Fort Jennings' Jared Horstman looks to make a pass around this Delphos St. John's defender during their game this week.
Fort Jennings defeats Delphos St. John's BY KIRK DOUGAL
Brown Publishing Correspondent
VAN WERT - High school basketball coaches will tell you that good defense and timely free throw shooting will win a lot of games. They had another example to prove it on Friday night.
Ft. Jennings and Delphos St. John's met at Van Wert High School in the opening game of the sectional finals and the Musketeers defense and free throws were just too much for the Blue Jays to overcome as the black-and-orange won, 39-34.
The game began like it was going to be all St. John's. Threes by Nate Webb and Wes Ulm along with not turning the ball over for the first time until only 48 seconds remained in the period helped the Jays get off to a good start. Ft. Jennings' Jared Horstman answered with four points of his own but it was not enough as Delphos held a 12-8 lead at the first break.
The Jays' Ty Bergfeld opened the first trip in the second with a baseline 10-footer for a bucket before Jennings' Jeremy Kohli got into the scoring action with a put back for two points. Delphos shots began clanking off the rim as the Musketeer defense forced them to shoot farther and farther out on the court. A steal and a runout by Trevor Von Sossan extended the Ft. Jennings run to 8-0 followed by a trey in the left corner by Von Sossan again, giving the Muskies a 19-14 lead. A three-pointer by St. John's Ulm finally stopped the Muskie run at 13-0 but it was the Jays' Justin Backus who electrified the fans with a steal at half court and then a dunk at the buzzer to draw Delphos back to within three points at the half, 22-19.
Ft. Jennings coach John Von Sossan sought to pressure with his defense as they stayed primarily in a box-and-one with the chaser on Webb whenever he was in the game. When he was not, the Muskies continued to push the Jays farther from the bucket. Delphos only attempted eight field goals in the entire third period and seven of them were from beyond the arc. Only one fell as the Musketeer defense held the Jays to just five points. But Ft. Jennings struggled offensively as well with only Kohli and Horstman able to find the bucket so at the end of three quarters, the Muskies only by a count of 29-24.
Again it was Delphos' Ulm to open the quarter with a bomb followed by Scott Recker who grabbed two offensive rebounds on one trip before he put the ball in the hoop, knotting the game at 29-29.
Horstman finally hit a free throw at the 4:15 mark of the period to give the Muskies their first score in the fourth quarter. However, it was Recker again, this time on a stop-and-pop in the paint from 10 feet to give St. John's their first lead since early in the second quarter. But then Kohli hit two free throws - banking the first one - and it was all a march to the charity stripe for the rest of the game. Ft. Jennings hit ten of their first 12 freebies in the period to sew up the game as the Ft. Jennings defense proved to be blinding to the Jays shooting eye the rest of the way.
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