TONTOGANY — Elmwood is the most dominate team in the Suburban Lakes League through the first third of the
season.
Thursday night the Royals cruised to a 65-41 victory over Otsego. Elmwood is 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the
SLL and every other team in the league has at least two losses.
Elmwood led by just eight at halftime, but went on a 12-0 run to start the second half and didn’t allow
the Knights within 17 points the rest of the way.
“We played hard in the first half, but we got in some foul trouble,” said Otsego head coach Jim
Bostdorff. “When I look back at my bench and I see three of my starters sitting there with two fouls,
that’s going to be bad news for us. But total credit to Elmwood tonight. They absolutely played harder
than us. I thought we were on our heels all night long.”
Elmwood’s full-court press was too much for Otsego, forcing 23 turnovers, resulting in fast break score
after fast break score for the Royals.
Elmwood also picked apart Otsego’s 2-3 zone, scoring most of its points inside the paint.
Both teams played extremely physical, but Elmwood was able to use its strength inside to overpower
Otsego’s size advantage underneath the basket.
With the strength advantage, the Royals shot 26-of-57 from the field with 24 of those makes coming from
inside the 3-point line.
T.J. Waldock and Jay Hannah led the charge in the paint for the Royals.
Waldock scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Hannah also scored 20 points, including one
3-point basket.
Kevin Hammer contributed with 10 points for Elmwood.
“We think the best way to attack zones … is inside-out,” Elmwood head coach Ty Traxler said. “And
that’s where we started getting shots on the outside, and that makes things a whole lot easier. Honestly
I thought, tonight, our best offense was our defense. Getting stops on the other end, and getting good,
physical rebounds.
“Eventually as the game wore on, our full-court pressure made the biggest difference. We got a couple
steals early in the third quarter and that was definitely a turning point in the game.”
Otsego trailed 29-21 at halftime and looked to have a fighting chance to stay in the game. But Elmwood
came out firing in the third quarter, forcing four quick turnovers leading to a 12-0 scoring run to take
a 41-21 lead.
“That was huge,” said Traxler. “In the second half the first three minutes coming out, we knew we wanted
to try and overwhelm them and the kids just bought in and did amazing. They did a phenomenal job on
defense.”
The Royals made it a point to heavily guard Otsego sophomore Ryan Smoyer. He scored 22 points against the
Royals last year, but the story was different this year.
Smoyer was held to just seven points for the game as he was frequently frustrated by Elmwood’s Andrew
Davis.
A.C. Limes was limited to just five points in the second half for Otsego. He finished the game with a
team-high 13 points and seven rebounds.
“It’s hard to replace the experience they (Elmwood) have,” Bostdorff said. “They throw five seniors on
the floor at the start and we’re throwing three sophomores (out) and right now we’re just not up to that
challenge. They are the best team in our league without a doubt in my mind.”
With the loss Otsego falls to 3-6 overall and 2-3 in the SLL.
Otsego won the junior varsity game 50-32. John Thomas scored 18 points for the Knights while Carlos
Trevino added 13. Aaron Arnold led Elmwood with eight points.
ELMWOOD 65, OTSEGO 41
ELMWOOD
Davis, 2-0—4; J. Waldock, 1-1-0—5; Varty, 0-0—0; Rosendale, 0-2—2; Hosmer, 0-0—0; Marsh, 0-0—0; Stewart,
1-0—2; Hammer, 5-0—10; Hannah, 6-1-5—20; Scott, 0-0—0; TJ Waldock, 9-0-2—20; Zyski, 0-2—2; Torrey,
0-0—0; Foster, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 24-2-11—65.
OTSEGO
Rodgers, 1-3—5; Smoyer, 1-1-2—7; Serrato, 0-0—0; Hefflinger, 0-0—0; Nyler, 0-0—0; Griffin, 1-0—2; Austin,
0-0—0; Vollmar, 0-0—0; Forshey, 3-1—7; Harter, 0-0—0; Johnson, 2-1-0—7; Limes, 4-5—13. TOTALS:
12-2-11—41.
ELMWOOD 19 10 21 15 —65
OTSEGO 11 10 12 8 —41
Junior varsity: Otsego, 50-32.