Jay boys lose heart-breaker

By Brooke Apple, bapple
Published:  Monday, January 21, 2008 (11 months, 3 weeks ago)
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St. John’s junior Cameron Hermiller battles with a Parkway player in a last-gasp attempt to tie the game Friday night at Arnzen Gymnasium. It went against the host Jays as they lost a 2-point heart-breaker to the Panthers.DELPHOS — The Parkway Panthers traveled to Delphos to face off with the St. John’s Blue Jays as both teams were looking to come away with their first Midwest Athletic Conference victory of the season.
The Panthers came away with their wish in a very tight fourth quarter with the end score of 60-58.
St. John’s, up 46-42, started out with the ball for the final period hoping to get a bigger lead and win the game. This was looking good for the Jays as Bob Koester came down and drained a three right away. The Panthers did not want the Jays to win in their home gym as they came out fighting extremely hard as well. The game eventually started to go back-and-forth with ties and lead changes the rest of the game.
Zach Bates got a basket-and-1 to tie the game at 49. With 5:45 remaining, Craig Bills hit a shot to give the Panthers the lead by two but Cameron Hermiller answered to tie the game at 54. Joshua Fisher (13 counters) worked hard to get the Panthers their victory as he got two to give them the lead back but once again Hermiller came up strong to give the Jays a 1-point advantage. Jordan Thompson had an offensive rebound and putback to give the Panthers the tie again and Fisher hit another shot to give the final change in lead to the Panthers. The Blue Jays got two shots with 2.7 seconds remaining but were unable to convert.
“Great effort once again from our kids; our effort is always consistent and you feel bad when you lose like this. All game, everyone gave a good effort as the whole team gave all their effort and worked hard,” stated St. John’s coach Aaron Elwer.
The Panthers came away with the jump ball and went down to score right away, beginning a 13-0 run until the Jays’ Scott Recker drove to the basket for two points with 3:02 remaining in the first period. The Blue Jays came down the next three possessions and hit 3-pointers, with Eric Buettner and Recker (10 points) alternating who made the shots with quick passes to get each other quick open shots. The Blue Jays’ sudden momentum was enough to tie the game at 14; they hoped to be carry it into the second quarter.
“We hung tough numerous times. This was a game of runs as we had a 13-0 run to start off with. We struggled at times but were able to execute some as well,” stated Parkway coach Doug Hughes.
The Jays still had that momentum coming out after the short break as they got some turnovers from Parkway and converted on baskets. Koester drained a 3-pointer after a double pass from Tyler Hayson and Hermiller. Koester drained three shots from behind the arc, all from the left side of the basket, to help his game total of 20 points. Tim Clark worked hard underneath on the offensive boards, converting two in the second period. Thompson joined Koester with 20 points at the end of the game (to go with 12 boards) as he added four points in the second quarter for the Panthers.
Parkway came out a little stronger in the third quarter, outscoring the Blue Jays by five. Neither team did a lot in this period but Thompson hit a basket at the buzzer to decrease the Blue Jays’ lead to 46-42.
“We had a couple of times where we lost concentration and gave up some key offensive rebounds,” added Elwer.
The Blue Jays outrebounded the Panthers by one, with Koester nabbing six and Clark five. Parkway had 10 turnovers and the Jays 11. Parkway outshot the Jays 24-of-54 to 20-of-61.
“Jordan Thompson dominated inside on the boards and on the offensive end. Fisher really stepped up, getting some key shots, along with Bates, who also stepped up to help out. We executed well with 40 seconds remaining to make it a little easier on us. Delphos is a very well-coached team,” added Hughes.
The Blue Jays fall to 4-8 (0-5 MAC) and entertain St. Marys tonight. The Panthers (6-7, 1-4 MAC) face off at Lincolnview tonight.
In JV action, the Blue Jays prevailed 49-40. The Jays were led by Jordan Leininger with 17 and Blake Williams nine. The Panthers were led by Chad Shellabarger with 14 and Ryan Steinbrunner 11.
VARSITY
PARKWAY (60)
Joshua Fisher 6-0-13, Marcus Meyer 1-0-2, Derik Snyder 1-1-3, Craig Bills 3-1-7, Zach Bates 2-3-7, Levon Archer 2-0-4, Jordan Thompson 8-4-20, Shawn Coffman 1-2-4, Ryan Steinbrunner 0-0-0, Danny Knapke 0-0-0. Totals 24-11-60.
ST. JOHN’S (58)
Taylor Bowersock 0-0-0, Brandon Hemker 0-0-0, Scott Recker 4-1-10, Cameron Hermiller 3-1-9, Eric Buettner 3-1-9, Bob Koester 6-2-20, Wes Ulm 1-0-3, Tim Clark 3-1-7, Tyler Hayson 0-0-0. Totals 20-6-58.
Score by Quarters:
Parkway    14    13    15    18 - 60
St. John’s    14    20    10    14 - 58
Three-point goals: Parkway, Fisher; St. John’s, Koester 6, Hermiller 2, Buettner 2, Recker, Ulm.
JUNIOR VARSITY
PARKWAY (40)
Rick Shindeldecker 0-1-1, Blake King 0-0-0, Chad Shellabarger 5-0-14, Martin Boskoski 0-0-0, Tyler Oliver 1-1-4, Taylor Bates 0-0-0, Michael Nuttle 0-2-2, Jacob Jackson 0-0-0, Logan Hunter 2-0-2, Jordon Coffman 1-0-2, Jason Schatzer 0-0-0, Dillon Long 0-0-0, Ryan Steinbrunner 4-3-11, Drew Luginbill 0-3-3. Totals 13-10-40.

ST. JOHN’S (49)
Blake Williams 4-0-9, Justin Backus 1-2-4, Chris Ulm 0-0-0, Brandon Hemker 3-0-8, Jay Clark 1-3-5, Tyler Williams 1-0-2, Jordan Leininger 6-2-17, Ty Bergfield 0-0-0, Alex Recker 1-0-2, Matt Brinkman 1-0-2. Totals 18-7-49.
Score by Quarters:
Parkway    8    14    9    9 - 40
St. John’s    11    17    16    5 - 49
Three point goals: Parkway, Shellabarger 3, Oliver; St. John’s, Leininger 3, Hemker 2, B. Williams.

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