Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022
Good start to postsason
Coldwater wins D-III tournament opener over Riverdale
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Kevin Fisher drives for a layup as Riverdale's Jayden Taylor defends during Tuesday night's Division III sectional semifinal at the Elida Fieldhouse. Fisher scored a season-high 26 points in the Cavaliers' win over the Falcons.
ELIDA - During the preseason, as he waits for his full team to get together after football, Coldwater boys basketball coach Nick Fisher talks about the regular season being part of a tuneup for getting a good postseason run.
The Cavaliers got their Division III tournament run started right in rolling past Riverdale 68-47 in the sectional at the Elida Fieldhouse, snapping a regular-season-ending three game losing streak.
The Cavaliers (4-17) now face off with top-seeded and state-ranked Ottawa-Glandorf at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The Falcons end the season at 6-17.
"Proud of the effort," said Fisher. "I told them before the game, the first 20 games was to get us ready for this situation. We do what we do and play like we're capable of playing. We did that tonight."
Coldwater took control for good with 3:25 to play in the first quarter when Jace Wood broke a 7-all tie. Riverdale got as close as three before Kevin Fisher, the son of the head coach, knocked off five straight points in the final 48 seconds to push the lead to 17-9 at the end of the quarter.
Kevin Fisher had 12 of the 17 Cavs' points in the first eight minutes and wasn't done, scoring nine of the team's 22 points in the second quarter as Coldwater limited Riverdale to just seven and turned an eight-point lead into a 39-16 lead at halftime. Everyone got into the act, as Tyler Schwieterman scored six and Marcel Blasingame added four during the period with the younger Fisher closing out the quarter with a line-drive swish from 12 feet out before the buzzer.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Tyler Schwieterman tries to avoid Riverdale's Lane Morris as he tries a layup during Tuesday's game at the Elida Fieldhouse.
"The defense was solid, as was the rebounding," said coach Fisher, whose squad forced 16 turnovers and outrebounded the Falcons 43-25. "I was a little disappointed with some of our shot selections in the first half - I thought we could get it inside more. But the boards were there."
Coldwater continued to stay hot with the shooting in the third quarter and fended off the Falcons as Riverdale began to find its offensive touch. The Cavaliers outscored the Falcons 23-18 in the quarter and pushed the margin up to 30 before Riverdale cut it down away from the 35-point running clock level.
Coach Fisher worked in his bench for much of the fourth quarter as Riverdale tried to trim the deficit a few points down the stretch.
Kevin Fisher finished his night shooting 11-of-17 from the field and hitting 4-of-7 from the 3-point line for a season-high 26 points.
"You expect seniors to play that way (towards the end of the season," said coach Fisher of his son's effort. "Solid game shooting. Proud of his effort and everybody's effort."
Tyler Schwieterman added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Thomas Miller paced the Falcons with 15 points. Brayden Courtney chipped in with 12.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Blade Buschur bats a rebound away from three Riverdale defenders at the Elida Fieldhouse on Tuesday.
