The Crestview Knights made the trip worth it Friday night. After braving the hour long trek east to Bluffton through the snow and wind, the Knights took off on an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter and pulled out of town 49-38 victors. Crestview won their third straight, while Bluffton dropped their fifth consecutive and now stands at 3-13.
The two squads battled it out for the first three quarters with neither team able to gain an upper hand. Kyle Siefker held the hot hand early as the sophomore scored six first quarter points before running into foul trouble. Tyler Breidenbach swiped the ball and fed RJ Stratton, who raced down court for a buzzer beating layup and a 10-10 tie after one. Bluffton went cold from the field, shooting just 25% in the second quarter but did enough right to hang around. Matt Gillett knocked down a ‘3’ with 2:07 left giving BHS an 18-17 lead but Crestview grabbed it back with a runner in the lane to make the halftime score 19-18 visitors.
Crestview’s defense forced three quick Pirate turnovers to start the second half before BHS righted the ship. Levi Gleason, who grabbed a team high 12 rebounds, started a quick 6-0 spurt with two free throws. Stratton followed that with a nice baseline drive and Gillett scored in the lane to give Bluffton a 30-29 lead late in the quarter. Stratton again beat the buzzer to tie the game at 32-32 heading into the fourth. The Knights headed to the foul line early and often in the fourth quarter as they opened the final stanza on an 11-0 run to put the game out of reach. Bluffton was saddled with six team fouls entering the fourth and Crestview forced even more as the game wore on. Six of the eleven points in the run came from the stripe for the Knights. Gillett finally broke up the party with a ‘3’ with 1:55 left. It was Bluffton’s only field goal in the fourth, as they shot just 1/10 from the field. Still, a quick 5-0 spurt got BHS within 43-37 with 1:28 left. But two three point shots were off the mark and Crestview continued their march to the free throw line, as they knocked down 10 of 16 charity shots in the fourth quarter alone to preserve the win.
Matt Gillett’s 18 topped the Bluffton scoring list. RJ Stratton, Kyle Siefker and Levi Gleason all scored 6. Tyler Breidenbach added 2 points and 3 steals. Bluffton travels to face 10-5 Delphos Jefferson Friday night before facing top ranked Liberty Benton Saturday night at the Eagles Nest.
Tags: Crestview, Matt Gillett, Levi Gleason, Tyler Breidenbach, Kyle Siefker, RJ Stratton
Teams: Basketball (B)