Dieterich Wins NTC Tournament Championship

The Dieterich Movin Maroons, the top seed in this year's National Trail Conference Tournament, won the tournament championship Saturday night with a 68-54 victory over the second-seeded Altamont Indians.

Earlier Saturday, the Beecher City Eagles defeated the Brownstown Bombers 69-53 in the seventh place game, the St. Anthony Bulldogs won over the St. Elmo Eagles in the consolation championship game, and the Stewardson-Strasburg Comets downed the Cowden-Herrick Hornets 68-58 in the third place game.

All four games Saturday and all 16 tournament games this week were heard on 979XFM and seen and heard on www.979xfm.com. 

Dieterich 68, Altamont 54

The Movin Maroons took the lead out of the gate and held it until there was 1:50 left in the third quarter.  Dieterich quickly regained the lead, but Altamont's Logan Hill was fouled on a three-point attempt just before the end of the quarter and Hill hit two of three to give Altamont a 42-41 lead after three quarters. 

Dieterich came back strong, though, regaining the lead and extending it, particularly at the foul line.  Altamont struggled at the free throw line, hampering their ability to keep pace with the Maroons.

Dieterich made 22 of 27 foul shots, while Altamont made just 12 of 24 free throws.

In the end, Dieterich outscored Altamont 27-12 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Dieterich made 48% of its shots from the field, 19 of 40, including eight of 15 three-point tries.  Altamont made just 19 of 55 shots for 35%, including four of 17 three-point attempts.

Dieterich won despite committing 22 turnovers, to 16 for Altamont.  Altamont rebounded Dieterich 28-27.

Dieterich's Dalton Hinterscher led all scorers with 29 points on nine of 17 shooting, making six of seven at the line and grabbing nine rebounds.  Tanner Traub scored 13 points on five of eight shooting and Alex Bohnhoff scored 13 points on three of four from the field and six of seven from the line.  Also for Dieterich: Devin Aherin five, Brandon Westjohn four, and Austin Bushue and Travis Niemerg two each.

Jon Kuhns scored 13 points to lead Altamont, Garrett Ziegler scored 12 points, and Derek Jahraus scored 11 points.  Also for Altamont: Justin McGinnis six, Logan Hill five, Ryan Mayhaus four, Cole Borders two, and Jake Seidel one.

Dieterich improved to 15-6 on the season, while Altamont slipped to 15-6.

Championship Game

DIETERICH (68)

Hinterscher 9-6 -- 29, Traub 5-1 -- 13, Bushue 0-2 -- 2, Campbell 0-0 -- 0, Bohnhoff 3-6 -- 13, Aherin 1-3 -- 5, Westjohn 1-2 -- 4, Niemerg 0-2 -- 2. TOTALS 19 FG, 22 FT.

ALTAMONT (54)

Ziegler 5-4 -- 14, Goeckner 0-0 -- 0, McGinnis 3-0 -- 6, Seidel 0-1 -- 1, Hill 1-2 -- 5, Borders 0-2 -- 2, Kuhns 4-3 -- 11, Mayhaus 2-0 -- 4, Jahraus 4-0 -- 11. TOTALS 19 FG, 12 FT.

Dieterich           8    18    15    27    --    68

Altamont          5    16    21    12    --    54

3-point FG -- Dieterich 8 (Hinterscher 5, Traub 2, Bohnhoff 1), Altamont 4 (Hill 1, Jahraus 3).

Stewardson-Strasburg 68, Cowden-Herrick 58

This contest was a see-saw affair through the first half.  Stew-Stras led 16-14 after one quarter and 27-26 at halftime, but there were numerous lead changes throughout the half.  That changed when Stew-Stras outscored the Hornets 18-11 in the third quarter to take a 45-37 lead.  Stew-Stras outscored Cowden-Herrick 23-21 in the fourth quarter to claim the 10-point win.

Stew-Stras made 47% of its shots, canning 27 of 57, but made 16 of 25 in the second half for 64%.  The Comets seven of 14 foul shots, committed just five turnovers, pulled down 19 rebounds and made seven of 23 three-point tries.

Cowden-Herrick made 51% of its shots hitting 23 of 45, made eight of 13 foul shots, turned the ball over 12 times, and grabbed 27 rebounds while making four of 11 three-point shots.

Jason Fry led the Comets with 18 points, Jason Becker scored 12 points, Brandon Helmuth scored 11 points and Justin Fulk added 10 points.  Also for Stew-Stras: Dylan Roley eight, Mark Jones seven, and Jonathan Luce two.

Cowden-Herrick's Luke Moore led all scorers with 19 points, Tyson Morgason scored 15 points and Ethan Schoonover added 12 points.  Also for Cowden-Herrick: Colton Burrus seven, Caleb Heiserman four and Seth Barnes one.

Stewardson-Strasburg improved to 12-8, while Cowden-Herrick slipped to 11-9.

