Otsego’s Devin Silva celebrates after scoring. (Laura Bolander)
By Yaneek Smith
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
OAK HARBOR — In a back-and-forth contest — one that featured seven ties and six lead changes — several key plays can make the difference, and that was the case in Oak Harbor’s 54-46 victory over Otsego.
Oak Harbor forward Dan Allen scored 14 points, all of which came in the second half, including the go-ahead bucket with 4:30 to play on a putback that gave Oak Harbor (9-5, 6-3 NBC) a 40-39 lead. From there, the Rockets outscored the Knights — who were without some key players — 14-7 the rest of the way.
Oak Harbor guard Carson Slates scored on a drive and Allen had a putback to push the lead to 44-39. Allen scored the next basket off a nice feed from Slates, who had 10 points, giving the Rockets a 7-point lead. Otsego (7-7, 2-6) would get no closer than five points from that point on.
It was a tough loss for the Knights, who beat Eastwood on Friday.
“I think both teams played extremely hard, and I told our guys I was proud of them,” said Otsego coach Steve Carroll. “They are well-coached, and we knew they were going to battle.
“There were a couple of shots where we’ve got to him ‘em, and we didn’t. When we needed a basket to ball, we couldn’t get it. We have to make game-winning plays. We played exactly how we wanted to play for about 30 minutes. We’ve got to keep getting better.”
Ethan Stokes, who is 6-foot-5, had a team-high 15 points to lead Oak Harbor and gave the Knights all they could handle.
“(Ethan) Stokes hit some tough ones, (but) I think we defended him well. We tried to push him to the outside and make him shoot some jump shots,” said Carroll. “It’s hard to keep him out of the lane.”
With Oak Harbor holding a 23-20 lead at the half, Otsego senior Jack Simpson drained a three-pointer and tied the game with 6:27 to play in the third quarter. Allen scored his first two points on a putback to give the Rockets a 25-23 lead, but Devin Silva answered with a basket to tie the score.
Stokes scored on a drive, Silva made a free throw and Allen scored on another putback, which was followed up by another basket from Stokes. That 31-26 lead was trimmed to 36-33 after three quarters.
Oak Harbor coach Eric Sweet said the play of Allen and Stokes made a difference.
“In the first half, (Allen) rebounded well, I think he had about 10 rebounds. We made some small adjustments at halftime and made it simpler for him,” said Sweet. “He went after it and got 14 points, all in the second half.
“For how great Allen was, Ethan brings a different feel for the game. He’s a great shot-taker, he gets to a spot that he wants.”
The Knights zone presented some challenges for the Rockets, but they got plenty of open looks from beyond the arc, though they didn’t hit many of them. Oak Harbor made five threes in the game, compared to three for the Knights.
“They run their zone really well. I feel bad for them because they have two starters out, but with the injuries, their next guys stepped up and played defense,” Sweet said. “We only had one day to prepare for the zone.”
Silva scored a game-high 18 points to help pace the Knights, Simpson finished with 10 and Carter Lampe chipped in with seven.
“He played well tonight and hit some shots,” Carroll said of Silva. “He takes some of the pressure off Simpson, who gets a lot of attention. Simpson is a good screener, and Silva got some good screens.”
The Rockets led 12-11 after one quarter, and a basket by Silva early in the second quarter gave Otsego the lead. Slates hit a 3, and Kaidyn Hutton scored inside to tie the score at 15-15. The score would also be tied at 18-18 and 20-20, and Jaxson Overmyer hit a three with seven seconds to play to give Oak Harbor a three-point lead at the break.
OH guard Carson Steinbrick hit a jumper just under a minute into the game, and Lampe hit a triple to give Otsego the lead. The Knights led for much of the quarter before Michael LaLonde hit a three to tie it up, 9-9, and a Jaxson Vollmar field goal was followed by a 3 from Slates, giving Oak Harbor a 12-11 lead heading into the second quarter.
Oak Harbor is now tied for second place with Eastwood and Genoa, all of whom are 6-3 in the Northern Buckeye Conference. Fostoria is in first place with a 7-2 record in the league.
“The NBC has some great coaches,” said Carroll. “On any night, it comes down to who plays defense, hits key shots and gets to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. We’ve got to put ourselves in a position to be that team.”
