CRESTVIEW-The Crestview Knights hosted the St.John’s Bluejays in a rescheduled game from a week ago. The Knights used a big first quarter lead to get past St.John’s 41-26.
“I thought last night we went in a little overconfident, and we weren’t ourselves defensively,” said Crestview head coach Doug Etzler. “I thought tonight, we got back at it, as we made it tough on them to score, and took away their key scorers.”
Crestview had control of the game from the opening tip, as the hosts never looked back. The Knights got things going with a basket from Carson Hunter to grab the early 2-0 advantage. Crestview was far from done,as they went on a 10-0 scoring run through the remainder of the quarter. A Mitch Temple three pointer extended the lead to 7-2, as the hosts found their offensive identity. It was another three pointer from Temple that put an exclamation point on an impressive 14-2 quarter by the Knights.
The second quarter turned into a defensive battle as points were hard to come by. Both teams traded free throws in the opening minutes, as Gavin Etzler connected on a pair, while Landen Grothaus hit one from the charity strike. The Blue Jays closed the gap to seven, at 16-9, with a three from JJ Bonifas and a basket by Landon Elwer. Nasir Easterling basket gave Crestview a 18-9 advantage.
“I think for us getting up 12 points on St.John’s forced them to play a little differently, and I was really pleased because we haven’t been getting off to good starts,” Etzler said.
Defense was tough in the third quarter as both teams struggled from the floor. A three pointer by Nolan Schwiennen cut the deficit to six at 18-12, but that was the closest the visitors got the rest of the evening. A fast break layup, and one opportunity from Temple extended the lead to 21-12. A pair of free throws from Rontae Jackson and Etzler gave the hosts a 25-13 advantage. A Schwiennen basket kept the visitors within 12, 27-15, as the teams headed for the final quarter.
The offense picked up the pace in the final quarter, as shots started to fall. Both traded points early in the quarter as the Knights held a 31-19 advantage before Temple’s foul shots extended the lead to 33-19. Schwiennen scored a basket, and a three from downtown to cut the lead to nine, at 33-24. The Knights played keep away down the stretch, and made some key shots from the charity strike to pick up the 41-26 victory.
Crestview improves to 6-2 on the season, and will be back on January 7th when they host the Bluffton Pirates. St.John’s drops to 4-4 on the season and will be back in action on Thursday when they visit Pandora-Gilboa.
“We got a home league game next week, and we have gotten off to a really good start in our league games, because we have had the same intensity that we had tonight,” Etzler concluded.
St.John’s 2 – 7 – 6 – 11 – 26
Crestview 14 – 4 – 9 – 14 – 41
St.John’s (26)
Nolan Schwiennen (12) Landon Elwer (5) Landen Grothaus (3) JJ Bonifas (3) Ethan Druerkmiller (3)
Crestview (41)
Mitch Temple (11) Rontae Jackson (10) Gavin Etzler (6) Nasir Easterling (6) Carson Hunter (4) Nate Lichtle (4)
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