Rangers beat Delphos St. John’s to snap 30-game MAC losing skid.
Cole Fischbach beats alter mater, Rangers snap 30-game MAC losing skid
NEW KNOXVILLE — Friday night was a blast for the red and gray.
New Knoxville coach Cole Fischbach hosted his former school Delphos St. John’s and the Rangers were primed to get a win for him and for the program.
And the Rangers did just that as every New Knoxville point generated a sense of exhilaration from the crowd while Fischbach stalked the sideline, encouraging his team throughout the game.
With that motivation and ecstatic atmosphere, the Rangers opened the game shooting lights out and withstood the Blue Jays the rest of the way courtesy of a 9-0 fourth-quarter run to beat St. John’s 57-50 in Midwest Athletic Conference action.
The win was Fischbach’s — a 2013 St. John’s graduate first — against coach Aaron Elwer — for which Fischbach was an assistant under for six years.
The win was also the first MAC victory for the New Knoxville boys program in more than two years — snapping a 30-game conference losing skid.
“I’m a competitor,” a worn out Fischbach said after the game. “It doesn’t matter if its cards, checkers, a game of chance — it doesn’t matter — it’s just one of those things where you always want to top your opponent and I know that Aaron always has those guys ready and ready to fight for 32 minutes and even more. And our guys just took it to battle.
“I told the guys, ‘It’s not about me, it’s not about the other team, it is about them and what they do for this program — this town — and that is why we consider ourselves a family.”
After leading by as much as 12 points to end the first quarter, the Rangers’ lead slowly faded away through the next two quarters all the way down to two entering the fourth stanza.
After Matt Kahny tied the game at 37-37 to open the final quarter New Knoxville used its a 9-0 advantage to pull ahead.
Patrick Covert drove to the basket and was fouled, nailing both shots to begin the run. Following a St. John’s turnover, Ryland Dyrness sunk both ends of a one-and-one and Carson Bierlein’s jumper at the 5:36 mark pushed the lead to 43-37. Max Henschen then erupted the Rangers bench and faithful with a 3-pointer in front of his New Knoxville teammates to put the Rangers up 46-37 with 4:49 remaining.
But then St. John’s closed in quickly.
The Blue Jays stopped the bleeding with a pair of one-and-one free throws by Nolan Schwinnen to pull within seven. After a Covert transition bucket put the game back to nine and a Bierlien free throw to make a 10-point lead, Kahny drained one free throw, Schwinnen drained another and Landon Elwer deposited two more foul shots to pull within six, 49-43, with 2:20 to go.
A New Knoxville miscue turned into a transition two for Brenden Oleson and after a free throw by Dyrness, Schwinnen had the Blue Jays down by just three with a 3-pointer from the left side with 1:01 left.
The Rangers committed a turnover on their next possession but so too did the Blue Jays, which allowed Dyrness to race down the floor, slow down as he approached the basket to shave some more time off the clock and lay the ball in to extend the Rangers’ lead to 53-48 with 30 seconds remaining.
That was the ballgame as the Rangers closed the contest out by knocking down 4-of-6 free throws in the final 20 seconds.
New Knoxville came out shooting 6-of-10 to begin the first 6:43 of the game as the Rangers showed patience — something Fischbach preached all game to his team and a strategy that allowed them to prevail in the fourth quarter.
“I learned my scouting report from him [Elwer] and down to a T,” the coach said. “… And I know that if you try to go too fast, if you try to over think yourself, things aren’t going to go well and our guys did a great job of finding the open man and move the ball.
“It’s really the first time all year that everything came together and I think they are starting to see it and hopefully they see further forward as we continue on in the season.”
Bierlein scored the first points of the game and 10 of the game’s first 12. Sam Anspach also connected on a layup and a jumper to push the Rangers’ lead to 14-2 with 1:17 left in the opening quarter.
The Blue Jays eventually chipped away, pulling the game to within four after an Elwer 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half and then within two on Schwinnen’s trey with 47.5 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Rangers’ win, however, snaps a 30-game MAC losing streak that started Jan. 5, 2018 in a 68-47 loss to Coldwater. The program’s last win before Friday was Dec. 12, 2017 in a 65-47 victory against Parkway. Current assistant coach Josh Lisi was the head coach for the Rangers.
“It’s one of those things where you want it to end,” Fischbach explained. “When I came into the locker room, I said, ‘the streak is finally over,’ and one of our players, Ryland Dyrness, said, ‘well, it is time for a new streak to start.’
“That is the mentality we have to have and we’re 30 seconds off the floor and that’s what our guys are saying. I can’t thank them enough for the effort they put in of this whole week. We had for good days of practice and prepared to just one out and play their hearts out.”
The Rangers will have that chance to begin a new streak on Saturday when they host Fort Jennings.