Titans tighten up late against Eastwood

BOWLING GREEN—The start to Ottawa-Glandorf's Division III regional semifinal game against Eastwood on Wednesday started like all of its games during the postseason.The Titans came out guns-a-blazing, getting off to a 9-0 start capped off by a Colin White alley-oop dunk from a Caleb Kuhlman pass as the Eagles took a timeout with 5:59 left in the first quarter.That was the last time O-G's game against Eastwood felt any sort of similar.The result was still the same.Eight lead changes and ten ties later, the Titans fended off Eastwood's one-two punch of Chase Boos (15 points) and Jacob Meyer (19 points, 6 rebounds), winning 61-56 on Wednesday to advance to Saturday's regional final against Colonel Crawford, which upended Harvest Prep, 55-46 in the first game."They've got a lot of fight, lot of seniors and a lot of guys who've logged a lot of minutes for their score and you could see that all night," Titan head coach, Tyson McGlaughlin said of Eastwood."It was a hard, physical basketball game that kind of represents what high school basketball is all about. That was a heavyweight fight out there that was as physical as you could get. There wasn't any trash talk, guys helped each other out and did things the right way."It was tied at halftime and was just a two-point game, 45-43, after the first 24 minutes of play.Then White and Kuhlman took over.First, Kuhlman was the featured player for the Titans, scoring six-straight points from the end of the third quarter to the 6:25-mark in the fourth. He finished with 11 points on the night.A Theo Maag lay-up that drew a foul on Andrew Arnston gave the Titans their biggest lead since the first quarter, 51-45, with five minutes left."Guys like Caleb Kuhlman and Eli Schmenk that step in every single night and do those things that might go unnoticed. Tonight, it didn't go unnoticed with Caleb Kuhlman," McGlaughlin said."What he did defensively kind of changed the game. We asked him to guard their team's best player a lot, whether it's a big or a guard. To make some plays like that—not just defensively, but offensively as well—that's what makes this group so special. It's a lot of guys who care about one thing—winning."Kuhlman was tabbed with guarding Meyer, the Eagles' best player and an all-Northwest District first-teamer.Meyer was held to just five points in the fourth quarter."He's just super physical," Kuhlman said of guarding Meyer"He'll grab you and the refs were letting it go, but he was just super physical. I was working to get the ball and once I got the ball, I had to get a quick move and get back into the guy."Eastwood hung around, though, making it a four-point game, 58-54, after Gavin Dewese barreled his way for a layup. He finished with five points.That's where White comes into play.The WBL Player of the Year scored seven points in the waning moments of the game and knocked down three straight free throws to put O-G ahead, 61-54 with 8.4 seconds left.The sophomore finished with a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds.Lake Boos guarded White most of the game."I think Colin got the better of the matchup, but to be honest, Colin's done that throughout the year against the guys that defend him," Eastwood's head coach, Todd Henline said."I don't think Lake gave up, Colin was just possessed tonight. He was really aggressive and strong underneath, and amazing things happened for him.""We told our guys in the locker room beforehand that this was going to be a game of runs. You don't get to this level and expect teams to fold—they came at us," McGlaughlin said."We started off strong and then they came back, got some buckets, took the lead and exchanged blows there for a while. But I thought as the game went on—we talked to our guys about it being put-up-or-shut-up—I thought our guys did a great job of stepping up to the plate, taking it one play at a time and got the stops that we needed. Then we got some timely buckets that we needed."And because of that, the Titans have a chance to punch their tickets to Dayton for the second-straight year.OTTAWA-GLANDORF (23-2)Schimmoeller 0-2 0-0 0, Kuhlman 4-7 2-2 11, Schmenk 4-5 0-2 12, White 7-11 7-9 21, Maag 4-8 0-1 8, Fuka 1-4 4-5 7, Jordan 0-2 1-2 1, Stechschulte 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 20-39 15-23 61.EASTWOOD (22-3)Limes 0-1 0-0 0, C. Boos 6-13 0-0 15, L. Boos 0-2 0-0 0, Meyeer 8-14 2-6 19, Dewese 1-4 3-4 5, Arnston 4-6 0-0 9, Schuerman 1-2 0-0 2, Getz 3-4 0-0 6. TOTALS: 23-46 5-10 56.Ottawa-Glandorf 14 13 18 16—61Eastwood 13 14 16 13—563-POINT GOALS: Ottawa-Glandorf 6-12 (Kuhlman 1-1, Schmenk 4-5, Maag 0-2, Fuka 1-3, Jordan 0-1); Eastwood 5-12 (Limes 0-1, C. Boos 3-6, L. Boos 0-1, Meyer 1-1, Arnston 1-2, Schuerman 0-1).REBOUNDS: Ottawa-Glandorf 24 (White 13); Eastwood 24 (Dewese 8).ASSISTS: Ottawa-Glandorf 7 (Kuhlman 3); Eastwood 6 (C. Boos 2, L. Boos 2).STEALS: Ottawa-Glandorf 6 (White 2); Eastwood 2 (C. Boos 2).BLOCKS: Ottawa-Glandorf 4 (White 2); Eastwood 5 (Dewese 4).TURNOVERS: Ottawa-Glandorf 5; Eastwood 8.