DELPHOS — As the weather warmed up outside the Jefferson Middle School Saturday night, so did the temperature of the Wildcats’ shots. That was especially true in the second half as the Jefferson boys basketball team dominated the second quarter 24-0 and overcame the Perry Commodores by a score of 59-44. Perry won the jump ball and immediately scored three points by Brandon Riepenhoff (16 points total). The Wildcats tried to move the ball around and get shots off but could not put enough points on the board. Bubba Shivley tallied three of the five points the ’Cats scored. Shortly after the basket by Shivley, Riepenhoff came down and made another three to keep the lead for the Commodores.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Commodores had dominated the first quarter 13-5. The second quarter completely turned the game around as Jefferson totally dominated, outscoring their foe 24-0. Michael Wiltsie (12 points) came out and drained three shots from beyond the arc working to get open shots. Craig Carder came off the bench to drain two 3s to help the Wildcats get a 16-point lead going into the break. Perry was only able to get 14 shots off in the first half; Jefferson got 26 shots toward the basket. “The second quarter, we shut down. When you don’t score in 10 minutes, you’re not going to win many ball games. Our kids played hard. We knew we were going to get zoned and it didn’t help to go cold in the second quarter,” stated Perry coach Matt Tabler. The teams came out strong defensively after the break with neither team scoring in double digits in the third period. Perry barely outscored the Wildcats in the third period 9-8 but could never get the lead on the scoreboard. Jefferson got into some foul trouble toward the end of the period but led 37-22. The fourth quarter caused some problems for about two minutes where the teams had turnovers back and forth with few points being put on the board. The Wildcats and the Commodores scored 22 points during the final period. Jefferson balanced its points between shots at the charity stripe and shots from inside the arc. Perry’s points came from four shots beyond the arc. Jefferson almost doubled Perry’s rebounds 26-14. The Wildcats shot over 50 percent from all areas of the court, shooting 75 percent from the charity stripe. Although Perry shot 63 percent from the charity stripe, they only managed to shoot 33 percent from the field. Josh Miller, Matt Gerdeman and Matt Antalis all had key blocks for the Wildcats, getting good position under the basket to get shots off along with rebounds. Jefferson’s guards picked up their ballhandling and shooting percentage to help the Wildcats to a victory. “We bounced back well and had a lot of guys contribute. Our posts were solid tonight and our guards helped out a lot. We knew it was just a matter of time until we had some guys start hitting shots. It was great to see Wiltsie step up along with Carder to hit some shots. We handled the trap well and once we got the lead, we finished the game. Overall, we had a solid performance,” stated Jefferson coach Marc Smith. Jefferson (3-3) faces off with Temple Christian on Saturday at Lima. Perry (3-6) battles St. Marys Memorial on the road Friday. In JV action, the Wildcats prevailed 41-35. Jefferson was topped by Mitchell Antalis with 12 points, the Commodores by Kevin Kraft with 13.