Cardinals take down Bulldogs in ‘21 finale
NEW BREMEN — The Cardinals rang out 2021 in style.
New Bremen flew up and down the court on Thursday night as they defeated Elida 76-44 in a non league matchup at the Nest.
Not only did every member of the Cardinals roster see plenty of playing time, every one of them contributed offensively.
New Bremen, which improved to 8-2 on the year, had solid production in the first half, building a 12-point lead. In the third, however, they hit the afterburners, scoring 28 points. The fourth quarter saw heavy rotation continue as they kept the Bulldogs at a distance.
Reece Busse had 16 points in three quarters of work. Nathan Rindler had eight and Ben Ells had seven.
For Elida (3-7), X’zorian Island had 16 points and David Etzkorn scored nine.
Coach Cory Stephens of New Bremen said, “We played better in the second half. We picked up our defensive intensity and allowed fewer second-chance shots.” He added that the Cardinals were also “looking north and south, and looking to attack.”
Looking at the season so far, Stephens said that it has been a good start, “but it’s all about how you finish. You want to play your best at the end of the year.”
Trevor Bergman drove for a layup and David Homan had a steal and layup, prompting a very quick timeout by Elida. The Bulldogs got on the board with a free throw, along with baskets by Tori Thomas and Brice Engle. A three from the corner by Nick Alig kept the Cards in front as the period reached the midway point.
New Bremen then ran off three straight scores from Ben Wells, Nathan Rindler and Dylan Bambauer, reflecting the scoring balance that was to come. A bucket by Etkorn made the spread 14-7 after the first.
Multiple chances paid off for Elida to start the second with Engle able to finally convert. A score by Thomas got the Bulldogs within three, but they would not get much more in the half.
New Bremen got scores by Rindler and Thieman. After a scoring exchange, things settled down on both ends. A three-pointer by Elida’s Brendan Crow made it 21-16, but Thieman responded from beyond the arc.
Elida got a foul shot by Island with 45 seconds to go. New Bremen was not nearly done. FIrst came Busse draining one from the top of the key. WIth just a few seconds left, Homan forced a turnover, fired an outlet pass to Thieman, who dropped it through just ahead of the buzzer for a 29-17 advantage.
After talking things over, New Bremen shot out of the gates to start the second half. Busse had the hot hand to start with two baskets and a corner 3 in between. Bergman then hoisted back-to-back 3-pointers about a minute apart from virtually the same spot on the left side.
Just like that, the lead was now 25 points.
Elida managed a three by Etzkorn and a score by Island. After New Bremen hit a few free throws and Elida got another three, The Cardinals answered with a three by Busse, a fast break capped off by Wells, a trey from Wells and two scores by Rindler, the latter a turnaround jumper to beat the buzzer for a second straight period.
Elida had an 11-0 run to open the fourth quarter, but that merely avoided the running clock coming into use.
New Bremen got all its players significant action, and closed the night with three-pointers by Grant Wilker, Colten Muether and Tate Roetgerman for its second highest point total of the season.
Game Notes
Congratulations to New Bremen’s Marcus Speelman who swished a half-court shot between the third and fourth quarter of the varsity game.
In the junior varsity contest, New Bremen defeated Elida 47-41. Scoring for the Cardinals: Dylan Bambauer 9, Zach Wiedeman 8, Hayden Zeller 8, Alex Homan 6, Jackson Lennartz 6, Gavin Schrader 5, and Cooper Scheib 5.
New Bremen (2-0 MAC, 8-2 overall) will return to action on Friday when they will host St. John’s.
Score by quarters
Elida 7 10 9 18 — 44 New Bremen 14 15 28 19 — 76
ELIDA (44)
Kahliq Wash 0-0-0-0-0; Seth Sharp 0-0-0-0-0; Tori Thomas 2-00-1-4; X’zorion Island 6-0-4-6-16; Austin Miller 2-0-0-0-4; Brendan Crow 0-1-0-0-3; Jackson Covault 2-0-0-0-4; Brice Engle 2-0-0-0-4; David Etzkorn 2-1-2-4-9; Travis Adkins 0-0-0-0-0; TOTALS 16-2-6-1144.
NEW BREMEN (76)
Aaron Thieman 2-1-0-0-7; Cooper Scheib 1-0-0-0-2; Trevor Bergman 1-2-0-0-8; Grant Wilker 1-1-0-0-5; Nick Alig 0-1-0-0-3; Reece Busse 3-3-1-2-16; Ben Wells 2-1-0-0-7; Tate Roetgerman 0-1-0-0-3; Colten Muether 0-1-0-1-3; Alex Homan 0-0-2-2-2; Hayden Zeller 2-0-1-2-5; Nathan Rindler 4-0-0-0-8; Dylan Bambauer 1-0-1-1-3; David Homan 1-0-2-4-4; TOTALS 18-11-7-12-76.