Above: Tyson Dietrich (25), Delta's Blake Green (21), and Zeb Frank battle for a rebound in their Division III district semifinal. At left: Aaron Wyse speeds off on a fast break after stealing the ball from Delta's Scott Garlinger. It took overtime, but Archbold prevailed 44-38 to advance to the district final.– photos by Mary Huber It took overtime, but Archbold (21-1) held off a determined Delta squad and picked up a 44-38 Division III district semifinal win, Thursday, March 10, at Napoleon.

Delta, under the guidance of Cory Sprow, head coach, had what appeared to be a perfect game plan: limit Archbold to second shots, keep the big guys contained, and play tough defense.

It worked for four quarters.

“It was a great game, a great atmosphere,” said Doug Krauss, AHS head coach. “We had to play for 32 minutes, then we had to play 36 minutes.

“Our kids gave a great effort, as did Delta’s. I told Cory that was one well-prepared team, and we didn’t expect anything different.”

Streaks Trail At Halftime

As each minute ticked by, the Streaks had to come from behind in a low-scoring contest.

The score was knotted at 8 after the first eight minutes. Luke Kammeyer’s twohanded put-back slam in the second brought the Archbold faithful to their feet, but AHS trailed by two, 16-14, at the half.

It looked like the Panthers would take control in the third. Archbold opened with a deuce from Kammeyer. The Panthers rattled off the next four points as Drew Salsbury nailed two at the charity stripe and Blake Green scored on a put-back for a 20-16 lead with two minutes left in the quarter.

The two squads exchanged baskets in the closing minutes, and Delta led 25-19 eight minutes from a trip to the district championship.

“I thought we guarded Delta pretty good,” said Krauss. “We just couldn’t make any shots and get anything going, but give credit to Delta’s defense.”

Streaks Go On A Run

Archbold rattled off the first seven points of the fourth quarter for a 26-25 lead.

Green drove the baseline for two and Salsbury hit a jumper over Kammeyer to retake the lead at 29-26 with 3:30 left in regulation.

Telly Fricke connected on a pair from the charity stripe. Frank hit his first three-pointer of the night to give the Blue and Gold a 31- 29 lead.

Josh Beverly added one from the foul line to close the gap to 31-30.

With Delta packed into a 1-3-1 zone, Krauss called a time-out. Coming out of the time-out, Fricke drove toward the basket and was fouled with 1:31 left. Shooting the double bonus, he made one to up the lead to 32-30.

Delta crossed mid-court and called a time-out with 1:14 remaining.

The Panthers’ Jacob Prather turned the ball over, leaving Archbold to go the length of the court. Crossing mid-court, Frank lost the handle, giving the ball back to Delta.

Beverly was fouled by Frank, sending the Delta senior to the charity stripe to shoot two.

Beverly made both free throws, tying the game at 32 with 38 seconds left.

Archbold spread the floor, looking to win it or go into overtime. Tyson Dietrich got off a pair of shots, but neither connected, sending the game into overtime.

Overtime

Morton took control in OT. He first scored a pair at the foul line, then hit a 10-footer followed by another pair of free throws.

Green hit a jumper for Delta and Beverly tallied two free throws, but the Streaks led 38-36.

“It came down to we didn’t have an answer for their run, and once Archbold got the lead it’s hard to come back against a great team like Archbold,” said Sprow.

“I honestly think Garrett (Morton) is their best player, and he is an all-around athlete.

"He demanded the ball in the overtime and hit that shot along the baseline. That was a big shot.”

“We made the foul shots when they counted and got the ball in Garrett’s hand, and he came up and made big plays,” said Krauss.

Frank hit four-of-four foul shots and Kammeyer capped off the win by hitting two-oftwo from the charity stripe.

Archbold hit 10-of-10 from the foul line in the overtime to seal the victory.

The Streaks were 17-28 from the free-throw line for the contest, while Delta was 10-14.

Salsbury and Green led Delta (13-9) with 10 points each. Morton paced Archbold with 14.

			BOX	SCORE
ARCHBOLD				(	44)		-	Rodriguez 2,
Morton			14,	Frank	8,	Fricke			6,		Kammeyer
10,				Dietrich 4.				Totals		13-17-
44.
DELTA			(38) -			Callahan			2,		Mohr
3,		Prather	6,	Salsbury			10,		Green		10,
Beverly		7.	Totals		12-	10-		38.
AHS			86		5		13		12	-	44
DHS			88		9		7		6	-	38

 

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To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.–Anatole France