DELPHOS — The Cory-Rawson Fighting Hornets probably wished that the third quarter of their non-conference boys basketball contest with Jefferson Saturday evening would not have happened.
They were up 27-19 at halftime and things seemed to be going their way at the Jefferson Middle School Gymnasium.
The Wildcats put on an offensive and defensive show during the third eight minutes en route to a come-from-behind 62-50 triumph.
Jefferson scored the first 21 markers of the stanza and canned 8-of-10 from the field.
“We didn’t panic at halftime,” a pleased Jefferson boys coach Marc Smith noted. “I told the team, ‘There are no eight-point plays.’ We got some steals and made some layups. That helps the shooting percentage.”
Jordan Jettinghoff (15 markers in his varsity debut) swished a goal and then Michael Rahrig (team-high 20) sank a 3-pointer and forced Cory-Rawson coach Mike Lampton to call time to try and stop the bleeding with 6:16 left in the quarter. It did not work. An Aaron Klausing (11 counters) fielder got the hosts to within one and another Jettinghoff bucket put them in the lead for good 28-27 with 4:36 showing. Two Matt Gerdeman fielders caused Lampton to call another timeout.
Cory-Rawson did not score until a mere 20.8 ticks were left in the quarter when Cole Hunter engineered an old-fashioned 3-point play. He then closed out the stanza by getting a steal and converting the layup but the Wildcats still outscored Cory-Rawson 21-5 in the third to lead 40-32.
Jefferson’s defensive adjustment involved Wells Faine, who had connected on 3-balls like they were rain in the first half — four. He was held scoreless in the third and scored three second-half points.
The Fighting Hornets did not quit as Hunter made another old-fashioned 3-point play to pull them within 40-35 with 7:22 left in the fourth. That was as close as the guests from Hancock County would come. Michael Antalis canned a goal and Rahrig a freebie to increase the Jefferson advantage to 43-35 with 6:11 left. A Faine bomb get C-R to within 50-44. After that, Jefferson was in the double bonus and they canned 10-of-14 from the charity stripe to notch their inaugural victory.
It didn’t look as if the Wildcats would get their first win Saturday evening. After a back-and-forth first stanza, which featured two ties and four lead changes — an Antalis jumper was followed by a Blaine Beilharz rebound basket late in the quarter. A Jettinghoff freebie re-knotted the contest at 12 with no time left in the first quarter.
Faine and Jettinghoff swapped triples to start the second stanza. A Faine 3 from downtown Rushmore and his layup after a steal put the visitors up 20-15 with 5:39 left. Jefferson showed no signs of letting up as goals by Gerdeman and Klausing got the Wildcat partisans on their feet. However, Faine wowed the crowd with another triple, this time from downtown Rimer, and Justin Parinello and Hunter ended the first half with buckets to give Cory-Rawson that 8-point bulge.
“Faine was killing us in the first half,” Smith explained. “He’s a fantastic player. He was hitting some 3s well beyond 23 feet.”
Faine took game-scoring honors with 21 markers. Hunter added 15.
C-R (0-2) hit 20-of-50 from the field (40 percent), 6-of-15 from long range (40 percent), and 80 percent from the charity stripe (4-of-5). They outrebounded the hosts 32-22 and made 26 miscues to 14 for Jefferson.
“Mike's got a class program,” Smith offered. “They are where we want to be in that regard. That’s why we picked them up. They’ve got eight seniors and they will win their share of games.”
Jefferson sank 20-of-50 (44 percent) from the field, 50 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (2-of-4), and 20-of-35 from the free-toss line (57 percent).
“Michael Wiltsie did not score a point for us tonight,” Smith added. “He ran the ball very well for us. He had excellent leadership on the floor.
“We cannot be satisfied with this win. We have two games to prepare for next week with Spencerville and Ridgemont. My kids on this team are fabulous. They do a good job in the community and a good job at school and a good job at practice and on the court.”
The Wildcats (1-0) will make the journey down SR 66 Friday to do battle with Northwest Conference foe Spencerville at The Closet.