3/6/2010
Delphos goes cold, falls to Musketeers, 39-34
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| Kirk Dougal/Times Bulletin
Curtis Geise of Delphos St. John’s puts up a shot over Cody Warnecke of Fort Jennings, while Jay Clark (33) looks on, during a sectional basketball game on Friday, March 5, in Van Wert. |
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BY KIRK DOUGAL
Times Bulletin Editor
kdougal@timesbulletin.com
VAN WERT - High school basketball coaches will tell you that good defense and timely free throw shooting will win a lot of games. They had another example to prove it on Friday night.
Ft. Jennings and Delphos St. John's met at Van Wert High School in the opening game of the sectional finals and the Blue Jays just could not overcome the Musketeers defense and free throws as they fell, 39-34.
The game began like it was going to be all St. John's. Threes by Nate Webb and Wes Ulm along with not turning the ball over for the first time until only 48 seconds remained in the period helped them get off to a good start. Ft. Jennings' Jared Horstman answered with four points of his own but it was not enough as Delphos held a 12-8 lead at the first break.
The Jays' Ty Bergfeld opened the first trip in the second with a baseline 10-footer for a bucket before Jennings' Jeremy Kohli got into the scoring action with a put back for two points. Delphos shots began clanking off the rim as the Musketeer defense forced them to shoot farther and farther out on the court. A steal and a runout by Trevor Von Sossan extended the Ft. Jennings run to 8-0 followed by a trey in the left corner by Von Sossan again, giving the Muskies a 19-14 lead. A three-pointer by St. John's Ulm finally stopped the Muskie run at 13-0 but it was the Jays Justin Backus who electrified the fans with a steal at half court and then a dunk at the buzzer to draw Delphos back to within three points at the half, 22-19.
Ft. Jennings coach John Von Sossan continued to pressure with his defense as they stayed primarily in a box-and-one with the chaser on Webb whenever he was in the game. When he was not, the Muskies continued to push the Jays farther from the bucket. They only attempted eight field goals in the entire third period and seven of them were from beyond the arc. Only one fell as Delphos was held to just five points but their defense saved them in turn. Only Kohli and Horstman were able to find the bucket for Ft. Jennings so at the end of three quarters, Delphos only trailed 29-24.
Again it was Ulm to open the quarter with a bomb followed by Scott Recker who grabbed two offensive rebounds on one trip before he put the ball in the hoop, knotting the game at 29-29.
Horstman finally hit a free throw at the 4:15 mark of the period to give the Muskies their first score. However, it was Recker again, this time on a stop-and-pop in the paint from 10 feet to give St. John's their first lead since early in the second quarter. But then Kohli hit two free throws - banking the first one - and it was all a march to the charity stripe for the rest of the game. Ft. Jennings hit ten of their first 12 freebies in the period to sew up the game as the Jays' shooting eye finally deserted them completely.
St. John's coach Aaron Elwer talked after the game about how the Musketeer defense forced his team into taking so many shots.
"I think they had a good plan going into (the game). By the same token, offensively we did some good things. There was a couple of times that we turned it over because of a lack of concentration. But we were hitting fairly good shots but we were not able to get second or third opportunities. We just didn't shoot it very well tonight against their zone."
After the game, Coach Von Sossan emphasized again how well his defense had played in the victory.
"We didn't want Webb beating us and we isn't scoring, they seem to struggle a little. I thought we did a great job, especially on the defensive boards. I know at halftime they had no offensive put backs. That was one of our concerns about playing (the zone). But I thought we did an excellent job of getting the ball off the glass and limiting them to one shot."
Ft. Jennings was led on the night by Jeremy Kohli's 11 points and Trevor Von Sossan's 10. Jared Horstman had a terrific night on the boards with 11 rebounds to go with his nine points. Wes Ulm was the only Jay in double figures with 14 points.
Unofficially, Ft. Jennings was 11 of 32 from the field for 34 percent, including one of seven (14%) from beyond the arc. But they were 16 of 24 (67%) from the free throw line including all ten of their points in the fourth quarter. St. John's was 13 of 39 (33%) from the field but that included a six for 25 performance from beyond the arc for only 24 percent.
Ft. Jennings won the battle of the boards, 22-19, but Delphos took the slight edge on turnovers, 10-11.
Ft. Jennings will take on New Bremen at 8 p.m. next Tuesday at Wapakoneta High School.
1 2 3 4 Totals
Ft. Jennings 8 14 7 10 39
St. John's 12 7 5 10 34
Ft. Jennings - Mesker 1-2-4, Norbeck 1-1-3, Von Sossan 2-5-10, Warnecke 1-0-2, Kohli 3-5-11, Horstman 3-3-9 Totals 11-16-39
St. John's - Ulm 5-0-14, Backus 3-0-7, S. Klausing 0-0-0, Recker 2-2-6, Geise 1-0-2, Bergfeld 1-0-2, Web 1-0-3, Clark 0-0-0 Totals 13-2-34
3 Pts. Ft. Jennings (1) - Von Sossan; St, John's (6) - Ulm (4), Backus, Webb
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