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Coldwater's Mason Welsch has made big contributions as the Cavaliers have opened the season at 4-3.
For the first time this season, the Midwest Athletic Conference will have a full slate of boys basketball games on Friday night.
Coldwater, which opened conference play on Tuesday with a win over New Knoxville, hosts St. Henry at the Palace.
The Cavaliers have been busy since starting the season on Dec. 21, going 4-3 and entering Friday having won two straight games after a big 61-37 win over the Rangers.
Baylen Blockberger has been off to a fast start after quarterbacking the Cavalier football team to a state title in early December. Blockberger has scored in double digits in six straight games, scoring nine in the season opener at Russia. Blockberger has had four games of scoring 20 or more points to average 19.2 points per game so far this season.
Center Owen Kunk is coming off a 13-point effort against New Knoxville, sharing the leading scorer honors with Blockberger. Caleb Schroer added 10 points. Mason Welsch, Brady Lefeld, Cody Depweg and Miles Pottkotter also provide key minutes along with Landon Knapke.
St. Henry's Jack Huelsman is the only Redskin averaging double figures this season.
St. Henry is looking to turn the corner. The Redskins were 2-5 after a loss to Marion Local in the Battle of 119 round-robin series before bouncing back with back-to-back wins over Fort Recovery and Anna to go to 4-5 and 1-1 in conference play.
Eric Rosenbeck's squad is averaging 51.7 points per game this season. Jack Huelsman is the lone double-digit scorer in averaging 10.2 points per game. Carter LaGuire adds 7.3 points per game. Austin Zimmerman leads the team in rebounds with 5.2 boards per contest.
In the other MAC games on Friday, undefeated Marion Local travels to Parkway to face the Panthers. St. John's, which rallied from a 15-0 deficit to beat Shawnee on Saturday to also stay undefeated, is at New Knoxville. Fort Recovery is at New Bremen and Minster plays host to Versailles.
Celina has been playing well of late after opening with six losses in the first seven games. After a last-second win over Wapakoneta put the Bulldogs at 2-1 in the Western Buckeye League, Celina traveled to the Stage in Delphos, losing 51-49 in overtime to Delphos Jefferson.
This week, Celina travels to Lappin Gymnasium to face Shawnee. Coach Mark Triplett's squad is 9-2, having won eight straight before the loss to St. John's on Saturday at Arnzen Gymnasium in Delphos.
The Indians have been powered by brothers Beckett and Trevick Bertke, whose father Nick Bertke was a standout at Marion Local and is an assistant on the Shawnee staff. Beckett Bertke, a 6-6 junior forward, leads the team in scoring at 21.6 points per game and rebounds at 8.6 per contest. Sophomore Trevick, a 6-7 guard, adds 18.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and a team-high 3.9 assists per contest.
Celina has ridden the hot shooting of Gavin Wicker. The sophomore leads the team in scoring at 16.7 points per game thanks to several 20-plus scoring performances. Kaiden Werntz adds 13.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest.
St. Marys travels to Wapakoneta on Friday in another WBL game. The rest of the schedule has Van Wert traveling to Defiance and Elida hosting Ottawa-Glandorf. Bath and Kenton played their league game on Wednesday night with Bath winning the battle of Wildcats 65-26.
Not much could take precedent over Friday night boys basketball action.
Except Ohio State football.
Area games on Friday will start an hour earlier due to Ohio State playing in the College Football Playoff Semifinals against Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
All local games will have 5 p.m. tip-offs for junior varsity.
In MAC girls basketball action tonight, Parkway travels to the Hangar to face undefeated Marion Local.
The Panthers have won two straight to run their record to 8-3 on the season with the lone league loss coming at Versailles.
Megan Hughes has been the most constant scorer and rebounder for the Panthers, leading the team with 12.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Guard Brittyn Bruns adds nine points per game to go with 3.6 assists per contest.
The Flyers look to its trio of go-to scorers. Mya Eckstein leads the team with 11.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Reigning MAC Player of the Year Avae Unrast adds 10.8 points per game to go with 2.7 assists and 2.1 steals per contest. Chloe Ronnebaum is back in fine form after missing last season with injury, averaging 10.7 points per game.
| MAC | Overall | |
|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 2-0 | 10-0 |
| Marion Local | 2-0 | 9-0 |
| Coldwater | 1-0 | 4-3 |
| Fort Recovery | 1-0 | 3-7 |
| Versailles | 2-1 | 9-1 |
| Minster | 1-1 | 4-5 |
| St. Henry | 1-1 | 4-5 |
| New Bremen | 1-2 | 6-5 |
| New Knoxville | 0-3 | 4-6 |
| Parkway | 0-3 | 4-8 |
| MAC | Overall | |
|---|---|---|
| St. Henry | 4-0 | 10-1 |
| Marion Local | 3-0 | 10-0 |
| Parkway | 3-1 | 8-3 |
| Coldwater | 3-1 | 4-8 |
| Minster | 2-1 | 10-2 |
| Versailles | 2-2 | 6-5 |
| Fort Recovery | 1-3 | 5-8 |
| New Bremen | 1-3 | 3-8 |
| New Knoxville | 0-4 | 2-10 |
| St. John's | 0-4 | 0-13 |
| WBL | Overall | |
|---|---|---|
| Defiance | 3-0 | 8-1 |
| Shawnee | 2-0 | 9-2 |
| Bath | 2-1 | 6-4 |
| Elida | 2-1 | 6-5 |
| Celina | 2-1 | 3-7 |
| Wapakoneta | 1-2 | 4-6 |
| Van Wert | 1-2 | 4-7 |
| Ottawa-Glandorf | 1-2 | 2-7 |
| St. Marys | 0-2 | 3-7 |
| Kenton | 0-3 | 1-8 |
| WBL | Overall | |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa-Glandorf | 4-0 | 10-0 |
| Bath | 3-0 | 4-7 |
| Celina | 3-1 | 5-8 |
| Kenton | 2-1 | 8-2 |
| Elida | 2-2 | 8-5 |
| Defiance | 2-2 | 3-9 |
| Wapakoneta | 1-2 | 4-8 |
| St. Marys | 1-3 | 2-10 |
| Van Wert | 0-3 | 2-9 |
| Shawnee | 0-4 | 4-8 |
