Bluffton gets fast start, upends Ottawa Hills

BOYS BASKETBALL BLUFFTON 64OTTAWA HILLS 37TOLEDO – Bluffton put Ottawa Hills behind with a big first quarter and put the Green Bears away with an even bigger fourth in a 64-37 Division V sectional final victory.Brody Donley poured in 24 points for Bluffton, which bolted to a 13-4 first-quarter lead and outscored Ottawa Hills 24-13 in the final period.Parker Lovell scored 10 points in the third quarter and had 18 overall. Bean Ginther added 10 points for the Pirates (10-13), who will face Coldwater (10-12) Tuesday in the second game of the Division V district semifinals at Napoleon. Liberty Center (16-7) and Paulding (19-4) will square off in the opener, with Tuesday's winners returning March 6 to determine the regional representative.Avi Hanusz scored 11 points and Colin Gruber added nine for Ottawa Hills (13-10).BLUFFTON (10-13)Lovell 6-5—18, B. Ginther 5-0—10, Taylor 2-0—6, Scoles 1-2—4, Donley 9-2—24, A. Ginther 1-0—2. TOTALS: 24-9—64.OTTAWA HILLS (13-10 )Hanusz 4-0—11, Grimm 2-0—5, Gruber 4-0—9, Neuendorf 1-0—2, Coy 1-0—2, Thom 1-0—3, Culler 1-1—3, Burns 1-0—2. TOTALS: 15-1—37.Bluffton 13 8 19 24—64Ottawa Hills 4 11 9 13—373-POINT GOALS: Bluffton 7 (Lovell, Taylor 2, Donley 4); Ottawa Hills 6 (Hanusz 3, Grimm, Gruber, Thom). COL. GROVE 66RIVERDALE 47COLUMBUS GROVE– After going down 33-29 at the half, Columbus Grove decimated Riverdale in the second half to defeat the Falcons 66-47 in a first-round playoff matchup. The Bulldogs won the second half 37-14, holding the Falcons to single digits in both quarters. Gage Sautter paced Columbus Grove with 21 points, knocking down a pair of triples. Brady Basinger finished with 13 points. Landon Best ended with 11 points, while Trevon Baxter added nine. Grady Haley netted a trifecta of shots from beyond the arc, finishing with a team-high 17 for the Falcons. Cody Flowers-Barger poured in 10 points, notching two three-pointers. Both Grant Inbody and Cale Young tacked on seven. The Falcons bow out with a final record of 14-9. The Bulldogs, now up to 17-6, take on Van Buren on Wednesday at 6 p.m. from Liberty-Benton High School. RIVERDALEHaley 4-6–17, Flowers-Barger 4-0–10, Inbody 3-1–7, Young 3-1–7, Scott 2-0–4, Elwood 1-0–2. 17-8–47.COL. GROVESautter 8-3–21, Basinger 5-3–13, Best, 4-2–11, T. Baxter 4-1–9, G. Baxter 2-1–5, Barraza 2-1–5. TOTALS: 27-11–66.Riverdale 19 14 9 5–47Col. Grove 16 13 15 22–66THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS: Riverdale 5 (Haley 3); Col. Grove 3 (Sautter 2). P. HENRY 66ELMWOOD 33HAMLER – Patrick Henry outscored Elmwood 24-4 in the first quarter, led 41-9 at the half and doubled up the Royals 66-33 in a Division VI sectional final.Mack Hieber's 17 points led Patrick Henry. Reid Creager added 16 points for the Patriots (19-4), who advance to Wednesday's Division VI district semifinals at Lake High School.Braxton Simon led Elmwood (5-18) with 10 points and Kason Hammer added nine.ELMWOOD (5-18)Simon 4-0—10, Hammer 