Sat Nov 07 2009
By BRUCE HEFFLINGER
Alex Nofziger hit a 3-point shot with five seconds left to give Defiance a 43-42 win over Findlay on Saturday night, capping a remarkable comeback by the Bulldogs against the previously once-beaten Trojans.
"We needed a game like this to get over the hump," an elated Defiance coach Kirk Lehman said after his team moved over the .500 mark for the first time this season. "This truly was a team win. We had contributions all the way down to Chaz Burkhart playing 12 seconds and getting a tip and steal to Travis Spitnale's defense to Alex Nofziger not worrying about mistakes."
The hosts, which trailed 31-20 at halftime, were down 42-36 following a backdoor layup by Luke Krauss with 4:12 to play. After an exchange of turnovers, Nofziger drove down the lane for two, pulling the Bulldogs within 42-38 at the 2:39 mark.
Findlay turned the ball over on its next two possessions, the first forced by Spitnale and the second by the defense of Craig Gutman and Burkhart. Alex Keel then brought Defiance within two points for the first time since early in the second quarter with two free throws.
"We had the lead and we usually take care of the ball better than we did and we paid for it," said Findlay coach Jim Rucki."
Kraus, the All-Ohio candidate who is headed to play college ball at Bowling Green, then missed the front end of a one-and-one at the foul line with 41 seconds to go giving the Bulldogs possession.
Nofziger missed badly to the right on a foul line jumper, but Keel hauled in the long rebound on the right wing. After a dribble, Keel found Nofziger on the right wing and the 6-0 junior connected on the 3-ball as the clock hit five seconds left. Findlay called timeout with 4.6 seconds to go, but a 3-point attempt hit back iron sending the Trojans home with their second loss in seven games.
"I missed the first shot but I tried to have no memory," explained Nofziger of the game-winning bucket. "I knew if I got it again I had to shoot it and hope it goes in. AK got a good rebound, my guy helped on him and he threw a nice outlet pass to me."
It capped an eight-point fourth quarter for Nofziger, whose previous season-high for points was seven.
"I'm trying to be more of an offensive threat," noted Nofziger, who finished the game with 10 points. "We've got to have more people than AK shoot it."
It gave the Bulldogs their first lead since Keel hit the opening basket of the game.
"You've got to love a guy who's not afraid to make mistakes," Lehman said of Nofziger. "Like any good point guard he's going to make mistakes, but I'm glad he's on our team. He's not afraid to take the game-winning shot. He's not going to be intimidated by failure."
While DHS won the game with a 3-ball at the end, it was defense that proved to be the difference. Findlay scored just 11 points in the final 16 minutes of play, getting off just 10 shots from the field in the second half while turning the ball over seven times.
"We knew it was going to be this kind of game," Rucki admitted. "They play solid defense and they sag in and take stuff away. We needed to make shots and we needed to take care of the ball better."
Gutman, who was assigned to guard Krauss, limited the Findlay standout to 12 points, just four in the second half on 1-of-4 shooting.
"He creates a lot of things on his own, I just had to put a hand in his face and hope he missed," Gutman explained of his defensive strategy. "He's so quick I face-guarded him most of the game. Everybody was ready to help inside if he beat me. They helped me out tremendously tonight."
The team defense in limiting Findlay's all-time leading scorer (Krauss passed Ben Roethlisberger earlier this season) to just a dozen points drew praise from Lehman.
"Give Craig credit for playing defense the way he did tonight against the type of player Luke Krauss is," the DHS mentor said. "But kudos to the team defense. The guys were in perfect shape as far as showing help and not allowing penetration.
"A team like that makes you pay for mistakes you make and they did that the first half. Luckily we shored things up in the second half."
Enough to win two straight for the first time this season and improve to 4-3 heading into a Western Buckeye League home game with Wapakoneta on Friday.
"We've battled all year but struggled not putting a full 32 minutes together," Lehman explained. "Tonight every single guy came in and did something for the team."
Keel scored 17 points to lead the Bulldogs while Kevin Krucki tallied 14 points for Findlay.
The Trojans did win the junior varsity contest, moving to 6-1 on the season with a 42-25 victory over Defiance. Preston Pixler and Jake Moore each had seven points for the Bulldogs (3-4).
BOX SCORE
FINDLAY (42) - Krauss 12; Bundy 7; Krucki 14; Strzempka 0; Cole 4; Ammons 5; Lause 0; Paul 0; Crawford 0. Totals 17-32 5-8 42.
DEFIANCE (43) - T. Keel 5; Nofziger 10; A. Keel 17; Gutman 0; Hammersmith 0; Beverly 2; Stapleton 7; Kime 2; Spitnale 0; Parsons 0; Burkhart 0. Totals 15-31 10-17 43.
Three-point goals: Findlay - Krauss, Bundy, Ammons. Defiance - Nofziger 2, T. Keel. Rebounds: Findlay 19 (Krauss 6), Defiance 18 (Hammersmith 5). Turnovers: Findlay 11, Defiance 11.
Findlay 14 17 7 4 - 42
Defiance 11 9 12 11 - 43
Reserves: Findlay, 42-25.
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