HAVILAND – 34 days ago, the Wayne Trace Raiders handed the Rams their second-worst loss of the season, a 63-38 defeat at home.

A month later, the two conference foes met for a second time, this time for the right to advance to the District Semi-Finals, as the OHSAA boys basketball tournament began. The Rams traveled to The Palace to take on the host Wayne Trace Raiders.

The first eight minutes would see Tinora jump out to a quick 10-4 lead after a Jared Neff drive and score with 4:15 in the quarter. The Raiders would close the initial stanza with a 6-2 run to cut the Tinora lead to 12-10 after one quarter. Carter Clemens pumped in seven points in the quarter for the Raiders.

The second quarter would see Wayne Trace’s defensive intensity rise, but as the quarter progressed, Tinora would match it. The stingy Tinora defense would allow just two points, two free throws by Lance Maenle with 5:30 remaining. Koby Bumb’s beep three would spark Tinora with 3:25 left in the quarter as the Rams grabbed a 20-12 lead. Josh Lieb would end the half as he would hit two free throws with 23 seconds in the half, as Tinora would take a 24-12 lead to the half.

Josh Lieb led all scorers at the half with 10 points.

In a third quarter that seemed to last 45 minutes as both teams lived at the free-throw line, Tinora would escape with a 38-28 advantage. The hot hand for Tinora was Owen Ferrell, as he would drain eight points for the Rams. Jared Neff was also hot, contributing four points for the guests. Maenle would add six points in the quarter, all from the line for the Raiders.

The Tinora lead would grow to as many as 19 midway through the fourth quarter, 47-28, on a Parker Hancock drive and score with just 5:11 on the clock, and things were about to get exciting.

The Raiders would start to chip away at the large Rams lead, starting with more Maenle free throws, Tinora still led 47-29 with 4:45, followed by a Tanner Laukhuf three, cutting the Tinora lead to 47-32 with 4:30 on the clock.
26
Jared Neff would split two free throws as the Rams would try to hold off the Raiders’ comeback, 48-35, with 3:40 remaining.

A Carter Clemens three-pointer cut the Tinora lead to 48-40, 2:15 still remained in the regulation. After more Maenle free throws cut the deficit to 48-42 at the 1:37 mark. Owen Ferrell’s two clutch free throws increased the Tinora lead to 50-42 with 129 remaining.

Tanner Laukhuf’s bucket closed the gap to 50-46 with 54 seconds on the clock. Following a Tinora turnover, Carter Clemens three cut Tinora’s lead to 50-49 with 43 seconds on the clock.

Jared Neff would find Parker Hancock ahead of the pack for a layup with 27 seconds remaining, the basket would give the Rams a 52-49.

Out of a timeout, the Raiders had two separate chances to tie the game, but both three-pointers were no good. The final clutch rebound and points came from Jared Neff, as his free throws (53-49) and Josh Lieb’s two last-second free throws sealed the Rams’ win, 55-49.
Parker Hancock led the Rams with nine fourth-quarter points.


A great team win for the Rams!

TINORA RAMS 12-12-14-17 = 55
WAYNE TRACE 10-2-16-21 = 49

Tinora scoring: Ferrell 13, Neff 14, Bumb 3, Hancock 11, Lieb 14
Wayne Trace scoring: Laukhuf 8, Stoller 6, Clemens 15, Maenle 20

Tinora improves to 11-12. The Rams will travel to Defiance on Wed, 3/4, and take on #1-seeded Lincolview at 7:30 pm.

Wayne Trace sees their season end at 14-9. The Raiders will graduate eight seniors from the team: Tanner Laukhuf, Griffin Williamson, Caden Sinn, Micah Sinn, Carter Clemens, Lane Wenninger, Lance Maenle, and Blake Noggle.
Best wishes to the Raider senior class.

The Higbea Embroidery Player of the Game went to Jared Neff. Congratulations, Jared!

Watch it back below: