By BROOKE APPLE

The Delphos Herald

DELPHOS — The Jefferson Wildcats traveled to Lima to battle with the Temple Christian Pioneers.

The boys basketball game was a battle of defense as both teams were hitting shots right and left but the Wildcats prevailed 59-36. The first quarter was a battle of scoring and what team was able to cause the other to turn the ball over or miss some shots. There was a total of 22 shots taken in the period, where 11 were missed after about halfway through. Jefferson came out shooting strong, draining four threes, and led 18-10 after one. Jefferson still was shooting strong as they came out after the short break, scoring 16 in the second period. Jefferson might have been playing strong defense but struggled to stop Clayton Leimeister as he scored a game-high 25 for Temple. Jordan Jettinghoff drained two 3s in the second to help give the Wildcats a 15-point lead — 34-19 — at the break. “We played really well. Our guards really stepped up and shot well from the outside to open up the post game; we have been waiting for that to happen,” stated Jefferson coach Marc Smith. Jefferson went into the break with the momentum but Temple sure came out of the locker room with some momentum. Jefferson only scored three points in the period on a Jettinghoff 3; they only managed to get off seven shots off. Temple had eight but made half of them. As well, Jefferson’s post players appeared to be getting into some foul trouble underneath to put Temple into the bonus before the fourth quarter. “We weathered the storm in the third quarter as we still only allowed them 36 points overall. Leimeister is a great ball player; we tried many different players on him and tried to shut everyone else down,” explained Smith. Jefferson got the wind back in them as they tallied a strong 22 points in the final period. Leimeister got into some foul trouble and eventually fouled out with 1:56 remaining. Jefferson placed nine people into the scorebook, putting two in double digits — Jettinghoff 14 and Michael Wiltsie 13 (4 assists) — and had two others close by: Matt Antalis nine (9 boards) and Matt Gerdeman eight (7 caroms). “It was the best overall team effort we have had for a while with the post and guards playing well,” added Smith. The Wildcats rise to 4-3 and will face Paulding on the road Friday. In JV action, Jefferson also prevailed with a 53-32 win. The Wildcats were topped by Logan Bonifas with 14 and Tyree DeWitt 10. The Pioneers were paced by Josh Link with 13 and Jeremy Young 10.