Delphos St. John junior Cam Elwer gets to the rim for two of his game-high 26 points in Friday’s 73-49 win over Minster. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Junior Cam Elwer scored 18 in the first half, 26 for the game, and paced Delphos St. John to a runaway win over Minster, 73-49.
Minster, OH – Get used to hearing about Cameron Elwer – ‘Cam’ for short – regarding the day-to-day goings-on of Delphos St. John basketball this winter.
The Blue Jays’ junior guard scored 26 points Friday to pace a 73-49 win over Minster in the opening Midwest Athletic League game for both teams…his obsession to score approaching that of a angry mongoose while he did it.
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Elwer, who averaged 27.5 points a game as a sophomore, scored 18 in the first half, connected on 5 of 10 three-point attempts for the game, and accumulated his game-high 26 points while sitting out a large part or the third quarter.
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“This was a game we looked forward to, a game we wanted to win,” said Elwer, post-game. “We came out firing, and this was a great start in league play. We’re 1-0 going into January.”
Some perspective, of course. Minster played without point guard Brogan Stephey, who’s still nursing some football wounds suffered in the Wildcats’ playoff finale with Marion Local. And given the length of their playoff run, Mike McClurg’s ‘Cats had practiced exactly nine times going into Friday night’s home opener.
“We knew their conditioning wouldn’t be great, they’re just coming out of football, and a lot of those guys played [football],” said Blue Jays coach Aaron Elwer. “We wanted to play with pace, I thought we did a good job of that, and we tried keep it simple. We have five guys that are skilled and can really shoot it, and if you have that it puts some pressure on them.
Minster’s Cole McClurg eyes a pair of his team-high 15 points in Friday’s loss to St. John.
“Minster’s a good team, I know they’re going to win a lot of games, so tonight was a great win on the road, and no motivation needed.”
Elwer showed them no mercy, igniting immediately with a three-pointer from the wing on their first possession, then followed that with four more bombs for the half, helping the 4-0 Blue Jays to a 40-19 halftime lead.
“I thought we did a decent job in the first quarter,” said Minster coach Mike McClurg. “But we were clunky with our offense. I thought we had an advantage with our size inside, but we struggled with our post entry…they [the bigs] were getting doubled, and we were trying to enter it too high. And I think by halftime they had eight three-pointers and we had none. That was a turning point for the game because that’s a 24 point difference and we’re only down 20 [at the half].”
But Elwer’s 18 points paved the way for open shots by other shooters, as well, and the Blue Jays took advantage. His sophomore brother, Andrew, had a 3-pointer and eight points for the half, and Minster’s ‘clunky’ offense simply gave them no chance to keep pace. Andrew Elwer finished with 14, Drew Boggs added 9, Easton Elwer and Jackson Weichert each had 5, and four other Blue Jays rounded out the scoring with 2 points apiece.
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That said, senior James Niemeyer had 10 points for the game before fouling out early in the fourth quarter…and Cole McClurg led the ‘Cats with 15, but it was far too little as Minster played as if swimming upstream all night. Kole Richards did add 7, Parker Kerrigan had 6, and Cole Albers had 9 to round out the scoring.
And indeed, make note of the name Cam Elwer if you’re a Division VII basketball follower, because he’s been the building block at St. John for three years now, and the centerpiece for what’s hoped to be a deep run into March.
St. John’s Braydon Klaus fights through the block attempt of Minster’s James Niemeyer to score for the Blue Jays.
“I’m confident in myself, and I just got going early tonight,” said Elwer. “The guys are confident in me, and I have confidence in them. They’re going to feed off me and I’m going to make a play for them. It’s exciting, and we want that bullseye on our back. We know we’re going to get the best from everyone, and I hope we play well every single game.”
He’s listed at 6’2″, but the sports information director at St. John might be generous in that regard. But what he is, is strong…able to fight off physical play, athletic enough to create his own shot, and when he gets that shot he might not miss if it’s uncontested.
“He works hard at it,” says the elder Elwer. “This is what he does…he’s committed to basketball and he loves to compete.”
“The dude really works,” echoes Mike McClurg. “Aaron and I coached an AAU team together for a year, and I watched this kid work. He’s not taking a hundred shots a day…he’s taking a thousand shots a day. So you can say he’s special, or naturally gifted, and there is some of that, but the dude works. He works at it really hard and you have to respect that.”
Glass half full, his own dude – son Cole – had a pretty good night for Minster with 15 points in a position of leadership with James Niemeyer until Brogan Stephey can get back in the lineup.
“He did, and I thought he did a good job defensively,” said McClurg. “He was able to get to the rim, but there’s things he needs to get better at as the group grows. And hopefully they can get better together.”
If you’re a basketball fan, this was a game you’d have rather witnessed in early February, with a full menu from both teams. As it was, St. John and the Elwers – Cam, Andrew, Easton, and Aaron – were just as happy to get it done now.
Minster, as the man said, is going to win a lot of games.
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