By Cort Reynolds
OTTAWA - After a hot-shooting first period, the visiting Bluffton boys basketball team cooled off and lost at perennial power Ottawa-Glandorf 63-50 Saturday night in a non-league bout.
The Pirates led by seven early as they hit four of nine three-point tries en route to a 21-16 lead after the opening stanza. Trenton Donley nailed three trifectas to pour in 11 first-quarter points.
However, O-G limited Bluffton to just four second-period points. Bluffton trailed 27-25 at halftime as Carson Soper scored 11 points by intermission.
Yet the Titans outscored the Pirates 26-11 in the middle quarters, and 47-29 over the final three periods to pull away and win.
O-G put together a 15-5 run to close the third period and seize control. The Titans extended their lead to as many as 19 in the fourth period before Bluffton regained its three-point touch in the final moments.
Bluffton dropped to 3-4 with the setback, while O-G improved to 8-1 after the win.
Soper tied it 27-all on a drive early in the third period. Titan Caleb Kuhlman drained a corner trey, and then Eli Schmenk stole the ball on the press and netted a layup.
Titan 6-7 senior Owen Nichols drained a trifecta to extend the lead to eight with 4:52 to go in the third period.
Lanky Pirate Kyler Kinn ended the 8-0 Titan run with a conventional three-point play inside. Nichols answered with a reverse layup, and Ethan White followed with another basket.
Pirate senior Nic Essinger scored inside off a good Kinn interior feed to cut the deficit to 39-32. Yet junior Landen Jordan splashed a triple to build the lead to 10 after three quarters.
Kuhlman knocked down a 19-footer with 7:01 remaining to make it 44-32. Kinn split a pair of foul shots, countered by two free throws by Brennan Blevins. Blevins then nailed a long trey, followed by an inside basket from Donley to make it 49-35.
Schmenk drained another trey to advance the lead to 17. Pirate Nate Schaadt canned two free tosses, but Colin White nailed a lane floater.
Schmenk was fouled on a putback and converted two charity stripers. Donley drilled a left wing triple yet Carter Schimmoeller drove the lane for a deuce and a 58-40 bulge.
Soper converted an off-balance southpaw drive off glass. Blevins netted a transition drive, answered by a driving score from Trey Boblitt.
A long Titan triple with 90 seconds to go extended the O-G cushion to 63-44. Soper buried a corner three, then knocked down another triple in the final minute to cut the final margin to 13.
Soper led all scorers with 21 points. Donley netted 16 points on the strength of four for eight triple shooting.
Eli Schmenk tallied 13 points and four steals off the bench for the Titans. Nichols contributed 13 markers, while Blevins netted 11 despite early foul trouble.
O-G connected on 24 of 54 field goals (44 percent). The Titans sank nine of 22 from three-point territory (41 percent), and hit on 15 of 32 inside the arc (47 percent).
O-G canned six of its nine attempts from the charity stripe (67 percent).
The Pirates canned 11 of their 19 shots inside the arc (58 percent), and drained seven of 25 launches from three-point land (28 percent).
Bluffton made 18 of 44 shots overall (41 percent). They converted seven of 12 free throws (58 percent) from the charity stripe.
Boblitt misfired on all seven of his three-point tries as Bluffton suffered through a one for 11 trifecta drought after their hot start from beyond the arc.
O-G narrowly won the rebound battle, 27-25.
Titan pressure helped lead to 16 Bluffton turnovers, while the hosts were guilty of 11 errors.
O-G 63 (8-1)
C. Schimmoeller 1 0-0 3, Blevins 3 3-4 11, Kuhlman 3 0-0 7, Schmenk 4 3-4 13, Jordan 2 0-0 5, Kaufman 2 0-0 4, C. White 3 0-1 7, Nichols 6 0-0 13.
Totals: 24-54/6-9/63. 3-pointers (9-22): Schmenk 2, Blevins 2, Schimmoeller 1, Kuhlman 1, Jordan 1, C. White 1, Nichols 1.
Bluffton 50 (3-4)
Donley 6-10 0-0 16, T. Shutler 1 1-1 3, Kinn 1 2-3 4, Boblitt 1 0-0 2, Schaadt 0 2-2 2, Soper 8 2-6 21, Essinger 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 18-44/7-12/50. 3-pointers (7-25): Donley 4, Soper 3.
1 2 3 4 F
O-G 16 11 15 21 63
Bluf 21 4 7 18 50
Bluffton (1-1 NWC) visits tough WBL foe Wapakoneta (7-2) Tuesday evening, then travels to Paulding (5-4, 1-1 NWC) for a league game Friday night.
The Pirates finish a busy week of four games in eight days by hosting Ft. Jennings (2-3) Saturday evening, Jan. 9.
The Pirates are 2-2 at home and 1-2 on the road this season.
