Crestview Knights are state champions!

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

COLUMBUS — For the second time in five seasons, the Crestview Knights are OHSAA Division IV state basketball champions.

The No. 2 ranked Knights handily defeated No. 1 Berlin Hiland 58-38 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University on Saturday.

Along the way, Crestview shot 21 of 36 (58 percent) from the floor and 12 of 15 from the foul line, while the Hawks were held to 15 of 40 (38 percent) shooting and 4 of 9 from the free throw line. The Knights enjoyed a huge 31 to 14 rebounding advantage.

“Yes, we have talent, we have guys who are athletic, but you have to love each other, you have to have relationships, you have to trust each other and I’ve been in this long enough to know that’s not always easy to do,” Crestview head coach Jeremy Best said of his team. “I’m just so proud of them, all of them.”

“There’s nothing like this, I’ve never felt this before,” guard Drew Kline said. “This is great and we’ll remember this 20 years from now, we’ll come back together and look back on this. It’s awesome.”

“Crestview is a great basketball team and they made it so we were never really comfortable in the game,” Berlin Hiland head coach Mark Schlabach said.

Crestview opened the game with a quick 10-0 lead and enjoyed a 15-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter. However, Berlin Hiland fought back and tied the game 19-19 with 4:05 left in the second quarter. The run included a jumper by Sam Habeger, a triple by Kendall Hochstetler, a bucket and foul shot by Andy Miller and a short jump shot by Hunter Sommers.

The Knights responded with a 10-0 run to end the period. Javin Etzler started with a tip-in of a missed bucket, Wade Sheets converted a pair of free throws, then Derick Dealey drained a pair of big treys, one from the right wing, and the other from the top of the key to give Crestview a 29-19 halftime advantage.

“We were feeling like the game was at our tempo and our control, then they ended the half with that really good run and from that point on we never got comfortable at either end of the floor,” Schlabach said. “We just attribute that to them.”

“We felt good in the locker room and I liked our vibe for the most part,” Best said. “We carried that back into the third quarter.”

Crestview outscored Berlin Hiland 18-10 in the third quarter, with Sheets scoring 12 of those points and Kalen Etzler accounting for the remaining six. Meanwhile, the Knights held the Hawks off the scoreboard for the remaining 2:32 of the period. Sheets went on to finish with a game high 21 points and eight rebounds, while Etzler had 14 points and six rebounds.

“Everything was going well,” Sheets said of the third quarter. “We were moving the ball well and everything was flowing, it was just great.”

“We have some length, we have some athleticism and I thought that over time we could wear on them and today it happened to work out for us,” Best said.

The Knights used the free throw line to keep a comfortable margin in the fourth quarter, and the final basket of season came on a two handed slam dunk by Kalen Etzler, with 1:17 left. Older brother Javin, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, provided the assist on the dunk.

Crestview finished the season 28-1, while the Hawks finished 28-2.

Scoring summary

Crestview 15 14 18 11 – 58
Ber. Hiland 9 10 10 9 – 38

Crestview: Kalen Etzler 6-1-14; Wade Sheets 7-6-21; Javin Etzler 5-0-10; Drew Kline 1-0-2; Derick Dealey 2-5-11

Berlin Hiland: Andy Miller 5-2-13; Kendall Hochstetler 1-0-3; Hunter Sommers 3-0-7; Sam Harberger 5-2-12; Jared Raber 1-0-3