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Coldwater's Baylen Blockberger, left, bumps into Delphos St. John's Cameron Elwer while going up for a shot during Friday's MAC boys basketball game at the Palace. Elwer hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Blue Jays a 60-57 win.
COLDWATER - The weather outside the Palace was frightful.
But in the jam-packed gym, it was delightful.
St. John's and Coldwater gave the capacity crowd of over 2,000 a 32-minute exhibition of great basketball with sole possession of first place in the Midwest Athletic Conference on the line.
The game appeared to be heading to overtime, but Blue Jay sophomore Cameron Elwer showed why he's the best player in the conference.
Elwer's 3-pointer just before the buzzer lifted the Blue Jays (19-2, 8-0 MAC) past the Cavaliers 60-57 on Friday night to win at least a share of the boys basketball conference title and hand Coldwater its first league loss. It's the first MAC title for the Blue Jays since the 2012-13 season.
A Blue Jay win at Arnzen Gymnasium next Friday against Marion Local would lock up an outright title. A loss to the Flyers and a Coldwater (16-4, 7-1 MAC) win at Minster would create a tie for first.
"If you enjoy competitive sports and enjoy the MAC, this is about as good as you can possibly get," said Blue Jays coach Aaron Elwer. "Two undefeated teams, two great crowds and a buzzer-beater. What a great back-and-forth game. You wouldn't want it any other way to win the league."
"Just two great teams. At this point in the season, it's the way you want to be playing," Fisher said. "It's just unfortunate someone had to come up on the losing side. A lot at stake with a chance to win (the MAC), which we haven't done for a while (2003, when the Cavaliers shared the title with Marion Local and St. John's).
"Still proud of our kids. It was like a tournament atmosphere, so it will help us prepare for what we might see down the road."
Neither team could put any distance between them in the contest. The first half featured seven ties and eight lead changes as Coldwater took a 33-32 lead at the half.
Coldwater's Luke Schwieterman lays in a shot over two St. John's defenders.
A pair of Luke Schwieterman free throws 11 seconds into the third quarter pushed the Cavalier lead to three as both teams struggled on offense, ands it took over 90 seconds before Cameron Elwer scored to make it 35-34, then after a Cavalier miss, knocked down the three to put the Blue Jays up 37-35.
Coldwater tied the game on a Schwieterman bucket and briefly went ahead on a Baylen Blockberger basket, but Drew Boggs hit a trey to give the Blue Jays the lead again. St. John's pushed the lead to 47-41 with 10.7 seconds to play in the quarter, but Caleb Schroer beat the buzzer with a trey to cut it to 47-44 heading into the final quarter of regulation.
Blockberger tied the game early in the fourth with a trey, but Andrew Elwer gave the Blue Jays the lead again at 50-47, followed by older brother Cameron hitting another three to make it 53-47 with just under six to play. The Blue Jays kept fending off the Cavaliers and were up 57-52 with 1:57 to play in regulation. Owen Kunk hit a 3-pointer with 1:50 to play to cut the margin to two, then the Cavaliers forced a jump ball with the possession to their favor. After a Coldwater timeout, Blockberger drove in and got the bunny to fall to tie the game for the 10th time of the evening with 1:09 to play.
Coldwater's Owen Kunk shoots over Delphos St. John's Aaron Moenter.
"To be down five with two minutes to play, what a great effort," said Fisher. "A really solid team."
The Blue Jays took their time while Coldwater, which had just one team foul in the quarter, fouled several times to get the Blue Jays out of setting up a play.
"We got under a minute and I felt we would just milk it if we can," said coach Elwer. "We knew (Coldwater) had fouls to give."
Both teams took a timeout with 4.1 seconds to play. Austin Moenter got the ball to Cameron Elwer, who was double-teamed, to the corner. Elwer's shot smoothly went into the basket with 1.2 seconds remaining on the clock, and Coldwater was unable to get a timeout before the buzzer sounded.
"Right before they called a timeout, we had one called up and had it with Aaron (Moenter) on a layup, but they adjusted and we adjusted," said coach Elwer. "Cameron had it going and had one goal in mind."
"We tried to double him. Miles Pottkotter was guarding him. We were worried about somebody slipping and we give up a layup," said Fisher. "Give him credit. What a whale of a shot. I thought it was a little short and thought there was a little bit of time on the clock. Obviously, it didn't work out."
Elwer, who entered the game leading the MAC in scoring with 28.5 points per game, was 14-of-20 from the field - 6-of-9 from beyond the arc - and 6-of-7 from the foul line to finish with 40 points. Elwer also had eight rebounds.
Blockberger was 9-of-13 from the field to finish with 24 points and seven rebounds. Kunk added 12 points.
While St. John's is off until next Friday, Coldwater looks to bounce back tonight with a road trip to Wapakoneta.