Third Place Game

STEW-STRAS (68)

Jones 3-0 -- 7, Helmuth 4-1 -- 11, Helton 0-0 -- 0, Roles 4-0 -- 8, Becker 6-0 -- 12, Luce 1-0 -- 2, Fry 4-6 -- 18, Fulk 4-2 -- 10. TOTALS 27 FG, 7 FT.

COWDEN-HERRICK (58)

Heiserman 1-2 -- 4, Moore 7-4 -- 19, Burrus 3-0 -- 7, Schoonover 5-0 -- 12, Morgason 7-0 -- 15, Barnes 0-1 -- 1, Miller 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 23 FG, 7 FT.

Stew-Stras                  16    11    18    23    --    68

Cowden-Herrick          14    12    11    21    --    58

3-point FG -- Stew-Stras 7 (Fry 4, Helmuth 2, Jones 1), Cowden-Herrick 5 (Schoonover 2, Burrus 1, Moore 1, Morgason 1).

St. Anthony 64, St. Elmo 50

The Bulldogs won the contest based on balanced scoring with four players in double figures.  St. Anthony led 15-11 after one quarter, 30-23 at halftime, and 50-34 after three quarters before St. Elmo outscored the Bulldogs 16-14 in the fourth quarter.

Jacob Schuette led the Bulldogs with 16 points on five of 10 shooting from the field and six of six from the foul line.  Charlie Schultz added 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.  Andrew Gardewine scored 12 points on four of six shooting and four of four at the line.  Jason Vogel scored 11 points on five of seven shooting.  Also for St. Anthony: Neil Williams with eight points and Alex Hoelscher with four points.

St. Elmo's Connor Beasley led all scorers with 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Levi Maxey scored 13 points, Cole Smithson six, Ben Davis five, Reece Wells four and Garrett Bartels three.

St. Anthony improved to 7-15 on the season, while St. Elmo slipped to 11-10.

Consolation Championship

ST. ANTHONY (64)

Williams 3-0 -- 8. Z. Gardewine 0-0 -- 0, Schuette 5-6 -- 16,  Schultz 3-5 -- 13, A. Gardewine 4-4 -- 12, Vogel 5-1 -- 11. TOTALS 21 FG, 18 FT.

ST. ELMO (50)

Bartels 1-0 -- 3, Brady 0-0 -- 0, Beasley 7-0 -- 19, Wells 1-2 -- 4, L. Maxey 5-0 -- 13, Smithson 2-2 -- 6, Davis 2-0 -- 5. TOTALS 18 FG, 4 FT.

St. Elmo            11    12    11    16    --    50

St. Anthony      15    15    20    14    --    64

3-point FG -- St. Anthony 4 (Schultz 2, Williams 2), St. Elmo 10 (Beasley 5, L. Maxey 3, Davis 1, Bartels 1).

Beecher City 69, Brownstown 53

This game was close early with Beecher City leading 15-13 after one quarter and trailing 27-26 at halftime.  However, the Eagles exploded out of the gate to start the second half and outscored Brownstown 23-11 in the period to take a 49-38 lead, and then outpointed the Bombers 20-15 in the fourth quarter to post the win.

Donovan Riley led Beecher City with 21 points and Doug Krueger scored 17 points.  Also for Beecher City: Brady Barnes 11, Brandon Gardner nine, Blake McKay five, Adam Doty four and Carter Wills two.

Brownstown's Matt Sefton led all scorers with 24 points, Jacob Behrends scored 15 points, Austin Hunter scored nine points, Curt Frailey added three, and Dustin Lawson scored two points.

Beecher City improved to 8-11 with the win, while Brownstown fell to 8-11.

Seventh Place Game

BEECHER CITY (69)

Gardner 3-1 -- 9, Wills 1-0 -- 2, McKay 0-5 -- 5, Doty 2-0 -- 4, Lagerhausen 0-0 -- 0, Riley 6-6 -- 21, Kroeger 5-6 -- 17, Barnes 4-3 -- 11. TOTALS 21 FG, 21 FT.

BROWNSTOWN (53)

Matthews 0-0 -- 0, M. Sefton 10-3 -- 25, Hunter 3-0 -- 9, Behrends 6-0 -- 15, Lawson 1-0 --2, Frailey 1-1 -- 3, Oberlink 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 21 FG. 4 FT.

Brownstown          13    14    11    15    --    53

Beecher City          15    11    23    20    --    69

3-point FG -- Beecher City 6 (Riley 1, Gardner 2, Krueger 1), Brownstown 7 (Behrends 3, Hunter 3, M. Sefton 1).

The NTC all-tournament team members are Jon Kuhns and Garrett Ziegler of Altamont, Donovan Riley and Doug Krueger of Beecher City, Luke Moore of Cowden-Herrick, Dalton Hinterscher and Tanner Traub of Dieterich, Jake Baker of Neoga, Jacob Schuette of St. Anthony, Levi Maxey of St. Elmo, and Justin Fulk and Jason Fry of Stewardson-Strasburg.