By BRIAN SMITH
Sports Editor

COLDWATER — At first the run was slightly amusing — a small outburst by a Lima Perry team on its final legs and minutes of a season.

When it reached 17-1,  the Commodore’s run didn’t seem so quaint to New Knoxville anymore.

All over hazards, Perry — this sectional title wasn’t as easy as it once seemed to be for the New Knoxville Rangers.

The Rangers (21-0) won a hard-earned, if not quirky, sectional title with a 56-41 win over Perry on Friday night and will move onto the Wapakoneta district next week.

The Commodores (12-9) closed what was once a 25-point gap late in the third quarter to just 10 points with 2:21 left in the game and had a chance to get it into single-digits with a free throw.

“I commend Perry,” New Knoxville head coach Dan Hegemier said. “They had a good gameplan, played hard and never quit. They kept coming.”

That attempt went wide and New Knoxville hit enough free throws down the stretch to lock up a sectional title, no matter how unsettling the final quarter might have been for Hegemier and his Rangers.

“Being the first tournament game, sometimes it got ugly,” Hegemier said. “But we’ll take the win. Hopefully it will prepare us for adversity. We’ve been through a lot together.”

Perry hit its final shot of the third quarter and then made six straight shots to begin the fourth quarter to close the game to within 46-35. The Commodores’ Davion Williams drove to the basket over for six points in the run and Brandon Riepenhoff hit two perimeter shots to spur on the outburst.

Williams was especially disruptive to the Rangers defense, slashing inside against the bigger Ranger defenders and scoring eight second half points and getting putback opportunities for teammates.

“They kept penetrating,” Hegemier said. “They just played harder in that fourth quarter. We had to adjust and change it up a bit.”

With the win, New Knoxville head coach Dan Hegemier won his 100th game at his alma mater in just five years of coaching — making it 100 wins in five years at two stops in Fort Loramie and New Knoxville.

For three quarters New Knoxville flexed its muscle as the top-ranked team in the state, building a 45-18 lead with 2:15 left in the third quarter.

Austin Arnett  had 18 points and Brad Piehl had 16 points for the Rangers, as No. 1 New Knoxville forced 22 turnovers through the first three quarters of the game.

New Knoxville answered an early 4-0 deficit in the first quarter with a 10-0 run. The Rangers led 13-7 after one quarter.

New Knoxville upped its lead to 31-12 at the half with big quarters from Arnett , who had seven points in the second, and Piehl, who tallied six in the second period.

New Knoxville beat Perry 70-34 during the regular season.

Caleb Allen added nine points for the Rangers, who will play Lima Temple Christian on Tuesday at Wapakoneta.  The Rangers beat Temple Christian 72-39 during the regular season.

NEW KNOXVILLE    56
LIMA PERRY    41

New Knoxville
Austin Arnett 8-1-18, Brad Piehl 7-4-18, Derek Dicke 1-1-3, Marcus Reineke 1-0-3, Ryan VanderHorst 1-3-5, Caleb Allen 4-0-9. Totals 22-8-56.

Perry
Riepenhoff 4-2-12, Johnson 3-2-8, Kirchner 1-0-2,  Howell 1-0-2, Williams 4-1-9, Riepenhoff 1-0-2, Hyde 2-0-4. Totals 16-5-41.

                     NK       PERRY
Shooting        21-33   18-37
3pt Shooting    3-13        2-7    

FT Shooting        9-15        5-10  

Rebounds           8              22
Off. Rebounds    1               8
Turnovers        9              22