Rockets top Knights in regional finals

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

BOWLING GREEN — Drew Johnson scored 28 points, and Pandora-Gilboa used a stifling defense to defeat Crestview 70-58 in Friday night’s Division IV regional finals at Bowling Green State University.

The loss snapped a 19-game winning streak, and it ended Crestview’s season at 23-4. The Rockets (26-1) won their 20th consecutive game and advanced to next week’s State Tournament in Columbus.

After a 15-14 first quarter, the difference was Pandora-Gilboa’s 10-2 run to end the second quarter, then a 6-2 run to open the third period.

The Rockets led 21-20, when Riley Larcom hit a basket with 3:35 left in the second quarter. Johnson added a trey and Eli Phillips connected from the floor to make it 28-20. Crestview’s Wade Sheets scored off an offensive rebound to make it 28-22 with 2:03 left, but Cooper McCullough hit a triple, then Jared Breece hit two foul shots with 2.6 remaining to give the Rockets a 33-22 halftime lead.

“The second quarter really wasn’t all that advantageous for us, but give them credit, they hit some huge shots,” Crestview head coach Jeremy Best said. “On the defensive end, I thought we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do, but they passed the ball well and they hit huge shots in key situations.”

McCollough opened the third quarter with a quick basket, then Johnson drained a trey that gave Pandora-Gilboa a 38-22 lead with six minutes left in the period.

“He’s diverse,” Best said of the 6-5 Johnson. “He can shoot it, he can drive it and we lost him a few times early in transition.”

After a timeout, the stunned Knights tried to get back in the game. Javin Etzler and Derek Stout combined for nine points, with Etzler converting a basket and three pointer, while Stout hit a bucket and two free throws. Stout hit another basket then Jace Vining scored, but Pandora-Gilboa still had a 43-35 lead with 1:29 left in the period. Johnson hit a right corner three and McCullough converted a foul shot, before Etzler hit a buzzer beater to make it 47-37 at the end of three quarters.

Etzler, who scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, trimmed the gap to 47-40 early in the fourth quarter, but the Rockets countered with bucket and free throw by Larcom and a right wing triple by Johnson that extended the lead to 53-40.

“Anytime we would try to make a run (they would answer), and that’s what good teams do,” Best said. “They just did a good job of plugging gaps, but our guys fought, and I was proud of them.”

The Knights were able to pull within eight, 59-51 with less than two minutes left, but Pandora-Gilboa used the free throw line to secure the win.

The Rockets finished the game 24 of 43 from the floor (55.8 percent), while Crestview was 22 of 54 from the field (40.7 percent).

Derek Stout finished his Crestview basketball career with a team high 23 points.

“All season we battled and played hard, we played as a family, and I guess sometimes you can’t win every game,” Stout said. “They outplayed us today. It was a great season, but unfortunately we came up short today.”

Scoring summary:

Pandora-Gilboa 15 18 14 23 – 70
Crestview           14  8 15 21 – 58

Pandora-Gilboa: Jared Breece 3-4-10; Cooper McCullough 2-4-9; Drew Johnson 10-3-28; Riley Larcom 6-1-14; Eli Phillips 3-3-10

Crestview: Wade Sheets 1-0-2; Javin Etzler 6-1-17; Drew Kline 2-0-4; Derek Stout 10-3-23; Derick Dealey 1-2-5; Kalen Etzler 0-2-2; Jace Vining 1-0-2; Trevor Gibson 1-0-3