Northern Buckeye Conference foes Eastwood and Elmwood both won sectional finals Friday and are heading to the Division III district tournament, but they won’t be playing each other.
Matter of fact, if they both continue to win out, they won’t play each other again until the regional tournament at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center in two weeks.
NBC outright champion Eastwood (20-3) had little trouble getting by Delta (11-13), 55-30, at Springfield High School, but Elmwood (16-8) needed overtime to defeat Oak Harbor (12-12), 45-43, at Monroeville High School.
Jacob Meyer led Eastwood with 14 points, Case Boos scored 12, Gavin DeWese scored nine and Andrew Arntson scored eight.
Jacob Limes had five points, Lake Boos scored three and Noah Smith and Brady Weaver scored two apiece for the Eagles.
The Eagles led 30-21 at halftime but held the Panthers to nine points on three field goals in the second half.
For Delta, Bryar Knapp scored 11, Nolan Risner scored seven, Justin Ruple scored five, Josh Tresnan-Reighard scored four, James Ruple scored two points and Bryce Reeves added one point.
Eastwood plays Liberty Center (11-12) on Thursday in a district semifinal at Toledo Central Catholic’s Sullivan Center, with tipoff at 5:30 p.m.
Elmwood 45, Oak Harbor 43
Hayden Wickard hit a one-and-one with 50 seconds remaining to give Elmwood the lead, and the Royals added more free throws in the final seconds to ice the overtime victory.
Until that point, it was a game of runs, and not a back-and-forth game like the final score would indicate. At least, not until the fourth quarter and overtime period.
The two teams were tied at six points apiece after eight minutes, but Elmwood opened a 16-2 second quarter run to take a 22-8 lead at intermission.
However, the Rockets got hot from the outside and outscored the Royals 20-9 in the third quarter.
Wickard led Elmwood with a double-double 14 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists, and Bryce Reynolds 11 points and six rebounds.
Kyler Heiserman had eight points and three assists, Kade Lentz had six points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Brady Ziegler added four points for the Royals.
T.J. Hallett led Oak Harbor with 20 points, including three triples. Keegan Durdel scored 12 on four triples, Kyle Glaser scored seven points, and Jaqui Hayward and Ethan Stokes added two points apiece.
Elmwood heads to the Norwalk High School district where the Royals will take on either Colonel Crawford or Edison at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
