Crestview wins another NWC championship

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

CONVOY — For the second time in two seasons, the Crestview Knights are Northwest Conference basketball championships.

The No. 2 ranked Knights (21-1, 7-1 NWC) defeated Columbus Grove 61-44 at Ray Etzler Gymnasium on Friday, forcing a co-championship between the two schools.

“It’s special to go back-to-back in the NWC,” Crestview head coach Jeremy Best said. “It’s hard to win a conference title, especially the way we had to do it. We had to grind it out after losing our first (conference) game of the year, and I’m just proud of our guys’ resilience.”

As has been the case throughout much of the season, Crestview dominated the second half. The Knights had a 29-24 lead to start the third quarter, but opened with an 11-4 run to make it 40-28. Drew Kline had four of those points, while Javin Etzler and Wade Sheets each had one and Derick Dealey drained a triple.

Grayson Flores and Gabe Clement each scored to pull Columbus Grove (16-5, 7-1 NWC) to within eight, 40-32 with 1:15 left in the quarter, but a layup by Kline and a late three pointer from the top of the key by Dealey boosted Crestview’s lead to 45-32 entering the final period.

Javin Etzler and Kline took over in the fourth quarter, combining for 13 of Crestview’s 16 points. Kline, who repeatedly slashed to the basket throughout the game, finished with 14 points.

“He took advantage of what was there,” Best said of Kline. “He attacked, he didn’t hesitate and that was a beautiful thing to see, because he’s an athlete and when you put an athlete in a competitive environment, that’s when they rise to the occasion.”

“I thought all of our guys played well,” Best added. “Javin had a good night, Wade played so hard, Colton (Lautzenheiser) came in off the bench, and Derick hit some huge shots to get us going.”

Javin Etzler finished with a game high 17 points, Sheets had 13 and Dealey finished with 11.

Early on it appeared the game might be a runaway for the Knights. Kline scored the first four points of the game, then Etzler and Sheets each added baskets for an 8-0 Crestview lead. However, Columbus Grove fought back and trailed by just two, 15-13 at the end of the first quarter.

“We started the game off really good defensively, then we lulled a little bit, but I think we lulled because we lulled on the offensive end – we got out of attack mode,” Best said.

A bucket by Blake Reynolds tied the game early in the second period, and the 6-3 sophomore would go on to score six points in the quarter, including a pair of foul shots that gave the Bulldogs a 20-19 lead with 4:23 left until halftime. Reynolds went on to finish with 12 points.

“They hit some tough shots,” Best said of Columbus Grove. “We had a 6-7 player on Reynolds and the kid hit some tough shots in the lane and we did what we wanted to do, but he made the shots.”

Kalen Etzler and Dealey answered with layups and the Knights didn’t trail again in the game.

“They kicked our tails on the offensive glass in the first half,” Columbus Grove head coach Chris Sautter said. “It was a five point game at half and we gave up eight second chance points, so you do the math. Rebound the ball and we’re up.”

“We can’t go out and match up with that size and speed they have at the different positions. We did what we could for as long as we could, but they’re a senior dominate team. Give them credit, they’re a good basketball team and they’ll give a lot of teams problems in the tournament.”

Crestview will return to action Friday in the upper bracket Division IV sectional championship game at Van Wert High School. The No. 1 seed Knights will play the winner of Tuesday’s game between Fort Jennings and Temple Christian.

Scoring summary

Crestview 15 14 16 16 – 61
Col. Grove 13 11 8 12 – 44

Crestview: Kalen Etzler 3-0-6; Wade Sheets 6-1-13; Javin Etzler 8-0-17; Drew Kline 7-0-14; Derick Dealey 4-0-11

Columbus Grove: Blake Reynolds 5-2-12; Tayt Birnesser 6-0-13; Evan Hopkins 2-0-5; Gabe Clement 1-0-2; Grayson Flores 4-1-10; Alex Schneider 1-0-2

JV: Columbus Grove 52-48