Wild finishes highlight semis

COLDWATER - The opening game of the Asset Allocation Associates Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament ended in a big comeback win.

The second game, well, had to be seen to be believed.

Coldwater rallied for a 46-43 victory on Ethan Post's 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining in the game in the opening semifinal at the Palace in Coldwater, picking up its first victory over St. Henry since 2009.

The nightcap was something else. Marion Local went scoreless for 14 minutes and 22 seconds in the second half against Celina, but still managed to secure a 27-23 victory to advance to the final.

The Cavaliers and Flyers meet in Wednesday's 7:45 p.m. championship game as Marion looks to win its first Classic title since 2016 and the Cavaliers try for their first-ever tournament crown. St. Henry, which had won the last three tournaments, faces Celina in the consolation game starting at 6 p.m.

Coldwater 46, St. Henry 43

Cavaliers coach Nick Fisher called it a typical Monday night game, and the first half certainly looked to be just that for Coldwater as it struggled with its shooting as St. Henry jumped out to a 22-12 halftime lead.

Coldwater started to claw away at the deficit in the third quarter. Zack McKibben gave Coldwater its first lead since the opening basket with 3:18 remaining in the third to make the score 24-23. Luke Gels quickly put St. Henry back in front at 25-24, only to have Tyler Schwieterman put Coldwater in the lead again seconds later at 26-25. St. Henry regained the lead again and was up 32-28 heading to the fourth quarter.

"We came out in the second half and played with a little more sense of urgency," said Coldwater coach Nick Fisher. "Not to make excuses, but it felt like a Monday night game. Thing is, we had a great couple days of practice over the break. I was in shock myself (after Monday's start)."

"Offensively, we need to reward ourselves a little more," said St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck. "Just a lot of opportunities we let slip from our fingers. I loved their effort in the first half. I just hope they start rewarding themselves and finishing at the rim and free throw line."

Bennett Gels extended the lead to 34-28 with free throws eight seconds into the final period, but Jay Muhlenkamp hit two free throws of his own and Post knocked down a trey to get the Cavaliers to within one at 34-33. After Casey Bruening hit a free throw to make it a two-point game, Post knocked down another trey to put the Cavaliers in front 36-35. McKibben followed with free throws to raise the margin to three and then Schwieterman got the hoop-and-harm 3-point play to put the Cavaliers up by six with 41/2 minutes remaining.

The Cavs lead was 43-37 with 2:57 remaining when the Redskins made another charge as Logan Lefeld and Bruening scored to cut it to 43-41. Coldwater had a chance to extend the lead but missed free throws. That allowed Bruening to tie the game at 43-all with 35 seconds remaining. Coldwater worked the ball around and found Post in the corner. Post drained the trey with 20 seconds remaining to give the Cavaliers the lead. After a timeout, the Redskins had two solid shots to win, but missed both to allow the Cavaliers to hang on.

"Kudos (to our players) for persevering in the second half," said Fisher, whose team was 12-of-19 from the floor after halftime. "We got on the offensive boards a little more. Defensively, we could have offered a little more pressure."

"In the end, they made one more play than we did," said Rosenbeck. "We got a couple of good looks (at the end) and nothing went for us."

Post finished with 21 points to lead all scorers. Schwieterman added 13.

Lefeld was the only Redskin in double figures with 11. Bruening had seven points and 15 rebounds.

Marion Local 27,
Celina 23

The Flyers looked to be in control of their game with the Bulldogs, leading 22-12 at the half and with Brady Ronnebaum's 3-pointer with 5:22 remaining in the third quarter, Marion was leading 25-15.

Then the game got weird, and interesting.

Reeves Black knocked down a 3-pointer with 4:18 remaining in the quarter, which became the final points of the period as the teams traded missed shots and turnovers for the remainder of the quarter.

Josh Rasawehr snapped the cold spell for Celina with an and-1 with 6:53 remaining in regulation, but the Flyers remained chilled. Rasawehr then got Celina to within a bucket with 3:15 to play.

"We were absolutely horrific on offense tonight," said Flyers coach Kurt Goettemoeller, whose squad was 1-of-14 from the floor in the second half after shooting 9-of-18 in the first half. "We were awful and found a way to win."

"Down 10 at the half and we found a way to get it down to two," said Celina coach Adam Johns. "We had plenty of opportunities, but needed someone to make some shots."

Marion missed shots on its next two possessions as they tried to slow the game down and force Celina, which had just two team fouls in the second half to that point, to foul five more times to put the Flyers in the bonus.

Celina tried to get a shot up to tie with under 30 seconds to play, but were called for five-seconds to give Marion the ball with around 10 seconds remaining. Celina quickly fouled enough times to put Marion on the line with 5.9 seconds remaining. Alex Knapke missed, but Peyton Otte got the rebound and got the ball to Ronnebaum, who was fouled with 0.9 seconds remaining. This time, Ronnebaum snapped the cold spell with two free throws to ice the game.

"I was super-positive with the guys after the game because we hang out hats on our defense," said Goettemoeller. "We tell our kids there's going to be nights where the ball is not going in on offense, but you can never have a down night on defense. Our defense saved our bacon tonight."

"Defensively, as a coaching staff, we can't ask for anything more," said Johns. "We're holding teams to around 40 for the year and we (held Marion) to 27 tonight. Offensively, we need to clean some stuff up and shoot with confidence."

Rasawehr scored 14 of the Bulldogs' 23 points to go with seven rebounds.

Ronnebaum led Marion with 13 points.