OTTOVILLE – Utilizing a 20 point second quarter the Ottoville Big Green raced past visiting St. Henry on Saturday night 51-35 in a n0n-league tilt at L.W. Heckman Gymnasium.
Ottoville came out firing in the first quarter and quickly grabbed a 4-0 lead on baskets by seniors Ryan Suever and Josh Thorbahn in the opening minute of the game.
Though a Casey Bruening basket got the Redskins on the board with 6:16 left in the quarter, the rest of the four points in the period would have to be earned from the free throw line.
The second quarter of the game would look more like a three point shooting contest to spectators as each team connected on multiple shots from beyond the arc. Threes by Jaden Lange and Seth Heitkamp got the visitors within 25-12 in the middle of the stanza but a pair of threes from Jack Langhals and a nine point personal run by Thorbahn pushed Ottoville ahead 33-14 at the break.
Again led by the long ball in the third quarter the Redskins pushed to within 37-20 on connections from Heitkamp again and substitute Sam Koesters with 2:53 remaining before Thorbahn, this time with Ryan Suever as his scoring sidekick ran the lead to 42-23 heading into the final eight minutes of play.
St. Henry junior Luke Gels scored six of his eight points in the game in the fourth quarter. Ottoville sub Cole Furley connected on a long distance shot for a 50-30 lead minutes before teammate Kaiden Trentman split the net on a free throw attempt for the last point in a 51-35 Big Green victory.
Ottoville’s first and only turnover of the game came with .3 remaining in the contest while their opponents would finish with just six in the loss.
“I’m really happy with our guys effort tonight, this is our first back to back night of games since December. Jack Langhals played a whale of a game for us tonight and was able to hit a couple of big shots. We were able to handle their physicality and take care of the basketball tonight. Credit Will, Josh, and Kellen (Schlagbaum) out top for handling the basketball and initiating our offense” said Ottoville head coach Keith Utendorf.
Utendorf followed up on individual efforts from his team by saying “I thought Will had an outstanding weekend overall offensively and defensively. Ryan did some good things this weekend and is getting more and more comfortable. Tonight Trae Schlagbaum had a tremendous game and took a pair of charges, I’m really proud of his effort.”
Next up for St. Henry (10-4) is a Friday night Midwest Athletic Conference showdown with Ft. Recovery and a Saturday evening trip to Wapakoneta. Ottoville (11-2) hosts PCL rival Fort Jennings on Friday evening in their lone game of the weekend.
Scoring:
Ottoville (51):
William Miller 6
Trae Schlagbaum 3
Kyle Manns 1
Ryan Suever 8
Kellen Schlagbaum 3
Josh Thorbahn 20
Cole Furley 3
Kaiden Trentman 1
Jack Langhals 6
FG: 20/52
3PT: 7/25 (Thorbahn 2, Langhals 2, T. Schlagbaum, K. Schlagbaum, Furley)
FT: 4/8
REB: 28 (Thorbahn 9)
TO: 1
St. Henry (35):
Seth Heitkamp 6
Casey Bruening 6
Sam Koesters 3
Jaden Lange 6
Luke Gels 8
Carter Ontrop 1
Logan Lefeld 5
FG: 11/42
3PT: 4/22 (Heitkamp 2, Koesters, Lange)
FT: 9/17
REB: 36 (Bruening 8)
TO: 6
JV: 27-24 Ottoville
Freshmen: 46-36 St. Henry