BOWLING GREEN — Ottawa-Glandorf is a storied basketball program in rarefied air for its historic success.
That tradition was on full display in the Stroh Center Wednesday night during the boys’ Division III regional tournament.
The Titans — ranked No. 2 in the state in Division III — blew open an 11-point halftime lead with a 22-point third quarter, then cruised to a 66-34 win over Colonel Crawford.
“That’s an unbelievable team,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “It’s a historic program that I grew up watching and respected in all the years — Division II, Division III state championships. It’s a (basketball) factory.”
That was high praise coming from a coach whose current team has been to four straight district finals and four regionals in the past 14 years.
Both coaches acknowledged playing under the specter of the coronavirus as a backdrop in a nearly empty Stroh Center.
“I’m really proud of our guys the way they came out,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said. “The last 24 hours have been pretty chaotic, a lot of emotions. It shows a lot about our kids, the way they’re built, their character. To come out tonight and put on the show that they did, I think it speaks volumes for our guys.”
Ottawa-Glandorf (25-1) delivered a gut-punch to start the game, racing out to a 15-2 lead, a run that included three 3-point shots. The Eagles found enough offense to hold their own over the rest of the first quarter, trailing 20-9 after one.
Colonel Crawford (23-4) turned up the defense in the second quarter, holding the explosive Titans to five points.
“They had three 3s in the first quarter,” Sheldon said. “In the second quarter, they only had five points. We stopped their transition game and we didn’t turn the ball over in the second quarter.”
Unfortunately, Colonel Crawford was unable to take full advantage of the defensive stand.
“They held us to five points but on the good side, they didn’t make that run when they had the opportunity,” McGlaughlin said. “In the third quarter, we just talked about doing what we do and that’s putting pressure on, getting out in transition.”
The plan generated the desired result, turning a 25-14 halftime lead into a 47-21 bulge by period’s end. The Eagles committed six turnovers to help fuel the run while the Titans hit nine of 13 shots. Brennen Blevins connected on three of his five 3s in the frame. He was five of six from distance on the night, several from well beyond the arc.
“Coming into tonight, we knew we were at a size disadvantage,” Sheldon said. “We tried to take away their size and Blevins is a heck of a shooter and they hit 3s. They just wear you down the whole night with heir pressure. Their pressure is tremendous, and they wear you down.”
The Titans’ starting front line is 6-7 Owen Nichols, 6-7 Ben Westrick and 6-5 Ethan Alt and running the show is 5-6 point guard Parker Schomaeker, who had six steals.
“Brennen obviously got into a rhythm there and we were able to find him and that lead kind of catapulted real quick,” McGlaughlin said. “We thought, especially with their bigs, if we were good with our feet and our positioning, we could wall up and give them some problems.”
The fourth quarter saw every player from both teams get playing time and Ottawa-Glandorf expanded the difference by six to the final of 66-34.
So suffocating was the Titans’ defense that no Colonel Crawford play reached double figures. Scoring leaders on the season, Jordan Fenner (16 ppg.) and Gavin Feichtner (16.7) each finished with seven points. Feichtner had six rebounds.
“We got good looks. I got the guys I want when I look at the stat sheet,” Sheldon said. “Fenner and Feichtner got the most shots and that’s who we want shooting. They’re or two 1,000-point scorers that have led us to 81 wind in four years, four straight district finals and a regional appearance.”
Fenner, Feichtner, Reis Walker, Seth Miller and Brenden Grady each played his last game in a Colonel Crawford uniform.
Blevins had a game-high 23 points for Ottawa-Glandorf, hitting nine of his 11 shots. Nichols added 13 points and Ethan Alt grabbed eight boards.
“He’s as good a shooter in the state of Ohio as there is,” McGlaughlin said of Blevins, a junior. “He gets a little bit of time, he gets in a rhythm, it doesn’t really matter where you’re at on him. He’s not shy, he’s going to let it fly.”
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Sheldon said. “This is so hard to get to, even a district final. To have three four-year lettermen, you never have that.”
“We’re all about tempo,” McGlaughlin said. “We thought we needed to contest shots, we needed to get the tempo where we wanted to and then we needed to rebound the basketball. I think we kind of put a checkmark on all those.”
“Hats off to O-G. They’ve got a chance to win the whole thing,” Sheldon said. “I’m just going to be honest with you. They’ve got size, they’ve got shooters and they’re very well coached.”
Box score
Ottawa-Glandorf 20 5 22 19 — 66
Colonel Crawford 9 5 7 13 — 34
Ottawa-Glandorf: (25-1): Shots 26-48; 3-pt. shots 10-20 (Brennen Blevins 5, Jarrod Beach 2, Parker Schomaeker, Owen Nichols, Kamron Maag); Free throws 4-6; Rebounds 25 (Ethan Alt 8); Turnovers 6. Scoring: Parker Schomaeker 2 0 5, Brennen Blevins 9 0 23, Ethan Alt 2 1 5, Owen Nichols 5 2 13, Ben Westrick 3 1 7, Jarrod Beach 2 0 6, Caleb Kuhlman 1 0 2, Will Kaufman 1 0 2, Kamron Maag 1 0 3.
Colonel Crawford (23-4): Shots 11-34; 3-pt shots 3-11 (Mason Studer, Gavin Feichtner, Drayton Burkhart); Free throws 9-14; Rebounds 22 (Gavin Feichtner 6); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Mason Studer 1 1 4, Reis Walker 1 2 4, Jordan Fenner 3 1 7, Carter Valentine 0 4 4, Gavin Feichtner 3 0 7, Drayton Burkhart 1 0 3, Chase Walker 1 1 3, Ethan Smith 1 0 2.