Four boys' high school basketball teams, four university men's teams and four women's teams play in Bluffton in three tournaments involving 12 different games over a three-day period at the end of December.
McDonald's sponsors the three tournaments. The boys' games are in the Bluffton High School gym. The university games are in the Sommer Center.
Bluffton High School boys'
McDonald's Holiday Tournament BHS gymnasium
Friday, Dec. 27
Continental vs Arlington 6 pm
Bluffton vs CR 7:30 pm
By Cort Reynolds
FINDLAY - Bluffton opened its 2019-20 wrestling campaign at the Findlay Trojan Duals last Saturday.
The Pirates ended up 14th out of 16 teams with a 1-4 record at the event. The Bluffton matmen finished ahead of Defiance and Elida.
The Pirates beat Elida 48-27 to register their dual win. They lost to Miami East 57-16; lost to Sandusky 40-24; and fell to Eaton 42-30 in the match for 13th place.
Thayne Kleman (106 lbs.) and Tayton Kleman (120 lbs.) each posted 4-1 records at the event to pace Bluffton.
By Cort Reynolds
BLUFFTON - Bluffton's Brinkley Garmatter drilled a three-pointer in the final seconds of overtime to edge Ottoville 55-53 in a girls basketball non-conference battle Saturday afternoon.
Host Bluffton trailed 37-19 at halftime, but rallied to tie it 50-50 at the end of regulation by holding Ottoville to just 13 second-half points.
The Lady Pirates then won the extra period 5-3. Bluffton ended up limiting the Big Green to just 16 points over the final 20 minutes.
By Cort Reynolds
FINDLAY - The visiting Bluffton boys basketball team outscored Liberty-Benton 25-15 in the fourth period to come from behind and win a tough non-league battle Saturday night, 62-56.
The Pirates improved to 2-0 with the comeback victory, while L-B fell to 1-2 with the loss.
Senior Luke Denecker canned three trifectas and sank 10 free throws en route to a game-high 27 points for the Pirates. Versatile senior Mason Soper tallied 17 points and added six rebounds, six steals and five assists.
By Cort Reynolds
BLUFFTON - The host Bluffton boys basketball team rolled up big numbers in the middle quarters en route to an 80-48 blowout of Bath in their non-league season opener Friday night.
By Cort Reynolds
BLUFFTON - Host Bluffton tipped off girls basketball Northwest Conference play with a hard-fought 50-46 win over Delphos Jefferson Thursday night.
The Lady Pirates improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the NWC with their second straight victory. Meanwhile, DJ fell to 1-2 and 0-1 in the league with the defeat.
