Wayne Trace Junior Reid Miller stands at the foul line to deliver two points for the home team. More pictures at westbendnews.net
By: Joe Shouse, Sportswriter
HAVILAND – The Wayne Trace Raiders countered the Columbus Grove outside shooting with free throws and the most important free throws came with 21 seconds remaining. With the score knotted at 53 a piece, Reid Miller stepped to the line and calmly sank two freebies to give the Raiders a two point win 55-53. It was the opening game for both teams to open the 2018-19 basketball season.
Both teams battled for 32 minutes. The Raiders managed its largest lead of five points in the second quarter. For the visiting Bulldogs, they enjoyed their widest margin of four points on a couple of occasions in the first half.
While the Bulldogs connected from behind the arc on eight treys the Raiders took advantage of 26 trips to the charity stripe, making good on 21 of them. While the Raiders made frequent trips to the foul line the Bulldogs were just 3-9.
“It was a very tough game to open up with. Columbus Grove is a young team with some good shooters. They are going to get better and better but our five seniors played well down the stretch. Their play in the closing minutes produced good dividends for us,” said Head Coach Jim Linder.
With the score even at 53-53 the Raiders turned the ball over with 1:51 remaining . Following a timeout the Bulldogs decided to work for the final shot and worked the ball down to the 0:33 mark when Miller came up big defensively with a steal. The senior went strong to the basket and was fouled in the act of shooting. Reid calmly sank both attempts for the lead and the eventual win.
“He’s a gutsy kid. It was the biggest steal of the game and he took it strong to the basket,” said Linder.
Columbus Grove had a couple of opportunities to tie or take the lead on a three-point basket but couldn’t connect. With strong play under the basket for position a late whistle came with :00.9 seconds showing on the clock. Blake Reynolds was foulded and went to the line for the Bulldogs with less a second remaining. Reynolds had connected on his two third quarter free throws but this time he came up short as the ball grazed the front of the rim and fell off. After a Bulldog timeout Reynolds attempted an intentional miss but misfired when the ball failed to hit the rim.
After the contest veteran coach Jim Linder had good things to say about his team.
“Everyone contributed and that’s what we need. We will need to find ways to do things when our opponent takes things away from us. Our bench gave us good minutes. Trevor Speice, Evan Mohr, and Alex Reinhart gave us tremendous minutes,” said Linder.
The Raiders had three in double digits with Nate Gerber and Trae Sinn each with 14 and Jace Vining chipping in 11. Miller finished with seven, Mohr four, Josiah Linder three, and Trevor Speice two.
“Trae (Sinn) took the ball to the rim well and I thought Jace (Vining) played very well tonight,” Linder commented.
Reynolds led Columbus Grove (0-1) with 15 followed by Gabe Clement eleven and Tayt Bienesser added 10.
The 1-0 Raiders will be in action this week-end with a double header. On Friday they will travel to Bryan and then entertain county rival Paulding on Saturday.