3-0—9, Traxler 3-0—7, Seedorf 2-0—5, Benschoter 1-0—2. TOTALS: 13-0—33.P. HNRY (19-4)Hieber 6-5—17, Creager 3-7—16, Scherdt 2-4—9, Schroeder 1-2—5, Punches 2-0—4, T. Rosebrook 1-0—3, Smith 1-0—2, Johnson 1-2—5, G. Rosebrook 1-0—2. TOTALS: 20-18—66.Elmwood 4 5 10 14—33P. Henry 24 17 15 10—663-POINT GOALS: Elmwood 7 (Hammer 3, Simon 2, Traxler, Seedorf)l; Patrick Henry 8 (Creager 3, Schroeder 2, Scherdt, Johnson, T. Rosebrook) ALLEN EAST 55H-LOUDON 47LAFAYETTE – Allen East had a slight edge in all four quarters and it added up to a 55-47 win over Hopewell-Loudon in a Division VI sectional final.Brady Brooks and Cam Smith both scored 16 points for Allen East. The Mustangs (14-9) will face Ada (16-7) on Wednesday in a Division VI district semifinal matchup at Liberty-Benton.Ashton Miller scored 16 points and Brady Brickman added 13 for Hopewell-Loudon (12-11).H-LOUDON (12-11)Miller 7-2—16, Brickman 6-1—13, Stacy 2-0—4, Smith 3-0—6, Frankart 4-0—8. TOTALS: 22-3—47.ALLEN EAST (14-9)D. Jones 1-4—6, Hershberger 3-0—7, K. Jones 3-0—6, Brooks 6-2—16, Stanley 2-0—4, Smith 7-2—16. TOTALS: 22-8—55.H-Loudon 8 14 10 15—47Allen East 9 16 11 19—553-POINT GOALS: Hopewell-Loudon 0; Allen East 3 (Brooks 2, Hershberger). Swimming CANTON – Bluffton's Jackson Bowlus capped his prep swimming career in style on Friday, earning all-Ohio honors when he placed seventh in the championship flight of the Division II 100-yard backstroke at the state championship meet in Canton.A three-event state qualifier, Bowlus posted a time of 52.57 in the 100 back. The Bluffton senior also placed 14th (22.13) in the 50 freestyle and was on the 200 medley relay team, along with Camden Veb, Aaron Ungashick and Owen Armstrong. That group posted a time of 1:43.87 in the prelims, but did not qualify for the A or B finals.Ottawa-Glandorf had two state placers in Colin Steffen, who was 15th in the 200 IM (2:01.03) and Parker McGraw, who finished 16th in the 100 back (55.32).Ottawa-Glandorf qualified all three of its girls relay teams for state and all three made the B finals.Autumn Stefen, Karlee Maag and Alaina Klass competed in all three relays, teaming with Kelsey Schmitz in the 200 medley (1:52.84) and 200 free (1:42.86) that both placed 14th, and with Abigal Nelson on the 400 relay that was 13th (3:45.10).Steffen also had a 13th place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.53). ScheduleSaturday's EventsPREP GYMNASTICSFindlay at OHSAA District Tournament PREP HOCKEYFindlay vs. Perrysburg, 8:30 p.m. at BGSU GIRL BASKETBALLOHSAA TOURNAMENTDISTRICT FINALSD-I AT WOOSTERFindlay vs. Massillon JacksonD-IV AT MILLER CITYLiberty-Benton vs. Genoa, 6 p.m.D-V AT DEFIANCEOttawa-Glandorf vs. Oak Harbor, 7 p.m.D-VI AT VAN WERTPatrick Henry vs. Wayne Trace, 3 p.m.D-VI AT LIMA SENIORRiverdale vs. Minster, 3 p.m.D-VI AT SHELBYColumbus Grove vs. Colonel CrawfordD-VII AT ARCHBOLDNorth Baltimore vs. Stryker, 3 p.m.D-VII AT ELIDAMcComb vs. Miller City, 3 p.m.D-VII AT WILLARDArlington vs. Tiffin Calvert, 3 p.m.