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New Knoxville's Preston Rutschilling (5) goes over teammate Jay Schroeder get a layup.
NEW KNOXVILLE - After a rough stretch of games where the team only won one game during the 2025 portion of the 2024-25 basketball regular season, New Knoxville looked to keep the season going in the opening round of the Division VII boys basketball tournament on Tuesday night.
A hot start to the game put the Rangers up 15-2 on Waynesfield-Goshen after one quarter, then dominated the second half for a 50-29 win at the Barn, snapping a 13-game losing streak.
New Knoxville (5-18) travels to Delphos on Friday to face top-seeded St. John's in the district quarterfinal.
"For our seniors to be able to win their final home game is something they'll never forget," said New Knoxville coach Carson Manger.
The Rangers and Tigers played on Dec. 6 with the Rangers getting their first win of the season 61-52 in overtime. Tuesday night, New Knoxville had no intention of having a tight contest again. Preston Rutschilling got the first bucket of the night on a 3-pointer with almost three minutes gone in the quarter. Jay Schroeder followed with a trey of his own and Solly Stiles made it 8-0 with 3:09 left in the first quarter before Waynesfield got its first points on a Jace Kaufman basket with 2:45 remaining.
New Knoxville's Solly Stiles (14) shoots against Waynesfield-Goshen's Trenton Faraglia.
"Basketball is a game of runs, and fortunately, we had more opportunities we capitalized on," said Manger. "Defensively, I thought our guys did a good job contesting shots and (using) ball pressure. Proud of our guys."
Six points was the closest the Tigers got to the Rangers for the remainder of the game as New Knoxville was 6-of-10 from the floor in the first quarter, compared to 1-of-13 for Waynesfield, as the Rangers led 15-2 after one.
The Tigers found some shooting in the second quarter, outscoring the Rangers 16-10 in the quarter, but could get no closer than seven points as Levi Glick got the hoop-and-harm 3-point play to make it 25-18 at the half.
New Knoxville's Parker Jones (20) battles Waynesfield-Goshen's Carson Barnes for the ball during Tuesday's Division VI sectional game at the Barn in New Knoxville. The Rangers snapped a losing streak with the 50-29 win to advance.
Parker Jones got the Rangers back in gear with a bucket 13 seconds into the second half and Noah Holland's bucket with 3:35 to play in the quarter put the Ranger lead back into double digits to stay, going up 40-26 at the end of the third quarter. New Knoxville held Waynesfield to just three points in the fourth quarter as Manager got his starters out after a curtain call down the stretch.
"All the credit to our guys. They worked hard and fought hard," said Manger. "We closed out every possession."
New Knoxville dominated the boards, using a 44-23 advantage on the glass, including a 9-5 advantage on the offensive boards.
"That's something we haven't had much off this year," said Manger of the rebounding. "I was telling the guys to go have fun, go run and go at them,"
Schroeder was the only Ranger to hit double figures with 18 points. Rutschilling and Connor Hoge each added eight points with Jones adding seven.
Kaufman led Waynesfield-Goshen (5-18) with 11 points.
