When he wasn’t shooting from long range, Cam Elwer attacked the rim to add to his 31 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Delphos St. John’s buried 16 3-pointers against Versailles’ typically staunch defense to claim an 81-48 runaway victory. Cam Elwer led the charge, cashing in 7 of 10 3-point attempts, and scoring 31 points.
By Alan Brads for Press Pros
“Elwer for three,” was the refrain heard 13 times during Delphos St John’s’ 81-48 bombarding of Versailles.
Cam and Andrew Elwer, brothers, and cousin Easton barraged Versailles from all angles: corner 3’s, from the wing, top of the key, and in Cam’s case, a couple from the volleyball line. Their blood relation might give the trifecta more of a claim to the “Splash Brothers” title than Steph and Klay have. The on-court product looks about the same.
VPP proudly sponsors the MAC Conference on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Cam Elwer, a junior, connected on 7 of 10 3’s en route to 31 points. Sophomore Andrew followed with four deep balls and 18 points, and the freshman Easton hit two 3’s and 8 points.
Alan Brads wrotes OHSSA sports and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Jackson Wiechart (10 points), Eli Swick, and Maddox Kroeger joined the family affair with a 3-pointer each.
Those 16 long balls alone tied Versailles at 48. Unofficially the Blue Jays shot 16 of 35 from 3.
Meanwhile, the Tigers (14-4, 4-3) didn’t find nylon on a single 3-point attempt all night, nor did they try many.
With a week to mull their first loss of the season on Saturday, the Blue Jays (15-1, 6-0) didn’t try to out-think the room with their approach.
“We’re gonna what we do,” Head Coach Aaron Elwer said. “Statistically they have the best defense in the league, but we were able to get some in transition and some other easy opportunities. And we just got the right guys shooting shots in the right spots.”
Elwer had help…teammate Jackson Wiechart slips past Versailles’ Blake Monnin to score.
Versailles guarded the arc well initially, shutting out non-Cam Elwer players from deep in the first quarter. But Elwer knocked down three, including two with Ethan WIlker’s hand in his face..But Tiger guard Drake Ahrens accrued his third foul in the second quarter, which sent him to the bench and allowed the Blue Jays to smash the dam open with 3-pointers.
“Drake is the engine that gets them going,” Aaron Elwer said. “He’s a really good player. The gameplan was to take them out of their actions that make them comfortable, and I thought we did a good job of that.”
St. John’s’ blistering pace didn’t sweep the Tigers off their feet in the first quarter. Versailles’ offensive sets gave them high-percentage looks at the rim which kept the points flowing, and staved off the Blue Jays’ prolific transition offense. Still, Cam Elwer’s shooting handed St John’s a 19-14 lead at the end of the first.
Versailles coach Travis Swank left Ahrens on the floor with a pair of fouls because of how critical he is in initiating the offense, and guarding the perimeter.
The Phelan Agency, in Versailles, proudly supports area sports on Press Pros.
“We felt like we had to have Drake on the floor to help us win here tonight,” Swank said. “We gambled, and took a chance with him with two fouls, and we lost that bet.
It was the right gamble to take considering how they fared without him. But when he committed a third crime and took a seat, the offense crumbled. Turnovers and low-percentage shots became transition scores for Delphos. The Blue Jays had three assists from behind halfcourt in the second quarter.
Andrew Elwer gets to the rim for two of his 18 points in Friday’s win over Versailles.
The rest of the Blue Jays heated up as quickly as this week’s weather. Easy layups and open 3’s became a 25-5 second quarter.
“Drake Ahrens getting the third foul was huge,” Cam Elwer said. “He initiates all their offenses and they execute well with him. He’s a great passer and has a great IQ, it all starts with him. With him out, we started getting shots to fall and got some easy stops.”
In the waning moments of the half, everyone in the gym expected Cam Elwer to zig to the perimeter, catch a pass, and shoot a 3. So he faked that way, then zagged to the bucket for an alley-oop and a 44-19 lead, dousing what hope remained among the Tiger faithful.
On the rare occasion that Cam Elwer doesn’t have the ball in his hands, it’s still clear as a flawless diamond who the alpha on the team is. When a Blue Jay gets a pass, usually their next move is to see if they can get him the ball. And if they do, and he goes to his signature jab step … checkmate.
On defense he’s the field general, directing traffic while guarding the primary ball-handler.
Westrich Furniture, in Delphos, sponsors the best in MAC sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
“I value myself as a leader on defense,” Cam Elwer said. “I think I can help get us organized, and we always do a good job scouting so that gives us a big edge.”
Seven 3’s rained down on Versailles in the first half. But when it rains it pours. Nine more poured down in the second half.
Versailles’ Cam Ahrens disarms Cam Elwer on this shot attempt in the second half of Friday’s MAC contest.
Cam Elwer went on an 8-0 run in the first 1:20 of the third quarter, pushing the lead to 32. Then Andrew Elwer got the hot hand, hitting three triples in the second half.
Even for the #1 statistical defense in the MAC, there’s just not much that can be done against 46% 3-point shooting on 35 attempts.
“That’s our bread and butter,” Andrew Elwer said. “Obviously Cam’s not the only one that can make a play. We all can make a play at the right moment. When we get that opportunity, we’re ready, and shots fall.”
After the first and only low point of the Blue Jays season, they left no doubt, emptying out the stands well before the scoreboard read 81-48 0:00.
“Our team responded really really well,” Aaron Elwer said. “This was not an easy task. Versailles is a good team. To come down here and play as well as we did, we’re really proud of the high-level maturity of our guys. We expected our guys to play well, and we got what we expected.”
Mark Knupp’s Muffler and Tire proudly sponsor area sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
This was the last major hurdle between the Blue Jays and back-to-back 9-0 season in the MAC.
“We knew this was gonna be a tough MAC game, usually all Fridays are,” Cam Elwer said. “This was a big Friday we needed to have going through this stretch before the tournament.”
Coach Swank said he values playing elite teams at the end of the year before the Division V tournament.
“They’re a really good team with a lot of capable shooters,” Swank said. “They exposed us here tonight, we ran into a buzzsaw … But we’re still a good team, we just ran into a really great team tonight and we’ll get better because of it.”
No rest for the weary as the Tigers bump into Russia, another elite team that prefers, or rather insists upon playing at 100 MPH for 32 minutes.
“The good thing is it’s a rivalry, so I think our kids’ focus will be right where it needs to be because of that. Our kids are tough, and we’re gonna see how tough we are mentally and physically.”
The one other good thing … nobody shooting the basketball against Versailles on Saturday will be named Elwer.
Wilson Health proudly sponsors your favorite area sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.