Saturday, February 22nd, 2025
Holding on for the win
New Bremen hangs on to defeat St. Henry in sectional final
By Dave Stilwell
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
St. Henry's Brayden Heath (11) pulls the jersey of New Bremen's Lukas Lennartz while battling for the ball during Friday's Division VI sectional game at St. Henry. The Cardinals picked up the win to advance to the district semifinals.
ST. HENRY - New Bremen avenged a regular season loss and punched its ticket to the Wapakoneta Division VI district with a 42-37 victory over St. Henry Friday night at the Redskin Gymnasium.
The Cardinals will get another shot at redemption when they face Marion Local in the semifinals Wednesday with a projected 7:30 p.m. tip-off. The Flyers knocked off New Bremen 54-36 during the regular season. If the Marion Local girls win today in the district final, the boys game will move to Tuesday.
Friday night was mostly about defense and the Cardinals' 2-3 zone, which they have employed all season. New Bremen held the Redskins to 37 points and forced 23 turnovers in the process.
"We put a lot of emphasis on our defense and that's something we pride ourself on," New Bremen coach Cory Stephens said. "It can carry you on nights when you can't find any offense."
Both teams struggled out of the gate with a combined six turnovers before New Bremen's Gavin Quellhorst broke the scoring ice with an NBA three at the 4:40 mark of the first quarter.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
St. Henry's Austin Zimmerman puts up a shot as New Bremen's Jaylen Powell defends.
"While the zone obviously had an affect on some of our mistakes, there were double-digit turnovers where we just threw it out of bounds, and didn't take care of the ball," St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck said.
The Redskins did get five points off the bench from freshman Landon Schwartz to take a 10-6 lead after eight minutes.
The Cardinals put together a 9-0 run in the second quarter to take a 17-16 lead, but Jack Huelsman ended the first half with a pair of driving buckets to pull the 'Skins to within one, 17-16, at the break.
The two teams combined for 24 turnovers and 33 points in the first half.
St. Henry had an opportunity to take control of the game at the beginning of the second half. The Cardinals were held scoreless for nearly five minutes to start the third quarter. The Redskins took advantage with a 6-0 start and a 22-17 lead.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Gavin Quellhorst (2) shoots the ball between St. Henry's Brody Schwartz (3) and Keith Siefring.
But Owen Rindler sparked the Cards with a layup and a three-pointer, and when Ryland Busse hit a layup at the third quarter buzzer, New Bremen was back to within one, 25-24.
"We had a lot of different guys step up tonight," Stephens said. "Owen Rindler got two big buckets in the third quarter. Aaron Wuebker hit a big bucket late in the game, and James Nelson came in off the bench and gave us some great minutes."
New Bremen took the lead for good when Wuebker splashed a trey with 4:05 left in the game.
Buckets by Busse and Gavin Dicke made it a two-possession game, 37-32 with two minutes to play. St. Henry was forced to launch some deep threes in the closing seconds, but could not connect. And Quellhosrt hit 5 of 8 free throws in the final 73 seconds to hold off the Redskins.
"We kind of created our own end to the season, not being able to make a play down the stretch," Rosenbeck said. "But it's not going to hinder the memory of (seniors) Brody (Schwartz), Carson (Harrod), and Eli (Broering. It just stinks that we don't get to see them tomorrow at practice."
Huelsman finished with 18 points to lead all scorers. Quellhorst paced the Cardinals with 13.
Stephens said he's happy to get another crack at Marion Local.
"The first time we played them, I think we were only down by three at the half and then they broke it open," he said, "but it's like I told the seniors in the locker room, 'now you get another 32 minutes.' ''
