Staff report
It rained three-pointers Saturday night in the Sidney High gym. I fact, it rained threes all weekend.
Sidney was able to survive Friday night, with most of Tipp City’s nine three-pointers coming late when the Red Devils rallied from a 19-point deficit to make it close at the end in an 80-73 verdict.
Saturday night was a different story, however.
Wapakoneta hit five three-pointers in the opening quarter and never let up in handing the Yellow Jackets a 57-38 beating in non-league play. When it was over, the Redskins had drained 14 three-pointers in the game.
Sidney head coach John Willoughby had an interesting take on the contest. Despite the 14 threes by Wapak, Willoughby was more upset by his team’s offensive play than the defensive effort.
“Defense can affect your offense and that’s exactly what happened,” he said. “They hit their threes and we were more worried about that than our own selves. Everybody is thinking about the threes, but they only scored in the 50s. I was more frustrated with our offense. We were overreacting to their dribble-drive and leaving people open, and we let that affect how we played on offense. We didn’t seem comfortable at either end of the floor.”
Wapak led 17-13 after a quarter and moved out to a 29-22 lead at the half. Sidney then came out in the third quarter and scored just six points, and with the Redskins hitting five more three-pointers in the period, the lead ballooned to 46-28 after three quarters. The Jackets never challenged down the stretch.
Sidney drops to 2-1 on the year and has three straight road games ahead, starting with Tuesday night at Troy.
Sidney was led by Andre Gordon with 14, and that was less than half his average. And Sidney’s 38 points was also only about half of what the Jackets averaged in their first two games.
Wapakoneta got three-pointers from six different players, with Aaron Good hitting five and Nick Schoonover four.
Wapakoneta (57) — Schoonover 13, Good 15, Burton 1, Copeland 10, Scott 9, Schroer 5.
Sidney (38) — Bowser 4, Conrad 3, Roberts 8, An. Gordon 14, Al. Gordon 4, Rogers 1, Hudgins 4.
Score by quarters:
Wapak`17`29`46`57
Sidney`13`22`28`38
Three-pointers: Wapak 14 (Good 5, Schoonover 4, Copeland 2, Burton, Scott, Schroer); Sidney 2 (Conrad, An. Gordon).
Records: Sidney 2-1, Wapak 2-0.
Reserve score: Sidney 56, Wapak 54, 3 ots.
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Botkins 68, Ridgemont 52
BOTKINS — The Botkins Trojans rode the hot hand of Luke Bergman to their second win of the season Saturday, a 68-52 victory over visiting Ridgemont in non-league action.
The win was No. 101 for longtime head coach Brett Meyer, who recorded his milestone 100th in the win over Parkway last Saturday.
The Trojans led by just two after a quarter before steadily stretching out the lead.
Bergman, who entered Saturday’s game averaging 21.3 points per game, was outstanding against the Gophers. He hit 11 of his 14 shots from the field, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, and went on to score 28 points. In addition, he had nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
Alex Bergman added a double-double for the Trojans with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Spencer Heuker added 12 points.
Behind Luke Bergman’s phenomenal shooting, Botkins shot 58 percent from the field on 23-for-39, including 6-for-11 from three-point range, 54 percent.
Botkins goes to 2-2 on the season and will play at Houston on Tuesday night in County play.
Ridgemont (52) — Jenkins 4, Martino 3, Salunas 4, Stover 14, Smith 7, Sparks 9, James 2, McKunley 9.
Botkins (68) — Heuker 12, Opperman 3, Metz 6, L. Bergman 28, A. Bergman 11, Butcher 8.
Score by quarters:
Ridgemont`13`23`37`52
Botkins`15`31`48`68
Three-pointers: Botkins 6 (L. Bergman 4, A. Bergman 2); Ridgemont 6 (Sparks 3, Jenkins, Maretino, Stover).
Records: Botkins 2-2, Ridgemont 0-4.
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Anna 56, NK 33
Anna used a big first quarter and an even bigger third quarter to post a big win on the road Saturday, defeating the New Knoxville Rangers in non-league play, 56-33 in boys basketball action.
The win put Anna at 2-1 on the season heading into a big week. The Rockets play at Jackson Center Tuesday, then host Russia Friday.
