Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Consecutive close calls against current unbeaten teams left Clear Creek Amana winless one week into the season.

Despite back-to-back losses to open the season Clear Creek Amana didn’t feel like an 0-2 team.

The Clippers didn’t look anything like an 0-2 outfit against West Delaware on Tuesday.

Clear Creek Amana shot 67 percent from the field, including a blistering 79 percent after halftime on its way to an 85-62 win over West Delaware (1-3) in a WAMAC Conference cross-divisional matchup in Tiffin.

“We knew the first week was going to be difficult games against good teams and going up against those teams put us to the test,” Clear Creek Amana junior Christian Withrow said. “We lost both those games but we found out what we needed to work on and we really drilled that in practice and because of that we were able to come out tonight and succeed.”

Withrow and Nick O’Connor combined for 50 points on 22-of-28 shooting as Clear Creek Amana snapped its two-game losing skid with its top scoring output in four seasons under head coach Brandon Clubb.

O’Connor had a game-high 27 points and Withrow added 23 for the Clippers which broke the 80-point mark for the first time since scoring 83 against West Branch in February of 2018.

“I was a little worried about our confidence just because we were 0-2 but we still knew how we could play, knew we had played a pretty high level we just stumbled a little bit against two pretty good teams,” Clubb said. “We preached confidence before the game and we obviously played with an extreme amount of confidence tonight, we shot the ball really well and we played defense when we had to.”

Clear Creek Amana never trailed on Tuesday, jumping to a 25-17 lead after the opening quarter and taking a 36-31 lead into the halftime break.
It was all Clippers after halftime.

Clear Creek Amana made its first eight field goal attempts of the second half and finished 11-of-12 from the field in the third quarter while building a 61-46 lead.

“Our intensity was a lot higher than it was the first two games,” O’Connor said. “We were sharing the ball well and knocking down shots.”

O’Connor had 12 points in the first half and teamed with Withrow to put the game away early after intermission.

Withrow and O’Connor combined for 20 of the Clippers 25 third-quarter points, including the first 18, as Clear Creek Amana pulled away.

“It felt great,” Withrow said. “The first two games I struggled a few times and got beat up a little bit and coming into this game we had a crazy amount of energy and we all just fed off that.”

Tyler Schrepfer had eight points, Kyle Schrepfer had eight and junior center TJ Bollers had seven but it was the ability of the Clippers to move the ball and isolate the offensive matchups it wanted that turned the game into a mismatch after halftime.

The 6-foot-3 Withrow got to the basketball at will in the second half, converting all eight of his field goal attempts after halftime.

“He is extremely crafty,” Clubb said of Withrow. “He gets the basket and that’s his game but he can step out and hit the mid-range shot too so he might be our toughest matchup. We are always keeping an eye on who is guarding him and we are trying to get him in situations where he can score.”

O’Connor was nearly as efficient knocking down six of his seven second-half field goal attempts and finishing 11-of-13 from the field.

The senior guard was 5-of-6 from 3-point range on his way to a game-high 27 points.

“We really stepped it up,” O’Connor said. “We had a lot of confidence in one another and it’s a lot easier when your team is behind you and your coach is behind you.”

Clear Creek Amana went 22-of-28 from the field in the second half, including 5-of-9 from beyond the 3-point line, while outscoring West Delaware 49-31.

The Clippers finished 9-of-15 from 3-point range.

“We have guys that can play any spot and they are hard to guard and we have guys that can go for 20 and any night you don’t know who its going to be,” Clubb said. “We are that deep that it’s kind of who do you pick and some night’s its just based on the matchups.”

Kyle Kelley had 24 points and Eric Salow added 15 for West Delaware.

Clear Creek Amana    25  11  25  24  –  85

West Delaware            17  14  15  16  –  62

Clear Creek Amana (85) – Brock Reade 2-3 0-0 5, Nick O’Connor 11-13 0-0 27, Ben Swails 1-1 0-0 2, Tyler Schrepfer 4-7 0-0 9, Kyle Schrepfer 3-3 0-0 8, Christian Withrow 11-15 1-2 23, Mike Potter 1-3 0-0 2, Tanner Webb 1-1 0-0 2, Riley Wolfe 0-1 0-0 0, TJ Bollers 2-7 3-7 7, Team 36-54 4-9 85.

West Delaware (62) – Blake DeMoss 1-6 2-2 5, Kyle Kelley 9-17 3-4 24, Jamison Smith 0-2 1-2 1, Logan Woellert 3-6 0-0 7, Elias Tibbott 2-3 0-0 5, Isaiah Rich 0-2 0-0 0, Brady Moulds 0-1 0-0 0, Gavin Tucker 0-2 0-0 0, Raub Loecke 1-3 0-0 3, Eric Salow 7-10 1-1 15, Mitchell Krogmann 1-1 0-0 2, Team 24-53 7-9 62. 

3-point field goals – CCA 9-15 (Reade 1-2, O’Connor 5-6, T. Schrepfer 1-3, K. Schrepfer 2-2, Potter 0-1, Wolfe 0-1), WD 7-22 (DeMoss 1-6, Kelley 3-6, Woellert 1-3, Tibbott 1-2, Rich 0-2, Loecke 1-3). Rebounds – CCA 32 (Withrow 6), WD 22 (Salow 6). Turnovers – CCA 12, WD 14. Total fouls – CCA 9, WD 10. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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