Cardinals win home opening game
NEW BREMEN — Flying during the holidays can be a challenge.
But there were few delays or missed connections as the New Bremen Cardinals winged their way past visiting Ottoville 62-43 in nonleague boys basketball to open the 2021-22 season on Friday night.
New Bremen used a balanced attack on both ends of the court as they led from start to finish. Ottoville, which trailed by 17 at the half, made a bit of a run in the third, but couldn’t make it too close.
Sophomore guard Aaron Thieman had 15 points to lead New Bremen, while seniors Trevor Bergman and Nick Alig each tallied 13.
William Miller did the bulk of the offensive work for Ottoville, scoring 22 points. The Cardinals contained the others, as Noah Sellers was next highest with just six points.
Coach Cory Stephens of New Bremen was pleased with how the defense was able to get stops, which led to additional chances for the offense. “We had pretty balanced scoring,” Stephens said, “and we rebounded pretty well.” He added it was nice to open the season at home with the fans providing a good atmosphere.
Each team showed some opening night jitters, with missed shots and turnovers in the first couple of minutes. Alig got the first point of the season on a free throw with 5:41 to play. The first basket came from Nathan Rindler on a layup. Michael Steffan of Ottoville drained a 3-pointer to tie it.
New Bremen then scored three straight, two by Thieman, with one by Alig in between. After a score by Miller for the Big Green with 2 1/2 minutes to play in the period, Reece Busse got the ball under the basket. He fired it out to Berg
man. The senior splashed it through for a 12-5 lead. Bergman would score again, then Ottoville’s Kellen Schlagbaum made two free throws in the closing seconds to make the margin seven points at the end of the first.
New Bremen forced a turnover to start the second, and Alig took the ball and converted. After a 3-pointer from Miller, big man Rindler responded with a traditional 3-point play (basket and free throw) at the 6:24 mark.
Miller was then knocked down during a 3-point attempt and made two of the three shots from the line.
A couple more points
made it a 10-point game, 2212, for the Cards. The scoring pace then picked up on both sides, with New Bremen getting baskets by David Homan, Ben Wells, Alig and Thieman to maintain its lead, then a 3-pointer by Alig pushing it up to 33-18.
Miller made a shot with just under a minute to go, and added a free throw. New Bremen came back with a bucket by Busse, then forced a late turnover and fed Bergman behind the arc. The shot was good, making it 3821 at the break.
Miller and Carter Schnipke made shots to get the second half going on a positive note for Ottoville. Bergman then made two trips to the free throw line, and connected of 3 of the 4 attempts. That was followed
by a 3-ball from Alig.
Ottoville made a charge over the next couple of minutes, cutting the lead down to 10 points, with most of the scoring by Miller.
Homan took the ball from one end to the other, going along the sideline, then slashing his way to the middle, and Bergman followed with another score to keep the Big Green at bay.
Steffan got one to drop for the visitors. As he had at the end of the half, Bergman lined up from the behind the arc and found nothing but net as the quarter expired, making it 53-38.
The Cardinals got a score by Rindler, with Homan providing the assist. A trey by Busse and a steal and score from Thieman pushed the lead over 20 points.
The teams took things easy down the stretch as the Cardinals cruised to the opening night win by 19.
Game Notes
In the junior varsity contest, New Bremen defeated Ottoville 49-45. Scoring for New Bremen: Hayden Zeller 18; Cooper Scheib 8; Jackson Lennartz 7; Alex Homan 5; Gavin Schrader 4; Henry Nelson 3; Kai Eastham 2; and Dylan Bambauer 2.
Score by quarters Ottoville 7 14 17 5 -43
New Bremen
14 24 15 9 -- 62
OTTOVILLE (43) William Miller 7-1-57-22; William Horstman 0-0-0-0-0; Carter Schnipke 0-1-0-0-3; Michael Steffan 1-1-0-0-5; Dru Hilvers 0-10-0-3; Kellen Schlagbaum 0-0-2-2-2; Grant Leis 0-00-0-0; Trey Landwehr 0-00-0-0; Noah Sellers 2-0-24-6; Alex Suever 0-0-0-0-0; Carter Horstman 1-0-0-0-2; Michael Turnwald 0-0-0-00; TOTALS 11-4-9-13-43.
NEW BREMEN (62) Aaron Thieman 6-1-0-015; Cooper Scheib 0-0-0-00; Trevor Bergman 2-2-3-413; Grant Wilker 0-0-0-0-0; Nick Alig 3-2-1-2-13; Reece Busse 2-1-0-0-7; Ben Wells 1-0-0-0-2; Tate Roetgerman 0-0-0-0-0; Colten Muether 0-0-0-0-0; Nathan Rindler 3-0-1-3-7; Dylan Bambauer 0-0-1-2-1; David Homan 2-0-0-0-4; TOTALS 19-66-11-62.