From staff reports
A mix of season-ending games make up the schedule on Friday
as the Midwest Athletic Conference wraps up the schedule this
week.
Coldwater is the only team finished with the MAC schedule. This
Friday the Cavaliers will look to get their ninth win of the
season in a home game with Jay County of Indiana.
For the Parkway Panthers, it will be a unique situation of playing
two league games in as many days. The original game on Friday
with New Knoxville is now set for tonight and Friday will see
MAC-leading Versailles in Rockford to wrap up the regular season
after starting the tournament on Wednesday.
Due to an earlier postponment, the game between the Panthers
and Tigers was not finalized until last week. The Panthers and
Rangers agreed to move their game to Thursday to not force Versailles
to play both Wednesday and Thursday. Tonight the Tigers will
look to complete a perfect regular and conference season.
The Tigers opened sectional play against Middletown Madison
with a commanding 68-36 win at the University of Dayton and
won’t have to play another sectional game until March
4.
The Tigers continue to romp over teams, posting a 21-point win
over Marion Local on Friday and a 33-point win over Brookville
on Saturday. The average margin of victory for Versailles this
season is 24 points.
Parkway had a tough time with Minster last week and faces a
major task of getting ready for the postseason with two tough
league games back-to-back.
Marquee Matchup: Joe Shardo vs. Mark Snyder.
Shardo nearly put Marion Local away by himself in posting a
personal 14-2 run on the Flyers on Friday and finishing with
16 points. Shardo gave the home fans something to remember with
three dunks in scoring 19 in the win over Brookville.
Snyder came up with the top game for Parkway in the loss to
Minster, scoring 11. A good game on Friday could get the team’s
confidence up for sectional.
Marion Local at St. John’s
Last year the Flyers were looking to win a share of the MAC
title at home against the Blue Jays.
This year, the team is looking to get a boost before sectional
after suffering through one of its toughest seasons in a few
years.
The Flyers shook off the tough loss to Versailles on Friday
by beating Russia on Saturday, who was state-ranked for a good
portion of the season. Now the Flyers head to a place that has
given them some tough losses over the years.
Two years ago, the Flyers went to Delphos looking for a share
of the league title and exited the Vatican — Arnzen Gymnasium
— with a loss. This year both teams are out of the running
for a leauge title and will look to get a good tuneup as both
teams will have to play a sectional semifinal game after having
been a seeded team the past several seasons.
The Blue Jays will have the home side ready for the Flyers,
especially after blowing a big lead last years as the Flyers
got ready for a state title run.
Marquee Matchup: Cory Luebke vs. Chad Reynolds.
Both are tall and both added an inside game after being sharpshooters
last season. Now both will look to get a good jump on the tournament
as the regular season winds down.
Luebke had some frustrations with foul trouble on Friday at
Versailles but still scored 16 points to pace the Flyers. The
6-3 senior added 20 points against Russia on Saturday.
Reynolds came up with 19 points in the loss to St. Henry but
was 2-of-6 from the three-point line for 33 percent, nearly
10 percentage points less than his season average.
St. Henry at New Bremen
Both teams enter 14-5 as the Redskins look to get a last tuneup
before a week’s rest as the top seed at the Elida sectional.
A big win on Friday had allowed coach Joe Niekamp to bring in
the newest varsity Redskin as freshman Andy Puthoff got some
playing time. A big cog on the junior varsity team, Puthoff
scored 11 in his debut, giving the Redskins an additional shooter
off the bench.
New Bremen held off New Knoxville last week as the Cardinals’
superb season for the continued. A home win over a strong St.
Henry team could give the second-seeded Cardinals a big kick
as they head to the Coldwater sectional. Home has been good
to the Cardinals with big wins over St. John’s and highway-rival
Minster at Cardinal Gym under their belts.
Marquee Matchup: Scott Schmiesing vs. Nate Stahl.
Stahl has been coming on as of late and scored 21 points in
the win over St. John’s to raise his average to 14.1 ppg.
Schmiesing had a double-double in the close win over New Knoxville,
scoring 18 and pulling down 12 rebounds. Schmiesing has been
getting more help in the scoring column with Troy Lammers getting
into double digits with 10.7 ppg.
Minster at Fort Recovery
The Wildcats suffered a tough loss on Monday to state-ranked
Fort Loramie, a matchup that could be repeated at the regional
level if both teams make it through the first two rounds of
the tournament.
Minster hopes to get healthy before starting tournament after
coach Mike Lee missed the Loramie game after being hospitalized.
Senior center Tony Kremer also did not play against the Redskins.
The Indians suffered a loss in the middle when center John Bihn
missed the Spencerville game and likely will not play for the
rest of the season for undisclosed reasons.
Bihn-less, the Tribe held its own against a tough Spencerville
team before losing by three on Saturday.
Marquee Matchup: Dane Sommer vs. Dusty Tobe.
Both players have the ability to shoot the lights out when getting
on hot streaks. Sommer scored 15 in the loss at Fort Loramie
and raised his three-point total to 45 on the season.
Tobe scored 12 in the big win over Coldwater on Friday and added
another 17 as the scoring leader on Saturday. Tobe had help
from C.J. Tobe, who had 15 points against the Bearcats.
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