New Knoxville is now 1-2 on the year and will return to action Friday at Parkway in Midwest Athletic Conference play.
“It was great to go on the road and get a win,” said Anna head coach Nate Barhorst. “I was real pleased with our defense, especially Nathan Frilling, who did a good job on Nick Topp. Our defense the whole weekend was excellent.
“And offensively, we got some kids going that we needed to get going,” he added.
One of those was Wyatt Bensman, who finished with 18 points on the strength of five three-pointers. Joel Cathcart added 11 for the Rockets.
Anna led 15-7 after a quarter, and made it a 10-point game at the half at 24-14. Then in the third quarter, the Rockets outscored the Rangers 19-4 to open up a 43-15 bulge.
“We wanted to come out much more aggressive in the third quarter,” said Barhorst. “We started trapping half court and it really got us going.”
Nathan Tinnerman had 14 to lead the Rangers.
Anna (56) — Frilling 7, Bensman 18, Roe 7, Doseck 6, Platfoot 1, Cathcart 11, Osborne 6.
NK (33) — Bartholamew 4, Topp 2, Lageman 7, Tinnerman 14, Thobe 6.
Score by quarters:
Anna`15`24`43`56
NK`7`14`18`33
Three-pointers: Anna 7 (Bensman 5, Frilling, Cathcart); NK 2 (Lageman, Tinnerman).
Records: Anna 2-1, NK 1-2.
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Russia 56, Arcanum 45
RUSSIA — The final score is quite deceiving from Saturday night’s Russia-Arcanum game, and Russia coach Spencer Cordonnier said he fully expected to have his hands full with brother-in-law Marcus Bixler’s Trojans in non-league play at Russia.
With just a minute remaining, Russia was clinging to a three-point lead, but a foul plus a technical on Arcanum resulted in Jack Dapore standing at the free throw line and sinking four straight free throws. The Raiders added a few more in the waning seconds to make it a final 11-point margin at 56-45.
The win put Russia at 4-1 on the season going into a Friday night game at Anna in County play. Arcanum is now 1-1.
“It was tight the whole way,” said Cordonnier. “They run a lot of good stuff, with a lot of movement on offense. They are very disciplined and they don’t take bad shots.
“I knew going in that we were going to have a tough game,” he added. “They run their offense very well and we had trouble handling their guards.”
Thge Raiders had outstanding balance in their scoring, with five players scoring from 8 to 11 points. Drew Sherman led the way with 11 and Dapore finished with 10.
“Drew Sherman just continues to play great ball,” said Cordonnier. “He hit some big shots and played very solid ball. And he doesn’t get a whole lot of breaks.”
Arcanum (45) — Kinney 2, Burns 8, Gray 8, Meeks 16, Atchley 11.
Russia (56) — Cordonnier 9, Sherman 11, Monnier 6, Cohee 3, Tebbe 9, Dapore 10, Kearns 8.
Score by quarters:
Arcanum`12`22`35`45
Russia`15`26`38`56
Three-pointers: Arcanum 7 (Burns 2, Gray 2, Meeks 2, Atchley); Russia 6 (Sherman 2, Monnier 2, Dapore 2).
Records: Russia 4-1, Arcanum 1-1.
Reserve score: Russia 50, Arcanum 25.
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St. Marys 70, New Bremen 49
NEW BREMEN — The New Bremen Cardinals dropped to 0-3 on the season with a 70-49 home loss to St. Mary sin non-league boys action Saturday.
The Cardinals will return to action Friday at Versailles.
Bremen trailed just 15-14 after a quarter, but the Tigers outscored them 19-7 in the second quarter to take control.
Nolan Bornhorst had 17 to lead the Cardinals.
St. Marys (70) — Wilker 9, Jacobs 14, Jay 20, Kuenning 9, Dunlap 3, Grannan 7, Mielke 3, Young 5.
New Bremen (49) — Alig 3, Powers 2, Bornhorst 17, Heitkamp 6, Messick 3, Vonderhaar 5, Clem 13.
Score by quarters:
SM`15`34`53`70
NB`14`21`33`49
Three-pointers: SM 8 (Jay 4, Mielke, Wilker, Jacobs, Young); NB 0.
Records: NB 0-3, SM 1-1.
Reserve score: NB 51, SM 37.
