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Versailles senior Kyle Ahrens was a one man wrecking crew Friday
against Coldwater. Ahrens scored 42 points with three
slam dunks and
collected eight rebounds, leading the Tigers to a 69-53 MAC victory.
CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
Versailles
rolls over Coldwater
Ahrens nets 42 in win
By George Starks
VERSAILLES- If there were an award handed out for showmanship in high
school basketball, Versailles senior Kyle Ahrens would have been in the
running for it Friday.
The Tigers welcomed in their arch rivals from Mercer County, Coldwater,
and sent the Cavaliers home licking their wounds, 69-53.
Ahrens (6-5 and heading for Michigan State) was a show in itself.
Averaging 28 points a game, the Tiger senior scored a game high 42
points (three points off the school record of 45) with three slams in
the process as well as eight rebounds and numerous assists.
In a close game, Versailles coach Scott McEldowney was forced to keep
the starters in and give Ahrens a shot at scoring 46.
“The game was close enough to the end to where we were going to keep
playing for a little bit.” Said McEldowney. “Then when we were ready to
go to it (the bench) we looked up and seen he was a little closer to
it. With them (Coldwater) scrambling to press us, it was difficult for
us to set anything up. So I was hoping he would pull up for a three
there at the end. Instead, he took it to the basket and we thought he
would get an and one but he never got that call. At that point, we
thought it was time to pull them off. Kyle is a phenomenal player.”
Even with all that Ahrens did, the game was never put away until the
end.
“That is a very talented team,” said McEldowney of Coldwater. “We never
quite put them totally out of the picture until the very end when we
made that last final run.”
With a 16 point win, the two teams battled tooth and nail in the
opening quarter.
With Ahrens on one side of the floor, Coldwater countered with 6-8
junior Andy Brunet.
Brunet got the show of slams started with a one handed dunk off an
offensive rebound giving Coldwater the first lead of the game.
By the end of the opening frame, Versailles had held three leads with a
couple of ties sandwiched in between.
At the buzzer, it was Ahrens that drained a trey, giving the Tigers a
16-13 lead with eight minutes in the books.
Versailles outdueled Coldwater in the second, 21-12, taking a 37-25
lead at the break and opening things up for the Tigers.
“We have that type of spurt-ability where we can put those types of
points up quick,” said McEldowney. “We just hope defensively, we can
hold them in check and keep that score a little bit low so when we do
hit that spurt again, it gives up a little bit of a gap.”
On the boards, the Tigers gave Coldwater fits, out rebounding the Cavs
28-21 (7-6 on the offensive glass), allowing Coldwater only one shot on
several trips.
“I thought our bigs Justin Marshall and Zach Steinbrunner, as well as
guards Brett (McEldowney) and Jared (Niekamp) did a great job getting
several back side rebounds. They are playing a lot bigger than what
they’ve had to play in the past.”
With the Tigers holding a commanding 54-39 lead after three, there was
a point when the Tiger faithful was holding their breath.
Early in the second quarter, freshman sensation, Justin Ahrens, hit the
floor hard, tweaking his left ankle, bringing silence to the crowd.
“He rolled his ankle and we were able to bring him back in the second
half for a while,” said McEldowney. “He came down on someone’s foot and
I know from experience that there is no worse feeling there is because
everything inside that ankle turns at almost a 90 degree angle that
it’s not supposed to. He did try to comeback and that was encouraging
but we felt he wasn’t a hundred percent so we pulled him.”
Versailles will be back in action next Friday, at home with Delphos St.
John in another Midwest Athletic Conference battle.
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