Northern Miami Valley Hoops News: What’s Happening
It was another weekend blast of northern Miami Valley area hoops. Mice against Men. Fort vs Fort. It must be the water. And two players closing in on 1,000 career points. Here’s how it all went down….
Wow. Like deja vu. The last time Vandalia Butler and Sidney played December 17 at the “Hive”, the Aviators won 71-68 in overtime. They outscored the Jackets 15-12 in the extra session.
This time Butler defeated Sidney 68-61 in another overtime thriller Friday at the Student Activity Center, outscoring the Jackets 15-8 in the extra frame.
It looked like mice against men. Butler held a huge size advantage with two 6-9 post players. But Sidney nibbled away from the outside, converting 10 threes, seven served up by Jarad Sowders for a team high 21 points, to keep it interesting.
Sidney fell behind in the overtime and needed defensive stops so they hacked the worst foul shooter, Taylor Decker (55 percent). The irony of it all, the 6-9, 260-pound Decker clinched it at the stripe, canning 12-of-16 foul shots, including 7-of-8 in overtime.
So much for best laid plans of mice and men.
Decker finished with 30 points and eight rebounds. Ryne Pugh added 14 points and Jake Greer posted a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists.
In addition to Sowders break out performance, Zach Yinger scored 13 points with 10 rebounds. He leads the GWOC in rebounding at 10.6 per game. The 6-4 senior is just 20 points shy of 1,000. Yinger could reach the milestone this Friday at home against Piqua.
Daniel Ocke added 12 points with five assists. Coming later this week, a highlight reel of Ocke on You Tube.
Patwaun Hudson delivered nine points and five assists for the Jackets.
Butler outrebounded Sidney 36-23.
The difference-maker was at the foul line where Butler drained 17-of-23 to just 3-of-4 for Sidney. Now that’s competitive balance officiating.
It must be the water.
The Minster girls and boys sit atop their respective MAC standings. The Lady Wildcats are 6-0 and 15-1 overall. Expected. The boys are 4-1 and 10-1 overall. Unexpected.
The girls have won two state titles and 12 MAC crowns and hope to add to both totals this season. Their only blemish a 49-36 loss to state ranked Ottoville two weeks ago.
The boys haven’t had a winning season since 2006 and haven’t won a MAC title since 1975. Last season the Wildcats finished 7-14 and 2-6 in conference play.
Minster is led by Ross Heitkamp and Doug Huber. Heitkamp is averaging 17.9 points and Huber 14.2 points.
Their lone setback was a 68-55 verdict against Delphos St. John’s December 28.
This just in: Minster notched its 11th win of the season with a 66-63 statement at Houston Saturday night. The Wildcats jumped out to a 20-13 lead, expanded it 47-39 after three quarters, before holding off a Houston charge in the final quarter.
Heitkamp erupted for 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Look Out! The Fort Loramie Lady Redskins have found the “groove” with back-to-back, blow-out wins over Fairlawn and Versailles to improve to 7-2 in SCL and 11-5 overall.
And they’ve done it without senior post player Clair Ruhenkamp, who is suffering from bronchitis. She is expected to return this week. Ruhenkamp averages 12.6 points and eight rebounds a game. She is 22 shy of 1,000 points.
Speaking of Fort Loramie….
Erin Schieltz and Mallory Albers were inducted into the Fort Loramie Wall of Fame before the boys game Saturday. Both graduated from Loramie in 2006.
Schieltz played basketball and volleyball for Edison Community College before graduating from BGSU with a 3.83 GPA.
Albers played basketball for Shawnee State and graduated with a 3.89 GPA.
Speaking of Fort Loramie boys basketball….
The much-anticipated battle between rival conference members Fort Loramie (SCL) and Fort Recovery (MAC) evolved into nothing more than an after thought as the Redskins cruised to a 53-40 triumph Saturday night.
Recovery jumped out to a 12-8 advantage and increased the lead 17-8 before Loramie closed the first half on a brilliant 17-2 run for a 25-19 halftime lead.
Fort Loramie coach Karl Ratermann said, “We were sluggish to start out. It took us some time to figure out how to attack their zone. Once we started moving the ball, attacking, that opened the game up for us. We played with energy and got out in transition.”
Cody Albers sparked the spurt with 11 of his game high 19 points in the second quarter. He was sensational, knocking down three long-range triples and gashing the zone with dribble penetration.
Ratermann said, “Cody has been struggling from the perimeter. He came out an hour before the game and worked on his shot. I asked if he found it. He said he did. That was good.” Not good for the Indians.
The Redskins opened the third quarter with a mini 8-2 spurt to expand the lead 33-21 and never looked back. This time Nick Meyer was the daggar. He bombed his second and third threes of the game on consecutive possessions. Meyer finished with nine points.
“Nick has been shooting at a pretty good clip for us,” Ratermann commented. “He has been a pleasant surprise.”
So, who ya gonna call? ZoneBusters. Co-starring Cody Albers and Nick Meyer.
Sophomore Wade Gelhaus was the lone bright spot and kept Recovery in it with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Loramie padded the lead 49-31 midway through the final frame for its biggest margin of the game. Joe Poeppelman drained 3-of-4 free throws and finished with 10 points.
Ratermann praised Poeppelman, “He plays with a lot of energy. He is a very aggressive player. Sometimes too aggressive and gets into foul trouble, but I’d rather see that than the opposite.”
Freshman Elijah Kahlig, younger brother of former standout Greg Kahlig, scored 10 points, including three threes in the final quarter.
Fort Loramie shot a sizzling 54 percent from the field compared to a modest 41 percent for Fort Recovery.
The Redskins improve to 11-4 overall with a huge showdown this Friday at Houston for a possible share of first place in the league standings.
“We are starting to play at a high energy level. Our offense is feeding off of our defense,” said Ratermann. “We are taking it one game at a time, step by step. We had our early season funk losing three in a row. We weren’t playing hard. That was the bottom line. Since we started playing hard, everything else took care of itself.”
Fort Recovery dips to 9-5. The Indians started the season 8-0, but have dropped five of its last six games.
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