Staff report
PLEASANT HILL — The Houston Wildcats were outscored 7-5 in overtime and lost their season opener in boys basketball action, 52-50, to Newton in high school non-league action Saturday night.
The Wildcats will return to action Friday at home against the Jackson Center Tigers in County play.
“I was a little disappointed because we came out of the scrimmage season feeling pretty good,” said Houston coach John Willoughby. “But we didn’t play at that level. They scored 18 points in the first quarter, which wasn’t good. But we did alright after that.”
It was tight throughout, and the Wildcats had the lead in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t close it out.
“We would get up two and they would come down a hit a three,” said Willoughy. “We were never able to pull away.”
The Wildcats had good balance in their scoring. Domyneik Phipps led the way with 13, Josh Freytag added 12 and Mark Shaffer finished with 11.
Houston (50) — Phipps 13, McKee 2, Beaver 1, Arnold 2, Shaffer 11, Sluss 4, Jolly 5, Freytag 12.
Newton (52) — Honeycutt 12, Jameson 17, McBride 17, Farrell 3, Riffel 2.
Score by quarters:
Houston 14 28 34 45 50
Newton 18 27 35 45 52
Three-pointers: Houston 5 (Phipps 2, Shaffer, Sluss, Jolly); Newton 5 (McBride 2, Honeycutt, Jameson, Farrell).
Records: Houston 0-1, Newton 1-0.
Reserve score: Houston 37, Newton 35.
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Botkins 59, Parkway 37
BOTKINS — The Botkins Trojans evened their record at 1-1 with a 59-37 rout of visiting Parkway in non-league action Saturday.
The Trojans are back in action Friday night in County play at Fort Loramie.
Botkins had a big first half, pouring in 36 points, including 22 in the second quarter to go from a 14-9 edge after one to a 36-18 doubling at the half.
Chad Bergman led the Trojans for the second night in a row, finishing with 15. Cameron Flora added 11. Three more players had seven or more in a show of balanced scoring for the Trojans.
Parkway (37) — Agler 8, Baxter 3, Huff 14, Dugan 2, Baker 2, Barna 6.
Botkins (59) — Egbert 8, Roberts 2, E. Greve 6, Flora 11, L. Bergman 7, N. Greve 7, Miller 3, C. Bergman 15.
Score by quarters:
Parkway 9 18 24 37
Botkins 14 36 47 59
Three-pointers: Botkins 3 (L. Bergman 2, Egbert). Parkway 4 (Agler 2, Huff 2.
Records: Botkins 1-1, Parkway 1-1.
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St. Henry 40, Russia 39
ST. HENRY — Russia led into the final period, but St. Henry was able to rally and pull out a 40-39 thriller over the Raiders in non-league boys action Saturday night.
The loss evened Russia’s record at 1-1, and because of the scheduled game with Minster this week being postponed because of football, the Raiders are off until Dec. 8 at home against Anna in County play.
Russia jumped to a 14-8 lead after one quarter and was still up by five entering the final period.
“We had trouble handling their half-court pressure,” said Russia coach Spencer Cordonnier. “We couldn’t get into any kind of flow on offense because of the way they pressured our wings. But we played with the lead the whole time. We missed some free throws and got some bad breaks and some calls that didn’t go our way in the fourth quarter, and St. Henry made the plays. (Mitch) Stammen is their top player and he had six points in the fourth quarter. And all three came on tough shots.”
St. Henry hit the game-winner with :05 left in the game, the shot coming from deep in the corner by Ryan Luttmer.
“He couldn’t have been any deeper in the corner,” Cordonnier said.
Josh York followed up his 29-point effort on Friday with 14 to again lead the Raiders. He also pulled down eight rebounds.
Russia was 15-for-37 from the field and St. Henry 13-for-40. Both teams had 21 rebounds, and Russia had 13 turnovers to 11 for the Redskins.
Russia (39) — York 14, Cordonnier 8, Gariety 7, Monnin 4, Monnier 3, Counts 2, Poling 1.
St. Henry (40) — Lefeld 11, Niekamp 11, Stammen 10, Lutmer 8.
Score by quarters:
Russia 14 23 32 39
St. Henry 8 18 27 40
Three-pointers: Russia 4 (Cordonnier 2, Gariety, Monnier); St. Henry 4 (Lefeld 2, Luttmer 2).
Records: Both teams 1-1.
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Loramie 52, Knoxville 51
FORT LORAMIE — Senior Drew Wehrman hit a floater in the lane with 3.8 seconds remaining to give the Fort Loramie Redskins a thriller over neighboring New Knoxville Saturday night in boys basketball action, 52-51 in non-league play.
The win evened Fort Loramie’s record on the year at 1-1 with Botkins coming to town Friday night in County play.
Saturday’s game was the season opener for the Rangers, and they return to action Friday night at home against Waynesfield-Goshen in non-league play.
“We didn’t play great, but I have to give the kids credit,” said Loramie coach Corey Britton. “They found a way to win.”
The Redskins nearly let it get away because of turnovers. They took a five-point lead into the final period but had trouble taking care of the ball, and the Rangers capitalized, taking a one-point lead at 51-50 with a minute remaining.
But the Rangers turned it over and set the stage for Wehrman’s last shot.
“We took a shot and missed, and Dillon Braun came up with a huge offensive rebound,” said Britton. “And Drew made a great move to get his shot off.”
Braun finished with 19 and Wehrman 14 to lead the Redskins, who shot well from the field on 18-for-36. Josh Siegel added eight rebounds.
Leffel and Topp both had 12 for the Rangers.
Knoxville (51) — Leffel 12, Topp 12, Gable 3, Lageman 6, Timmerman 7, Stone 5, Neuman 6.
Loramie (52) — Wehrman 14, Rosengarten 4, Braun 19, Pleiman 4, Gasson 4, Siegel 7.
Score by quarters:
Knoxville 13 27 39 51
Loramie 17 30 44 52
Three-pointers: NK 3 (Leffel, Topp, Timmerman); FL 4 (Braun 2, Rosengarten, Wehrman).
Records: Loramie 1-1, Knoxville 0-1.
Reserve score: Loramie 43, Knoxville 20.
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Troy Chr. 40, New Bremen 36
TROY — The New Bremen Cardinals were unable to close out a win Saturday, Troy Christian coming from behind to pull out a 40-36 verdict in non-league action at Troy.
The loss leaves the Cardinals at 0-2 with Versailles coming to town Friday in Midwest Athletic Conference play.
Bremen led by four at the half and by three after three periods, but managed just five points in the fourth quarter, allowing the Eagles to rally for the win.
Greg Parker and Deion Hoehne both had 10 for New Bremen.
New Bremen (36) — Bowers 2, Schwieterman 4, Parker 10, Reed 6, Hoehne 10, Heitkamp 2.
Troy Christian (40) — Hartman 2, Spurlock 4, Hayden 2, Wynne 2, Brown 10, Anderson 6, Kamentz 14.
Score by quarters:
NB 7 21 31 36
TC 7 17 28 40
Three-pointers: NB 2 (Reed 2); TC 2 (Brown 2).
Records: NB 1-1, TC 1-0
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Triad 65, Fairlawn 64
NORTH LEWISBURG — Fairlawn dropped to 0-2 to start the season after losing a tough one on the road, 65-64 to Triad Saturday night.
No details of the game were available.
The Jets are back in action Friday at Anna.
