Pleiman scores 1,000th point as Botkins rolls past Houston

HOUSTON — Botkins held winless Houston to just eight

second-half points and rolled to a 53-25 victory

in Shelby County Athletic League play Friday.

Trojans senior Jacob Pleiman poured in a game-high 27 points to give him 1,001 for his career. He passed the

milestone mark in the third stanza, and outscored the Wildcats himself despite not playing the fourth quarter.

Undefeated Botkins improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in league play with the victory. Houston dropped to 0-7 and

0-5 in SCAL play with the defeat.

The Trojans led 17-9 after the first quarter and 33-17 at intermission. Botkins then blew the game wide open with a 16-4 third-quarter run.

“The kids really came to play and did a good

job defensively again,” said first-year Trojan head coach Phil Groves. “Jacob got off to a good

start and hit a couple 3s early. He really dominated offensively.

“I want to congratulate Jacob, it is a great accomplishment to

score 1,000 career points,” Groves said. “And hopefully he has many more points this season.”

Trojans Jameson Meyer and Jaydon Wendel each canned three 3-pointers to score nine points apiece.

“Houston is a hard place to play at and we

carried our intensity throughout the game,”

said Groves. “But we were more focused, defensively, in the second

half after we tightened up our rotations.”

Stingy Botkins allows just 31.2 points per game.

Marion Elgin 49, Waynesfield-goshen 39

WAYNESFIELD — Waynesfield-goshen

endured a cold shooting night and lost 49-39 to Marion Elgin in Northwest Central Conference play Friday night.

W-G led 10-9 after the first period. Elgin answered with a 14-5 run before Jayden Elliott passed to Blake Barnes, who hit a corner 3 at the

halftime horn to cut the Tigers’ deficit to 23-18.

The Tigers cut the margin to three multiple times, but Elgin

managed to increase its lead to 33-24 after three periods. The visitors clinched the game by

hitting five free throws in a high-scoring 16-15 fourth period.

Down three players to due to COVID quarantine, the Tigers fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in NWCC play with the

defeat. Meanwhile, Elgin improved to 4-2 and 1-1 in league action.

“It was a very physical game,” said W-G head

coach Nathan Swaney. “We got into foul trouble early and that took us out of our rhythm. We had to play some different lineups.

“We only shot 24 percent from the field, so that hurt,” Swaney said. “Defensively, we played

hard and created turnovers. We rebounded well and passed the

ball side-to-side well, and got open looks. We

just couldn’t put the ball through the hoop.”

Barnes led W-G with 12 points. Elliott and Za’mere Daniels each

added eight points. The Tigers sank seven of 12 free throws, compared to eight of 15 charity

stripe accuracy by the Comets.

Elgin junior Carson Rife topped all scorers with 18 points. Classmate Harrison Sager contributed 14 markers.