last basket until another make by Miller with 5:39 left in the second quarter that trimmed the Big Green advantage to 14-6.
Fighting through a tough Kalida defense that allowed just 12 points in the first stanza the Big Green utilized a fourth triple from Miller and multiple scores from Josh Thorbahn, Ryan Suever, and Grant Kortokrax on their way to a 28-15 halftime lead.
Though the Big Green were again the first to dent the score column in the third period on another basket by Miller that pushed the lead to 30-15, the Wildcats scratched at the advantage on a pair of baskets by Brandon Miller who added to his 10 first half points with a pair of makes and assisted on a late basket by EJ Miller to get within 37-21 heading into the final period.
Kalida’s defensive intensity kicked into high gear and began to force Ottoville miscues in the fourth quarter as they continued to shut out the top three Ottoville scorers in the first half of the quarter and trim their deficit.
Ottoville’s first point of the fourth stanza came with 2:42 left in the game on a Ryan Suever free throw for a 38-30 lead before Wildcat junior Tyson Siefker’s only make of the second half continued the hosts big run that cut the lead to 38-34 with 1:30 left before the final buzzer.
Free throws by Josh Thorbahn and a late basket by Suever kept the Big Green ahead and finished off the 43-36 victory.
Kalida (12-4, 3-2) was led in scoring by Brandon Miller with 18 while Ottoville (13-2, 5-0) was paced by William Miller’s 16.
Next up for Kalida is a Saturday night non-conference tilt against Wayne Trace while the Big Green are off until next Friday evening when they host Continental in Putnam County League play before taking on Toledo Rogers in the Ottawa Glandorf Winter Classic on Saturday next weekend.
Scoring:
Ottoville (43):
William Miller 16
Kyle Manns 1
Ryan Suever 10
Grant Kortokrax 7
Josh Thorbahn 9
FG: 14/40
3PT: 6/16 (W. Miller 4, Suever, Thorbahn)
FT: 9/13
REB: 26 (Thorbahn 7)
TO: 6
Kalida (36):
Ayden Warnecke 3
Brandon Miller 18
Grant Vorst 2
EJ Miller 2
Tyson Siefker 5
Jayce Horstman 2
Luke Erhart 4
FG: 14/43
3PT: 1/11 (Siefker)
FT: 7/13
REB: 18 (B. Miller 4)
TO: 5
JV: 41-35 Kalida (OT)