Bulldog boys cagers battle past Knights

Published:  Monday, December 3, 2007 (2 years, 3 months ago)
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By JIM METCALFE
The Delphos Herald

ELIDA — If you looked in the dictionary for a definition of struggle, one would see a film of the Crestview/Elida boys basketball game Friday night on the Union Bank Court at the Elida Fieldhouse.
Neither team had a hot hand: Crestview canned 9-of-35 from the floor (4-of-16 triples) for 25.7 percent vs. 12-of-38 for the Bulldogs (2-of-10 long range) for 31.6 percent; and every point was well-earned.
The host Bulldogs had two big spurts, the last a 13-0 span in the first 5:44 of the fourth stanza, to repel the Knights 33-30.
“We simply started moving and going to the basket instead of side to side. It was things like back-cuts and making better passes, what we’ve been working on,” Elida coach Denny Thompson acknowledged. “We also confused them defensively; we used four different defenses in the fourth period and they seemed unsure of what they wanted to do.”
The Knights (1-2) led 26-18 when the fateful finale began. With sophomore MIchael Knotts (10 points, 6 rebounds) netting three duos to lead the charge, Elida netted 5-of-7 fielders and 3-of-3 free throws (7-of-11 overall for 63.6%) to assume a 31-26 advantage with 2:35 left. Crestview, which missed its first five shots and had three miscues (12 overall) in that time frame, had Briggs Orsbon (12 counters) drive for a deuce with 2:16 remaining. Tony Springer (10 markers) hit two tosses at 1:09 to get within one. Knotts sank a pair from the line with 50.4 seconds to go for a 3-point margin.
With chances to tie, Orsbon missed two 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to allow Elida to survive.
“We didn’t do anything different. We just missed those shots (1-of-9 in the period) and had those turnovers,” Crestview coach Jeremy Best noted. “We have to scratch and claw to get anything, especially points. I have no fault with the defense we played. The worst part of our defense is when the ball is on the rim; we just don’t have the size to rebound and we know we’re going to be at a size disadvantage in almost every game. Two of their baskets came on tip-ins.”
Elida didn’t necessarily have an offensive explosion to start the game but they did score the first 10 points of the contest — hitting 4-of-8 shots — by the 1:40 mark as the Knights started out ice cold — five misses and four miscues. Suddenly, they spurted 10-0, with Orsbon and Michael Thompson (9 caroms) getting five each, to tie it before Knotts tipped in a miss at the horn for a 12-10 spread.
Elida’s offense totally disappeared in the next two periods, shooting 2-of-18. They counted a basket and two singles by Stephan Shurelds (11 boards, 8 points, 4 blocked shots) in the last 2:52 of the second. Crestview, even though they shot 2-of-8 from the field and 3-of-8 at the stripe (8-of-15 for the game for 53.3%), still outpointed their hosts 9-4 to take a 19-16 halftime edge when the 6-6 Shurelds tipped in a shot at the buzzer.
“We’ve got a lot of youngsters; we have three sophomores we’re playing who are still adjusting to the varsity level. We’re putting in some new things that we haven’t gotten down yet,” Thompson added. “That’s going to be a battle all season for us but I think we still have the potential to be a very good team this year. We’re just going to have to become more consistent offensively for us to become that team.”
Best had the same idea as Thompson.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces in the lineup,” he added. “It might not come next week or two weeks but I believe our offense will come. These kids are in there battling — there’s nothing we can do about our size — and they are working to become better offensively.”
Elida was even worse in the third, scoring a mere basket by Alex Warren at 3:40. The visitors were only slightly better, scoring seven and getting their own tip by Springer at 1:27 to get their biggest margin of 26-18.
In sum, Crestview grabbed 24 off the glass (8 offensive) and compiled 17 fouls. They host St. John’s next Saturday.
Elida took in 33 caroms (11 offensive) and added 13 turnovers and 16 fouls. They visit St. John’s tonight.
In JV action, Elida’s Jay Tenhundfeld put back a miss with 1:54 left in the second overtime and Matt Thompson (9 tallies) a free throw with 24.5 ticks to go for a 37-35 victory and a 2-1 record.
Crestview (1-2) received 12 from Evan Vining and 11 by Jordan Speaks.

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