BEYOND THE ARC Three area teams still active
As the temperatures start to warm up, the stakes are going up for area basketball teams.
Those still alive in postseason tournaments include the St. Marys boys in Division II, the New Bremen boys in Division IV, and the Minster girls in Division IV.
ST. MARYS (16-6)
The Roughriders kept their quest alive on Wednesday night with a victory over Wauseon in the district semifinals at Spenecerville (see the front page for details of that contest).
St. Marys, the #3 seed, had a first-round bye, then defeated Napoleon 71-47 last Friday night before knocking off the Indians.
That sets up a test with another set of Indians, those from #1 seed Shawnee. Shawnee advanced with a 56-38 win over Defiance in the first game of the doubleheader on Wednesday.
Shawnee, which is 22-1 on the season, defeated St. Marys 53-45 in their meeting on Jan. 15.
The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the regional semifinals against the winner of the Ashland district. That will be either Shelby or Norwalk, who will meet on Saturday night.
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NEW BREMEN (17-8)
The Cardinals extended their season in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night, as Reece Busse let fly a threepoint shot with 2.8 seconds to go and his team trailing by two.
Busse’s shot was good, sending the Cardinals past Minster and on to the district final for the first time in a decade.
Busse had 11 points in that game, while Mitchell Hays and David Homan each scored nine.
The Cardinals will take on St. Henry on Friday, which won in double overtime in their semifinal against Perry.
St. Henry won the regular season meeting back in midDecember by a close margin, 45-42.
The winner advances to a regional semifinal matchup with the champion of the Defiance district. That will be the winner between Antwerp and Toledo Christian, who also play Friday night.
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GIRLS MINSTER (21-1)
The lone area girls team still in action is Minster, which captured a district title by defeating fellow Midwest Athletic Conference member New Knoxville 53-33 last Saturday in a game played at Wapakoneta.
Minster had previously defeated LCC and Fort Recovery to reach that contest.
The Lady Wildcats will be back in action this evening as they take on Fort Loramie in a regional semifinal contest at Vandalia Butler.
Fort Loramie won the Shelby County Leauge title and is 25-1 on the year. The one loss was to Bath (55-33) on Jan. 23.
The Wildcats and Redskins met on Dec. 12, with Loramie winning that round 36-26.
Tonight’s winner will move to the regional finals and take on either Tri-Village or Legacy Christian. That game will be the second half of the doubleheader at Butler.