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Versailles
senior Chad Winner holds the D-III state runner-up trophy
after the Tigers fell to
Ottawa-Glandorf Saturday, 67-46. The Tigers
finish the 2013 season with a 26-6 mark. CNO photos by Dylan Knoop
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V-Tigers fall a
game short of D-III title
Glandorf too hot to
handle
By George Starks
COLUMBUS- When a kid as good as T.J Metzger comes out hot, there is no
stopping him.
Metzger, a senior, came out and lit up the Tigers for 36 points as
Ottawa-Glandorf rolled to a 67-46 D-III state championship Saturday at
Value City Arena in Columbus.
Playing hard for 32 minutes, the Tigers were over matched by the senior
laden Titans.
Through it all, Tigers coach Scott McEldowney had nothing but praise
for his team.
“I’ve never been prouder of a bunch of kids than I am of this group,”
said McEldowney. “This whole tournament run has been one to remember.
If you talk about life’s ups and downs, this has been a roller coaster
and in the process, you grow up a lot. Today, we did that.”
Versailles came out hot, jumping on the Titans but it was Glandorf that
had all the answers.
With the score knotted at 9-9 with 5:03 left in the opening quarter,
the Titans exploded on offense, going on a whopping 12-0 run at the
1:46 mark, taking a 21-9 lead.
A lead the Tigers would never recover from.
At the end of the first eight minutes, the Titans held a commanding
24-11 lead as Metzger had accounted for 16 of the 24 points, with five
treys and a free throw.
“We wanted to come out and get off on that nice run but they (O-G) had
an answer for everything we did,” said McEldowney. “They just shot a
tremendous percentage in the first half (47.8) and that’s something you
just don’t see very often.”
Metzger tied the state record set in 1992, set by Demond Lyles of Lima
Senior, with nine treys.
“My hat’s off to this kid,” McEldowney said. “It’s just something you
don’t see very often.”
Trailing 35-20 at the break, the Tigers came out in the third quarter
in an attempt to set the tone.
With 6:18 left in the quarter, Versailles went on a 6-0 spurt and had
the score under nine at 35-26.
Once again, the Titans had an answer, going on an 8-1 run to build a
43-27 advantage.
“It was a quarter of runs and we scrapped to get the deficit under
ten,” said McEldowney “I think it just took too much of our energy out
of us and we couldn’t get any closer. Like a fighter, you can only get
knocked down so many times before you don’t get up again.”
Versailles would make one more push in the third quarter, getting to
within nine at the 2:38 mark of the frame, 43-34.
It would never get that close again.
Trailing 51-36 with eight minutes left in the game, Glandorf continued
to build its lead, up 59-42 with 4:39 remaining before posting the
67-46 state title victory.
Sophomore Kyle Ahrens finished the game with 12 points while Chad
Winner netted 10 in his final game in a Versailles uniform.
(CNO will have comments from both Ahrens and Winner as well as
McEldowney over the next few days.)
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Sophomore Kyle
Ahrens consoles Chad Winner after the senior
came off the floor for the final time as a Versailles Tiger.
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