MIDDLE POINT – In a pre-Christmas battle of unbeatens the Kalida Wildcats scored the last punch Wednesday night as they kept their 2020-21 record unblemished with a 52-49 victory over host Lincolnview.
Kalida stormed out of the gates on a 10-2 run behind the duo of Luke Erhart and Brandon Miller who accounted for five points each in the first three minutes of play. Lincolnview’s duo of Landon Price and Collin Overholt pulled the Lancers to within 10-8 at 2:27 and watched as teammate Daegan Hatfield scored on a tough shot inside with 1:19 to tie the contest at 10-10.
Lincolnview senior Creed Jesse who entered play just 1 of 12 on the season from behind the arc knocked down a triple with under a minute to play in the stanza to push the Lancers ahead 13-10 and into the quarter break.
With both teams trading small leads in the second quarter every basket and stop began to come at a premium in the game. Threes by Aaron Cavinder and Jesse sent the Lancers back into the lead in the middle of the quarter, but a quartet of makes by Jayce Horstman, Luke Erhart, Grant Vorst, and ultimately Brandon Miller with 1:04 to go in the opening half of play pulled the Wildcats back to even at 24-24.
On their ensuing possession and with the game tied, the Lancers punched across the final score of the opening half as a deep triple by Jesse found the bottom of the net with :47 remaining before the buzzer.
Early in the third quarter the host squad got a big boost from their leading scorer Collin Overholt, a 5’10 senior who accounted for three of his nine period markers on a deep three pointer to put the Lancers back in the lead 32-30 with 4:10 to go.
Luke Erhart, coming off of a pair of career high 26 in back to back games against LCC and Spencerville provided a bulk of the scoring punch for the Wildcats in the third segment of the game by connecting on a two point goal and 5 of 7 from the free throw line to tie the game and give his squad a 30-29 lead at 4:25.
The biggest shot Erhart would connect for in the contest came with time winding down and a loose ball near mid court as he slipped through a pair of would be defenders to nail a just inside half court shot at the buzzer that sent the game tied into the fourth at 38-38.
In a similar fashion to what had transpired already in the ballgame, the two squads continued to trade small runs and the advantage in the final eight minutes of play with Lincolnview taking an early 43-40 lead at 5:30 on the first of two baskets by Jake Bowersock.
Free throws by Jayce Horstman and Brandon Miller for Kalida tied the score at 43-43 and keyed the start of a Kalida run that was turned into a 44-43 lead on a charity toss by Erhart at 4:14 remaining.
Kalida continued to add to their lead with 2:40 on the first of three makes by Tyson Siefker in the ending moments. After hitting a two for a 46-45 lead, Siefker pushed the advantage to 48-45 with 1:41 left.
Senior point guard Ayden Warnecke finished off the last points of the victory for the visitors by hitting a pair of free throws late to secure the 52-49 n0n-league victory.
Lincolnview (4-1) was led in scoring by Collin Overholt who connected on four three pointers in the game. The Lancers will be back in action to wrap up 2020 on Tuesday, December 29th when they travel to Ottoville for the fourth of their six in season contests against teams from the Putnam County League.
Kalida’s Luke Erhart paced the Wildcats (8-0) with a game high 24 points and was joined in double figures by Brandon Miller with 10. Next up for the Wildcats is a Saturday night home tilt with Archbold this weekend before the start of a five game road trip that begins in Convoy on the 29th against Crestview.
BY QTR:
Kalida 10-14-14-14
Lincolnview 13-14-13-11
Scoring:
Kalida (52):
Ayden Warnecke 4
Brandon Miller 10
Grant Vorst 2
Tyson Siefker 8
Jayce Horstman 4
Luke Erhart
FT: 13/23
3PT: 3 (Erhart 2, Miller)
TO: 12
Lincolnview (49):
Clayton Leeth 3
Aaron Cavinder 5
Collin Overholt 21
Landon Price 3
Daegan Hatfield 2
Jake Bowersock 4
Creed Jessee 11
FT: 2/5
3PT: 9 (Overholt 4, Jessee 3, Cavinder, Price)
TO: 16
JV: Kalida 46-45