By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
BLUFFTON – There was an intense sectional battle March 5 in Wells County. Unfortunately, it was not the showdown between Class 2A third-ranked host Bluffton and No. 8 two-time defending champion Fort Wayne Luers attended by myself and Managing Editor E. Shawn Aylsworth on the eve of the girls basketball state finals in Fort Wayne.
No, the exciting game was eight miles north at the Norwell Sectional, where the host Knights upset 3A second-ranked Peru, 53-51. The much-ballyhooed contest at Bluffton between the host Tigers and the dynasty Deshaun Thomas built, meanwhile, was a one-sided affair from the opening tip that ended at 66-33 in the Knights’ favor.
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After surrendering the opening basket to Bluffton, Luers went on an 11-2 run and never looked back. When the 6’7” Thomas, a shoo-in for Mr. Basketball, canned a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, the first eight minutes ended at 16-6.
If Bluffton was going to make it a contest, the Tigers needed to stage a comeback in the second period. That is difficult to do in a stanza when you shoot 4 for 14 and commit five turnovers, and the result of that futility was predictable as Luers (13-9) expanded the advantage to 30-14 at intermission.
If the Tigers had a difficult time finding the range in the first half, they were “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight” in the third period. Bluffton (21-2) connected on only one of its 13 field goal attempts in the quarter.
Thomas, meanwhile, began to take over the game on his way to a 28-point, 18-rebound performance. By the end of three quarters, the Knights’ lead had ballooned to 47-19.
Obviously, the fourth quarter was little more than stat-padding time. To that end, the Tigers finally dropped some shots. However, they were incapable of stopping the spread offense employed by Luers coach James Blackmon, who finally took Thomas and his starting mates out with 1:19 left to play following a Thomas 3-pointer that made it a 30-point game.
Junior guard Evan Blackmon joined the Ohio State-bound Thomas in double figures with 19 points for the Knights, while senior forward Cody Cochran led Bluffton with 22 points.
The loss was only the sixth in three years for Bluffton, with three of them coming in the sectional against Luers. The Tigers’ other defeat this season came two weeks ago to Mississinewa, which ironically also got knocked out Friday night with a loss to Delta.
Luers cruises into a March 8 championship date with Adams Central (9-12), a 62-42 winner in the evening’s opener that was far closer than the final score indicates. In fact, for nearly three quarters this contest was an evenly played as humanly possible.
A surge by the Starfires evened the score midway through the third quarter at 30-30. From there, the youthful Flying Jets simply took off.
They ended the quarter on a 13-0 run to enter the fourth with a double-digit lead. South Adams (1-19) helped to seal its own fate by committing five turnovers during that critical four-minute stretch.
Adams Central was led by a standout performance from 6’2” freshman forward Dalton Combs, who netted a team-high 15 points. South Adams was paced by the 19 markers of senior guard Nick Teeter.
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