DRIVE INTO THE DEFENSE … Archbold’s Sonny Phillips draws contact while penetrating the middle of the Paulding defense. VIEW 95 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Nate Calvin
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
sports@thevillagereporter.com
NAPOLEON (March 7, 2024) – Paulding trailed by as many as 20 points before trimming the deficit to seven in the fourth quarter, but that was the closest they could get as Archbold pulled away for 48-34 win in the Division III district semifinals.
Cade Brenner carried the Bluestreak scoring in the first quarter with three buckets, including one from deep, for seven of Archbold’s nine points in the frame.
A Sunny Phillips jumper and another triple from Brenner gave Archbold a 14-4 lead, leading to a Paulding timeout at the 6:09 mark of quarter number two.
The Panthers briefly stemmed the tide with scores by Casey Agler and Grady Barton before Archbold ripped off nine straight points to end the half.
Phillips started the run with a conventional three-point play on a drive and bucket down the lane, Brenner had a basket, and Micah Nofziger scored twice inside to make it 23-8, Archbold, at halftime.
The Bluestreaks pushed their lead to 28-8 in the opening moments of the third with Nofziger hitting a turnaround jumper from the low square and Brenner dialed up a deep three ball.
Paulding chipped away at the lead as Archbold would get to just one more field goal in the quarter and the Panthers engineered a 12-0 run.
Paulding would go 5/6 at the free throw line during the surge while also getting a bucket inside from Barton, a three-point play by Blake Rhonehouse, and a short jumper by Agler to make it a 28-20 ball game.
Phillips then hit two at the line and Braden Piercefield scored on an offensive rebound to help the Streaks increase the lead back to double digits at 32-21 after three quarters.
Paulding kept the pressure on with an Agler triple from the left wing and then it was Agler scoring a drive while drawing the foul as the Archbold advantage shrunk to 34-27.
Archbold regained control thanks to an 8-2 spurt with Chase Miller nailing a wide-open trey from the right side off an inbounds play, Phillips drained a foul line jumper and was 2/2 at the stripe, and Miller stepped to the line and hit a pair to give the Bluestreaks a 45-29 lead.
Brenner topped all scorers with 21 points on the night while Phillips was also in double figures with 11. Agler had 16, 14 in the second half, for Paulding (15-10) and Rhonehouse added 10, all in the second half.
It will be 1 vs. 2 in the district final on Saturday night back at the Grand Canyon as No. 2 Archbold (22-2) will take on the No. 1 seed Emmanuel Christian (21-3), who beat Liberty Center 62-55 in overtime in the other semifinal, beginning at 6pm.
PAULDING (34) – T. Manz 0; Rhonehouse 10; P. Manz 0; Agler 16; Schneider 0; Jones 2; Barton 6; Harder 0; Beckman 0; Totals: 9-2-10 – 34
ARCHBOLD (48) – Rodriguez 0; Phillips 11; Brenner 21; Wendt 0; Seiler 1; Diller 0; Miller 5; Piercefield 2; Valentine 0; Nofziger 8; Totals: 12-4-12 – 48
PAULDING 4 4 13 13 – 34
ARCHBOLD 9 14 9 16 – 48
GAME STATISTICS
PAULDING: FG – 11/33 (33%); FT – 10/12 (83%); Rebounds – 23 (5 offensive); Turnovers – 22; ARCHBOLD: FG – 16/46 (34%); FT – 12/18 (67%); Rebounds – 23 (9 offensive); Turnovers – 14
