Botkins cruises to win over Houston
PIQUA – Botkins arrived as heavy favorites – and behind a flurry of impressive performances rolled to a 70-28 sectional tournament victory over Houston on Tuesday.
The Trojans advantage got so large in the fourth quarter that the OHSAA rule kicked in that requires a running clock. The rule keeps the clock moving once the point differential reaches 35 points or more in the second half.
The Shelby County League champion Trojans improve to 21-3 and advance to the district semifinals Friday against Fort Loramie. The Trojans and Redskins split a pair of games during the regular season.
Outside of one Wildcat spurt, it was all Botkins all game long. The Trojans rode sharp ball movement and gritty defense to overwhelm Houston most of the way.
Botkins jumped out to an 18-3 lead, shook off a brief Houston run, and never looked back. Once Botkins slammed hard on the gas pedal – they easily cruised to a convincing win.
“I felt like we came out and executed well. We struggled in the second quarter. It felt like we were playing a little too fast on both ends and a little too sloppy. At halftime we got things squared away and came out and performed well in the second half,” said Botkins coach Sean Powell.
The Trojans, who showed off some stellar ball motion and knockdown shooting jumped out to an 18-3 lead. The opening spark was ignited by a Zane Paul steal and hoop and capped off by a pair of buckets by Carter Pleiman. The burst by the Trojans included a host of big plays including a pair of smooth buckets by Jayden Priddy, a triple by Jameson Meyer, and a pair of buckets by Jacob Pleiman.
The Trojans led 2310 just about midway through the second quarter when the Wildcats rattled off a surprising 10-0 run. Houston’s Wyatt Kunk canned a pair of freethrows to make it 2318 and Jake Leist had an offensive put-back to slice the Trojan lead all the way down to 23-20.
“Houston is well coached. They are not going to lay down. They had a rough season but they are going to fight until the end. They got some good looks in the second quarter and hit a few of them and cut the lead late in the second and we regrouped and came back, said Powell.
Botkins needed to respond. They did just that. The Trojans flipped the switch and put together an impressive 23-0 run that stretched through the last two minutes of the second quarter and well into the third quarter.
The Trojan spurt started over the last two minutes of the second quarter – where Botkins tallied 10 points in efficient fashion. Jacob Pleiman drilled a triple, Pleiman followed that up with a drop step slam dunk on the next possession, Priddy hit a trey, and Paul nailed a three at the buzzer.
Riding a wave of rapid ball movement, the Trojans repeatedly attacked the basket to force defensive breakdowns, hit outside shots and scored easy on the Wildcats throughout the second half. The Botkins lead ballooned all the way to 46-20 after Priddy’s bucket capped off the 23-0 run midway through the third.
“I wrote that on the board. The game is full of runs. When a team makes two buckets you try to stop them from making the third. On the offensive end you are trying to get three buckets in a row. That’s tournament play and whatever team completes as many runs together usually wins the game,” said Powell.
Priddy led Botkins with 24 points and Jacob Pleiman tallied 19. Houston was led by Wyatt Kunk with 10.
Botkins will face Fort Loramie Friday in a huge rematch of league rivals with plenty at stake. Loramie defeated Ansonia 51-37 Tuesday.
“It’s going to be a tough one. Loramie is going to come to play. We are going to go back tomorrow and look at some things, try to get healthy, and get our best game on Friday. With the quality of the Shelby County League – when you come together in the tournament to play – it’s just like a backyard brawl. It’s driveway basketball. You can have a game plan but when these young kids get on the floor – they are just going to fight it out,” said Powell.
Score by quarters
Houston 3 17 6 2 -- 28
Botkins 16 18 19 17 -- 70
HOUSTON (28)
Jake Leist 3-0-0-0-6; Luke Beaver 1-0-0-0-2; Luke Ryan 0-0-0-0-0; Ryan Ely 0-0-2-2-2; Wyatt Kunk 1-2-2-2-10; Elijah Beaver 0-0-0-0-0; Xaviar Balensiefer 1-20-0-8; Brandon Pollock 0-0-0-0-0; Parker Herrick 0-0-0-0-0; Rustin Vondenhuevel 0-0-0-0-0; Hayden Mowery 0-0-0-0-0; TOTALS 6-4-4-4-28.
BOTKINS (70)
Denton Homan 0-0-0-0-0; Jameson Meyer 0-3-0-0-9; Parker Geis 0-0-0-0-0; Zane Paul 1-2-0-0-8; Jayden Priddy 5-4-2-2-24; Dylan Topp 0-0-0-0-0; Carter Pleiman 2-1-1-4-8; Tyler Free 0-0-0-0-0; Jacob Pleiman 6-2-1-1-19; Garrett Greve 1-0-0-0-2; Rylyn Paul 0-0-0-0-0; Preston Free 0-0-0-0-0; Elijah Stewart 0-0-0-0-0; TOTALS 15-12-4-7-70.