Redskins edge Cavs in Backyard Battle

ST. HENRY - The old coaching adage of free throws being important rang true Friday night in the annual Backyard Battle between Coldwater and St. Henry.

The Redskins made 80 percent of their free throws, which helped tremendously down the stretch as they held off a late charge by the Cavaliers and picked up a 70-67 win in the regular season finale for both teams.

The win gives St. Henry (16-6, 7-2 MAC) sole possession of second place in the Midwest Athletic Conference, while Coldwater (13-8, 6-3 MAC) drops into a tie for third with Fort Recovery.

The teams combined to shoot 72 free throws. St. Henry shot 20 of its 35 in the final quarter alone. Jack Hemmelgarn hit an NBA-range three-pointer at the end of the third quarter to knot the game at 45-all. The teams played to five ties in the fourth quarter. The free throw shooting proved to be the difference. St. Henry hit 28-of-35 free throws for the game. Coldwater, meanwhile, finished 21-of-37 (56 percent) at the line.

"It was a great backyard rivalry game," St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck said. "The Coldwater kids played extremely hard. St. Henry kids played extremely hard. Someone had to come away with the win. I give our seniors all the credit for their efforts tonight."

Judging from the start of the game, St. Henry looked ready to pull away and leave Coldwater in the distance, hitting its first six shots and leading 14-5 with just over three minutes elapsed in the quarter. Coldwater countered with center Andy Brunet and Hemmelgarn, who combined for all 12 points in the first quarter for the Cavaliers as they trimmed the Redskins' lead to 16-12.

The Cavaliers briefly held a 17-16 early in the second quarter thanks to two Hemmelgarn free throws and a Dylan Thobe three-pointer, but Ryan Luttmer put St. Henry back into the lead with a trey of his own. The Redskins took a 31-25 lead into the halftime break.

Buckets by Mitchel Stammen helped St. Henry push the lead up to 36-26 with just over 5 1/2 minutes left to play in the third quarter. The Redskins went up 40-29 when Mitchel Stammen hit two free throws after a foul and he followed with two more at the line after the Cavalier bench was hit with a technical foul. Coldwater refused to quit, whittling down the deficit over the final 4 1/2 minutes of the period with Hemmelgarn's long-range trey tying the game.

"Perseverance is something all coaches are looking for," Coldwater coach Mike Bruns said. "I felt like this team persevered tonight. They could have fell down and let (St. Henry) take over, but they kept fighting."

The first 2:15 of the fourth quarter followed the same trend. The Redskins continued to take the lead but the Cavaliers continuously matched them. Brunet got a stickback with 4:45 left to tie the game at 54-all. After the teams traded a scoreless possessions, Jesse Niekamp scored to put St. Henry back into the lead at 56-54.

Neal Muhlenkamp went to the line but made just one free throw to cut it to 56-55. St. Henry's Mitchel Stammen followed with a bucket and then added two free throws to make the score 60-55 with 2:54 to play. After Coldwater made a free throw, Mitchel Stammen hit two more free throws to make it a six-point game.

After a pair of Paul Stammen free throws made it 66-59 with 50.4 seconds to go, Aaron Harlamert hit a three-pointer to get Coldwater within four. St. Henry missed on a pair of free throws, but Marcus Bruns connected on two to get Coldwater within a bucket. Evan Lefeld hit a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to make it a four-point game, but Harlamert hit another trey with 5.7 seconds left to pull Coldwater within one. After a timeout, Mitch Schwieterman hit two free throws to make it a three-point game. Coldwater had a chance to tie, but was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer to end the game.

"Free throws are (about) focus," Rosenbeck said. "I think anyone in the gym could tell our seniors were focused. The Coldwater kids made great pushes, but our seniors would not allow themselves to walk off the floor without a victory."

"It was a game of ups and downs," coach Bruns said. "Naturally, people will look at the free throw situation. We didn't make our free throws when we needed two, but there were so many other situations you could blame that game on. I thought the kids played hard. That's the main thing. Both teams played hard."

Mitchel Stammen finished with 29 points, thanks in large part to a 15-of-16 effort at the foul line. Niekamp scored 14 and Lefeld added 12.

Brunet was 8-of-8 from the field and 6-of-11 from the line to finish with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Harlamert scored 14 and Hemmelgarn had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Both teams are off until next Friday. St. Henry travels to the Division IV Coldwater sectional the winner of Tuesday's New Knoxville-Hardin Northern game. Coldwater heads to the Elida Fieldhouse for Division III sectional action against the winner of Bluffton and Carey.