By: Joe Shouse, Sports Writer
HAVILAND – The Crestview Knights showed why they are 11-1 and one of the better area teams last Saturday. With the score knotted at 43 a piece against the Wayne Trace Raiders, Crestview needed just 2.1 seconds to put the sword through the Raiders heart to escape with a 45-43 non-conference win. In possession of the ball and taking it out of bounds at mid court the Knights ran their offense to perfection. Crestview ran away from the basket, drawing the Raider’s defense with them and opening up the lane, allowing Carson Hunter the opportunity to deliver a perfect pass to a cutting Wren Sheets who slipped through the Raider’s defense and connected on the winning lay-up as time expired. Like many Wayne Trace-Crestview match-ups this would be considered an instant classic.
Sheets would lead the Knights with 16 points, the only double-digit scorer for the winners but seven over Knights would score in the contest. Hunter finished with seven with a trio of players with five including Gavin Etzler, Kellin Putnam and Mitch Temple. Issac Kline added three along with two-points each from Jaret Young and Nasir Easterling.
The Raiders, who fall to 8-4 on the season, started out as if they would run away from the Knights while holding an 11-3 advantage after one quarter of play. Crestview trimmed the margin by four to trail at the midway point 18-14. The momentum carried over in the third period for the Knights who outscored the Raiders in the third period 16-11 to take a one-point lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.
Mid way through the fourth period, Brooks Laukhuf banked in a short jumper to give the junior 1,000 points in his career. Laukhuf finished the night with 22 points and 1,002 points. Kyle Stoller finished with 11 points but the remaining 10 points came from four Raiders with Tyler Davis and Tanner Laukhuf each with three and two points each from Hudson Myers and Cale Winans.
The Raiders shot 39 percent from the floor (18-43) while the Knights connected at a 38 percent clip on 19-50. The rebounding battle went Crestview’s way with 39 boards to just 25 for the red, white, and blue.
