Fulton County Ohio Media

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Troy Manz opened the scoring of the OHSAA D6 District Semi game between Evergreen and Van Buren Wednesday evening at Defiance High School with a basket from behind the arc to give his Vikings a 3-0 lead.  From there, they battled back and forth, each using a “run and gun” offense, going on scoring runs, exchanging leads, and putting on a great display of high school basketball for the crowd.  When the final buzzer sounded, it was still just the three-point margin that separated the two teams as the Vikings defeated the Black Knights 72-69 to advance to the finals on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. against Patrick Henry, also at Defiance High School.

George Allendorf scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter to stoke Evergreen to a 23-18 advantage.  The Knights held the Viking offense to 12 points in the second quarter while scoring another 18 and went to halftime up 36-35.  Evergreen got hot again in the second half and eventually opened a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter.  Will Ruetz, who would match Allendorf’s 22 points for game-high honors, sank 9 of 10 foul shots as to hold off the fast-charging Black Knights as the Vikings’ lead slowly eroded to the final three-point difference.

The victory was Evergreen’s 17^th of the season against seven losses.  The Vikings will now face fellow NWOAL foe, the Patrick Henry Patriots who enter the contest undefeated at 24-0 after slipping past the Fairview Apaches 46-36 in the earlier game of the night.  The winner will advance to the D6 Regional tournament in Mansfield next week.

Van Buren Black Knights:  18-18-12-21 = 69    Cole Bishop (16), Lucas Harrington (15), Seth Gregory (12), Finn Martin (10), Alex Homan (8), Brady Lance (4), Alec Busey (4)

Evergreen Vikings:  23-12-21-16 = 72    Will Ruetz (22), George Allendorf (22), Troy Manz (14), John Hardman (7), Quinten Eisel (7)

Click on the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

Photo: Will Ruetz drives inside for a shot