First Posted: 3/15/2015
DELPHOS — A home court advantage – some of it real, some of it imagined – is something that has long been associated with Delphos St. John’s basketball.
But it was a big win away from Robert A. Arnzen gymnasium that might have been a turning point for St. John’s boys basketball team this season and set them on a course that has them playing in the Division IV regional tournament.
When the Blue Jays went to Versailles on Feb. 13, they had an 11-6 record but were coming out of a stretch where they had lost to St. Henry, had an impressive win over Spencerville, then lost to Marion Local and Lincolnview.
At the time, Versailles was 14-3 and ranked No. 10 in Division III in The Associated Press poll. St. John’s 57-55 win came on the Tigers’ senior night and was their only loss at home this season.
“Twenty-one games is a grind, our league is a grind, so is our non-league schedule. It’s tough. The turning point was when we went on the road and beat Versailles,” St. John’s coach Aaron Elwer said. “As good as they are and on their floor on their senior night, we played as well as we had played. Since then, I think our confidence has grown.”
“We knew what the goals were and since then we’ve taken off and this is where it has gotten us,” he said.
Senior guard Evan Hays said, “Coach really took that as our stepping stone. He said we needed to get things going right. That was really a big turnaround for us and got our momentum going a little bit.”
St. John’s will play Oregon Cardinal Stritch (19-6) at 8 p.m. Tuesday in a semifinal in the Division IV regional at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center. Plymouth (25-1) will play Wayne Trace (23-1) in the other semifinal at 6:15 p.m.
Starting with that Versailles game, the Blue Jays have won eight in a row. That streak has been built with a combination of experience and youth.
St. John’s starts five seniors – Tyler Conley, Andy Grothouse, Austin Heiing, Alex Odenweller and Hays. The first two players off the bench are sophomores Aaron Reindel and Tim Kreeger.
“I’m so happy for our five seniors and our young guys that they can experience this whole situation,” Elwer said.
“We’ve had some really good players and seniors go through here but I’m not sure I’d trust a group of five guys more than I trust these guys. I have more confidence in those five guys to lead us on or off the court than I’ve had in any other group,” he said.
The five seniors were in the program two years ago when St. John’s got all the way to the Division IV regional championship game in Kettering before being beaten by Troy Christian by two points.
But this year is something different, Grothouse said after a 49-42 win over Columbus Grove in the district championship game.
“Sophomore year was a great win and everything but coming out senior year is just a great feeling,” he said.
