Blue Jays’ upset bid falls short

By Brooke Apple, bapple
Published:  Monday, February 18, 2008 (9 months, 1 week ago)
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Senior Tim Clark splits New Knoxville defenders for the bucket Friday night at Arnzen Gymnasium. He dropped in eight in his final home game for St. John’s while helping to hold NK’s 6-7 Brad Piehl to 10 but the Rangers completed a perfect regular season with a 12-point win.DELPHOS — The boys of St. John’s hosted the undefeated and top-ranked (Division IV) New Knoxville Rangers on Senior Night Friday night for a Midwest Athletic Conference hardwood matchup.
The Rangers were looking for their 43rd straight regular-season victory and to get their second straight undefeated MAC title; the Blue Jays were looking to upset the Rangers.
The Rangers got what they wanted as they prevailed 56-44.
The varsity game got off to a late start after the junior varsity game was delayed 20 minutes due to a basket needing fixed.
The first quarter was close the whole way; it seemed that the teams were just scoring back-to-back of each other. The teams handled each other’s man-to-man pressure extremely well in the first quarter as both teams combined for only five turnovers. The end of the first quarter saw the Rangers with a lead of one with a 12-11 score.
The Rangers came out extremely strong in the second quarter as they more than doubled the points tallied by the Jays. Caleb Allen (11 points) hit some key shots in the quarter as he drained a three and two shots from inside the arc. He was able to outscore his average points per game (9.8). Brad Piehl (10 points, 6 rebounds) was denying the chance for the Jays to get second shots off. The turnovers stayed close going into halftime as the Jays had six to the Rangers five. Tim Clark (8 points) made the first of the Blue Jays’ points in the second quarter with 3:10 remaining in the half. The score at halftime was 25-17, the Rangers’ lead.
“We are as proud as we could be of our kids. We faced the No. 1 team in the state and we give a lot of credit to our kids as they played how we prepared. They really did what the scouting report said and followed the tendencies we had seen,” stated Blue Jay coach Aaron Elwer.
After the break, the Jays came out and managed to outscore the Rangers 15-14 in the third quarter. Eric Buettner (8 points) converted on some key 3-pointers from the corners to help keep the Jays in a close game. The teams once again tried to keep things even in scoring in the quarter as they scored back and forth for most of the quarter. The Jays went into the short break between quarters trailing by seven, 39-32.
The Rangers were once again able to come out and outscore the Jays in the final quarter as they tallied five more points. All but two of their points in the period were foul shots. The Jays’ Brandon Hemker (9 points, 3 rebounds) hit two strong 3-pointers to help the fans get into the game and keep the game going their tempo.
Taylor Bowersock (5 points, 5 rebounds) led the Jays on the boards, allowing them to get some breakaways and deny the Rangers extra shots.
“Hemker and Buettner made the game into a 1-possession game with hitting some key shots along with some other kids. Those shots got the crowd involved and you could tell in the locker room that this game meant a lot to the kids. They did a nice job guarding them,” added Elwer.
The Blue Jays fall to 8-12 (1-8 MAC); they face Antwerp on Wednesday in Division IV tournament action at Van Wert.
The Rangers increase to 20-0 (9-0 MAC).
In JV action, the Jays prevailed 48-40. The Blue Jays (15-5) were led in scoring by Tyler Williams with 14 and Blake Williams 12. The Rangers (12-8) were led in scoring by Jake Lawler with 11.
VARSITY
NEW KNOXVILLE (56)
Derek Dicke 0-0-0, Austin Arnett 2-6-11, Tony Meyer 3-4-11, Caleb Allen 4-2-11, Ryan VanderHorst 3-2-9, Brad Piehl 2-6-10, Austin Luck 0-4-4. Totals 14-24-56.
ST. JOHN’S (44)
Justin Shrider 1-0-2, Taylor Bowersock 2-1-5, Brandon Hemker 3-0-9, Scott Recker 3-2-8, Cameron Hermiller 1-0-2, Eric Buettner 3-0-8, Wes Ulm 1-0-2, Tim Clark 4-0-8, Tyler Hayson 0-0-0. Total 18-3-44.
Score by Quarters:
New Knoxville    12    13    14    17 - 56
St. John’s    11    6    15    12 - 44
Three-point goals: New Knoxville, Arnett, Meyer, Allen, VanderHorst; St. John’s, Hemker 3, Buettner 2.
JUNIOR VARSITY
NEW KNOXVILLE (40)
Jake Lawler 3-2-11, Tyler Wright 1-2-4, Zach Allen 0-0-0, Marcus Reineke 4-1-9, Cody Horstman 3-3-9, Brian Bambauer 0-0-0, Elijah Slavit 0-0-0, Cody Topp 0-0-0, Zach Leffel 0-0-0, Scott Schwieterman 0-0-0, Addison Wolf 1-1-3, Zach Dillon 0-0-0, Darren Homan 1-2-4. Totals 13-11-40.
ST. JOHN’S (48)
Blake Williams 4-3-12, Justin Backus 2-1-5, Chris Ulm 1-2-4, Jay Clark 1-1-3, Kyle Staup 2-0-6, Nate Webb 0-0-0, Tyler Williams 4-6-14, Matt Brinkman 1-2-4. Totals 15-15-48.
Score by Quarters:
New Knoxville    12    11    7    10 - 40
St. John’s    12    11    13    12 - 48
Three-point goals: New Knoxville; Lawler 3; St. John’s, Staup 2, B. Williams.

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