By: Nate Calvin
WAUSEON – The Indians shot a blistering 62% from the floor en route to their sixth straight win by dispatching of Archbold 65-42.
The first quarter featured scoring runs by both teams as Wauseon jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Archbold responded with a 9-0 spurt to grab their largest lead of the night at 9-4.
It was then the Indians turn as they engineered an 8-0 scoring run to close the quarter for a 12-9 lead after the first eight minutes.
A bucket by Jayden Seiler and Cade Brenner’s triple started the second quarter for the Bluestreaks as they scored a quick five points to retake the lead at 14-12.
A 7-0 surge by Wauseon followed with Jack Leatherman and Landon Hines recording buckets around a trey from Elijah McLeod to push the Indian lead to 19-14.
Sonny Phillips stopped the run for Archbold with a corner three-pointer before McLeod answered with a trey and Tyson Rodriguez scored on an inbounds play to give Wauseon a 25-17 advantage.
The rivals traded field goals for the remainder of the half ending with an Ethan Borton layup at the buzzer for Wauseon to give them a 31-23 lead at halftime.
Wauseon began to take control in the opening minute of the third as Leatherman hit a short jumper and Jude Armstrong had a steal and layup to make it 35-23.
Following an Archbold timeout, the Indians run continued as McLeod scored on a give-and-go with Armstrong before hitting his third triple of the night to balloon the lead to 40-23.
Archbold’s Brenner drilled a trey to momentarily stop the bleeding, but it was a triple by Leatherman and a Rodriguez score off a turnover to increase the lead to 45-26 and force another Bluestreak timeout at the 3:48 mark.
Trailing 47-31 starting the fourth, Brenner canned his fourth three-pointer of the night to keep Archbold (10-10, 3-3 NWOAL) within striking distance at 47-34.
The Indians would put the game on ice with an 11-2 run with Hines scoring six points during that stretch and McLeod hitting another shot from long range.
McLeod finished the night with four triples and a game-high 21 points, Hines had 14, and Rodriguez added 10.
Brenner had four treys of his own to top the Bluestreaks with 19 points.
The win keeps Wauseon (13-7, 5-1) in a tie for first place in the NWOAL with Patrick Henry and a win next week over Bryan will give Wauseon at least a share of the league title.
ARCHBOLD (42) – Rodriguez 0; Phillips 8; Brenner 19; Wendt 0; Seiler 8; Gomez 0; Diller 2; Miller 3; Hudson 0; Nofziger 2; Totals: 5-7-11 – 42
WAUSEON (65) – Leatherman 9; Rodriguez 10; Armstrong 5; McLeod 21; Borton 2; Vajen 2; Hines 14; Keefer 0; Parsons 2; Patterson 0; Totals: 21-6-5 – 65
GAME STATISTICS – ARCHBOLD: FG – 12/44 (27%); FT – 11/14 (78%); Rebounds – 14 (6 offensive); Turnovers 8; WAUSEON: FG – 27/43 (62%); FG – 5/8 (62%); Rebounds – 31 (9 offensive); Turnovers – 12
ARCHBOLD 9 14 8 11 – 42
WAUSEON 12 19 16 18 – 65
JUNIOR VARSITY: Wauseon, 36-32
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com
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