Ottawa-Glandorf’s Luke Bellman (White Jersey) looks to drive around Archbold’s Trey Smith (21) during their Division III regional championship game Sunday at Anderson Arena. Bellman helped the Titans defeat the Blue Streaks for a trip to this Friday’s state championship semi-finals in Columbus.
Ottawa-Glandorf headed to Columbus Titans defeat Streaks to win regional title By Charlie Warnimont
Sentinel Sports Editor
BOWLING GREEN - Ottawa-Glandorf came at Archbold in waves.
First it was Taylor Pothast, then it was Jake Meyer, Justin Schomaeker or Colton Everett getting key baskets. And let's not forget the Titans' constant pressure.
Combine all these factors and it added up to a 69-58 O-G win in the Division III regional championship game at Bowling Green State University's Anderson Arena Sunday night before a packed house.
The 13th ranked Titans (21-5) advance to the Division III state semi-finals Friday, at 2 p.m. against second ranked Anna (25-1). The first matchup Friday has Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph (21-4) against Sugarcreek Garaway (23-3). The state championship game is Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
Except for a brief hiccup in the third quarter, the Titans' defensive pressure and offensive execution was unrelenting. O-G grabbed the lead for good midway through the opening quarter with a 7-0 run as they forced Archbold to alter their game plan quickly.
"We thrive on tempo and the first game was not as fast we like it," Titan senior Taylor Pothast said of O-G's 65-59 regular season win. "We tried to increase the tempo this game."
Although the Blue Streaks held an early 4-2 lead before O-G went on a 7-0 run as Colton Everett hit a free throw, Luke Bellman dropped in a basket, Pothast scored on a short jumper and Schomaeker finished it off with a strong move inside. Pothast scored seven points in the opening quarter as he dropped in a three-pointer and scored off a layup as he split the Blue Streak defense. A pair of three-pointers by Justin Rupp had the Blue Streaks trailing 14-10 after one quarter.
The second quarter was dominated by the Titans as they outscored the Blue Streaks 20-11 as O-G's defense forced seven turnovers in the quarter. Five of the turnovers came at the end of the quarter as the Titans went on a 9-2 run for a 34-21 lead.
"When we are good it's because of our defense is good," Titan Coach Josh Leslie said. "That sets the tone for everything. We are not going to try and always outscore you. We press all the time and take them out of what they want to run.
"These guys did a good job pushing (Archbold's Gene) Georing out on the floor. He didn't catch it many times the first half where he was cofortable with it and Trey Smith caught it and his looks were five feet behind the line, instead of right at the line. We turned them over a few times in the first half."
Archbold was within 25-19 after a Georing fade away jumper when the Titans went on a 9-2 run to end the first quarter.
Meyer opened the run with a three-pointer from the left corner before Bellman scored on a layup after a steal near midcourt. After another Blue Streak turnover Schomaeker pushed the lead to 13 with a drive to the basket. Georing briefly halted the run with two free throws before a Colton Everett basket right before the buzzer put O-G back up 13.
"When we did a good job with the press we broke it down, but we didn't do it consistently," Archbold Coach Doug Krauss said. "That's a credit to them. Ideally we could have played a 40 point game, but they scored thirty something the first half and we only give up 47 points a game.
"We played man and zone the first half and there aren't too many other defenses to play."
Despite the Titans heading into halftime with the momentum, Archbold was able to break it in the third quarter.
The Blue Streaks outscored O-G 16-11 in the third quarter as they pulled to with four points with 47 seconds left in the quarter.
Taylor Kuhlman had O-G up 12 with a putback before the Blue Streaks went on an 11-3 run that saw Georing score six points and Justin Rupp nailing a three-pointer. Georing's basket with 47 seconds left in the quarter had the lead down to four before Brian Schmiedebusch started O-G on an 8-0 run, that went into the fourth quarter, with a layup. He missed a free throw that would have completed a three point play, but Meyer ended the third quarter scoring with a basket putting the Titans back up by eight.
"We talked about getting a couple of stops and we did that," Krauss said. "We got it down to four points and were battling. Our players didn't quit, but O-G made some plays to snuff it out."
The Titans opened the fourth quarter with baskets by Meyer and Jacob Moening that pushed the lead back to 12. After two David Rupp free throws, O-G went on a 5-0 run as Schomaeker powered inside for two points and Meyer hit three of four free throws for a 15 point lead with 4:43 left.
While O-G spent a lot of time at the free throw line the fourth quarter, they were able to extend their lead or match Archbold baskets as they were able to get out in transition and finish off plays with layups. Meyer and Schomaeker combined for 18 straight points as 12 of the points came on layups.
"That's what we like to do," Meyer said. "Even when they score, we try to get them as fast as we can with layups."
"They got some momentum and we just come right back at them with a few layups," Leslie said. "We try to keep pressure on them, in a variety of different ways and play the whole game without calling a play. We want to play transition the whole time, makes or misses, and bait them into playing like we play. We got that a few times and it starts with rebounding."
Actually, the Titans were outrebounded in the game 25-23 as the Blue Streaks were able to help themselves with eight offensive boards.
Schomaeker and Meyer both had 20 points for O-G in the game, while Pothast had eight points, eight assists and grabbed eight rebounds. Bellman also garnered eight points and Everett seven. Pothast and Bellman both had three steals in the game.
Georing led the Blue Streaks with 20 points, while Justin Rupp added 11 and Smith 10. Georing also grabbed six rebounds.
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Archbold 14-27 6-19 12-15 58: Martinez 2-0-4-8; J. Rupp 1-3-0-11; T. Smith 2-2-0-10; D. Rupp 1-0-2-4; G. Georing 7-1-3-20; Walker 0-0-0-0; Fidler 0-0-0-0; Price 1-0-1-3; McQuillin 0-0-0-0; D. Smith 0-0-0-0; C. Georing 0-0-0-0; Miller 0-0-0-0.
