Wednesday, February 24th, 2016
Rangers move on; Cardinals fall
Division IV Boys Basketball Sectional - Coldwater
By Dave Stilwell
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Tate Myers shoots a jump shot against Ada during the nightcap of Tuesday's Division IV sectional semifinal doubleheader in Coldwater.
COLDWATER - There were no surprises Tuesday night at the Palace as the higher seeded teams advanced out of the Coldwater Boys Division IV Sectional Semifinals.
New Knoxville outlasted Hardin Northern 47-36 to earn a trip to the finals Friday night for a date with fellow Midwest Athletic Conference competitor, St. Henry, beginning at 6:15 p.m.
In the nightcap, the Ada Bulldogs rolled to a 75-58 victory over New Bremen and will now face Minster in the other sectional final Friday at approximately 8 p.m. back at the Palace.
New Knoxville 47, Hardin Northern 36.
The Rangers (9-14) appeared to take control of the game early in the second quarter, but the Polar Bears refused to melt away.
After falling behind 6-0 to start the game, the Rangers went on a 12-0 run, aided by a pair of three pointers from Logan Leffel. Sam Stone closed out the first quarter with an old-fashioned three-point play to give New Knoxville a 17-9 lead at the first buzzer.
Nick Topp and Nathan Tinnerman teamed up to score the first eight points of the second quarter, and it looked like the Rangers were on their way, leading 27-11. However, the 16-point margin would be the largest of the game.
Hardin Northern trailed by 12 at halftime and stayed within striking distance for most of the second half.
"Watching Hardin Northern, I told our guys that they are a team that works really hard and plays well with confidence," New Knoxville coach Josh Lisi said. "And we gave them some confidence tonight. They hit some good shots early, played hard and just kept coming at us."
The second half was an offensive struggle for both teams, which combined for a total of six made field goals over the final 16 minutes.
The Rangers, out of control at times, were whistled for numerous player control fouls.
"We did a lot of forcing tonight," Lisi said. "We played a little bit out of character. We've got to learn how to jump stop, kick the ball out, and make that extra pass. Tonight I think we got a little bit too selfish."
Tinnerman and Leffel scored in double figures for the Rangers with 13 and 10 points respectively. Will Poling was the offensive star for Hardin Northern with 18 points, including four treys.
The Rangers get a rematch with St. Henry (16-6). The Redskins won the first meeting between the two teams, 48-37, back on Dec. 18 at St. Henry.
"St. Henry is a great team," Lisi said. "To beat a great team you have to come up with a game plan and stick with it. Tonight, I thought we didn't stay with our game plan."
Ada 75, New Bremen 58
The Bulldogs avenged a 71-45 loss to New Bremen last year in the Division IV Sectional Finals at Coldwater.
This year the difference was Ada guard Brayden Sautter, who quarterbacked a spread offense that New Bremen was a step behind all night.
The Bulldogs scored 23 points in the first quarter and made it look easy at times, as the Cardinals collapsed the middle and left players wide open on the wings numerous times.
"I thought we could do a better job on Sautter than we did," New Bremen coach Adam Dougherty said. "He's improved a lot in a year. A year ago at this time we were able to pressure them into mistakes. We couldn't do that tonight and they took advantage of our weaknesses."
New Bremen got its offense in gear during the second quarters but the Cardinals could only match the red hot Bulldogs, who shot 59 percent from the floor in the first half.
"They had a good game plan. Give them a lot of credit," Dougherty added. "It's part of their offense to spread you out and he (Sautter) handles the ball really well and gets it where it needs to go."
New Bremen committed six personal fouls in the first three minutes of the second half and never seemed to recover.
The Cardinals (4-19) were three-of-17 from the floor in the third quarter, falling behind 54-38 heading into the final eight minutes.
The Bulldogs (14-9) hit enough free throws down the stretch to prevent things from getting interesting.
Ada got all of its scoring (and shooting) from its starters and sixth man -- five of which scored in double figures. Blake Willeke led the way with 17 points. Jackson Secor and Jordan Bailer added 15 each, Sautter followed with 14 and Owen Conley with 10.
Greg Parker and Tate Myers paced the Cardinals with 12 and 11 points respectively.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Greg Parker sets his sights on the basket during Tuesday's game with Ada at the Division IV boys basketball sectional in Coldwater.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville's Nathan Tinnerman goes up for two of his 13 points in the Rangers' sectional semifinal win over Hardin Northern.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville's Jace Kuck goes up for a shot against Hardin Northern.
