Miller City's Cody Vennekotter puts up a jumper in the Wildcats district semi-final game with Van Buren Tuesday night.
Wildcats, Rockets advance to district finals Inside play key for both teams By Charlie Warnimont
Sentinel Sports Editor
FINDLAY -Miller City and Pandora-Gilboa used strong inside games Tuesday night to win Division IV district semi-final contests at Liberty-Benton.
In the opener Tuesday night, the Wildcats rode the inside play of Cody Vennekotter to defeat Van Buren 56-44, while in the nightcap the Rockets used the inside tandem of Josh Lee and Tyler Gratz to dispatch Vanlue 54-41. The wins set up a district final showdown between the Wildcats (19-4) and Rockets (17-5) Friday night at 7 at Liberty-Benton.
In the opener it was evident early that Van Buren didn't have an answer for Vennekotter. The 6-5 center scored the Wildcats first 10 points on a combination of inside moves and having a nose for the basketball as he scored twice off putbacks. Vennekotter 16 of his game high 27 points in the opening half. He also had nine rebounds in the win.
"He is an absolute warrior," Miller City coach Tyson McGlaughlin said of Vennekotter. "He doesn't jump the highest or is the fastest, but you are not going to have someone out work him. He gives everything he has and we were able to ride him the first half.
Fellow senior Kyle Niese helped Vennekotter with 11 of his 17 points in the first half as Miller City had a 27-24 halftime lead. Two of Niese's first half baskets came on putbacks as well as he finished with nine rebounds as well.
Despite the efforts of Vennekotter and Niese the Wildcats were in a dogfight until midway through the third quarter when Miller City went on a 8-2 run that featured their first three-pointer of the game by sophomore Brent Hermiller. And when Rusty Lammers hit a three to end the quarter the Wildcats found themselves with a 45-34 lead with eight minutes left.
Van Buren scored the first two points of the fourth quarter as Andrew Bell hit two free throws. Miller City answered back with a Kyle Niese basket and a three point play by Vennekotter, off a putback, that pushed the lead to 50-36. Van Buren would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the game.
Bell and Clay Sudlow both had 11 points for the Black Knights (11-12) and RIley Damon added nine.
In the second game, the Rockets used their inside duo of Tyler Gratz and Josh Lee to defeat Vanlue.
P-G had a 21-14 halftime lead as the Rockets ended the first half on a 7-0 run as Gratz had a basket, Lee had a three point play and Kyle Hall scored on a putback.
P-G broke the game open in the third quarter as Gratz and Lee combined for 12 points that pushed the Rocket lead to 33-18 after 24 minutes.
"We talked at halftime that were attacking too quickly," P-G coach Joe Braidic said. "We were making one pass and attacking. The second half we said we had to execute and once we started doing that those two inside were tough to stop."
Although the Rockets were up big after three quarters, the Wildcats never backed down as they outscored P-G 23-21 in the final quarter.
Gratz led the Rockets with 20 points and Lee had 17 points. Nathan Lee dished out eight assists and played an excellent defensive game on Vanlue's Jordan Cook. Cook finished with 18 points, but had a lot of those points after the game had been decided.
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