Friday Flashback: VW, C’view, L’view win

Note: The latest installment of the Friday Flashback takes us back to February of 2011, when the Van Wert Cougars, Lincolnview Lancers and Crestview Knights posted wins on the same night.

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

It’s been a bit of a disappointment this year for the Van Wert Cougars when it comes to match-ups with top Western Buckeye League teams. Tough losses to league-leading teams Celina and Defiance and then a 1-point upset to St. Marys knocked the Cougs out of contention for a shot at the league crown.

On Friday night, Van Wert demonstrated what it can do, though, when all the wheels are turning and the bodies are healthy, roughing up Ottawa-Glandorf 59-39 and knocking the Titans out of a tie with Celina for first place in the WBL.

It was Van Wert’s game from the git-go, as the Cougars repeatedly broke O-G’s full-court press for easy baskets in the paint, while their “D” shut down the Titans’ offensive attack. Van Wert roared out to a 20-11 first-quarter lead and extended its advantage to 17 points, 33-16, at the half.

The Cougars had Ottawa-Glandorf down by 27 points at one point in the third quarter, but let up a bit on the intensity and the Titans clawed back to within 23 points by the end of the period.

Things got a bit sloppy in the fourth quarter for the Cougs, allowing O-G to whittle the difference to 20 by the end of the game.

Van Wert had three players in double figures – Jacob Myers with 16, Corey Clifton with 15 and Reggie Phillips with 12, while the other two Cougars to score, Jacob Hood and Austin Fleming, each had 8 points on the night. Although the Titans had nine players score, the best they could do was Logan Koch’s 8 points, while Van Wert held O-G’s top scorer, Travis Schomaeker, to 6 points – well below his 17-points-per-game average.

Neither team shot well from three-point range, with Van Wert hitting just 2 of 11 tries (18.2 percent) and O-G canning one of 10 attempts (10 percent). Both teams did very well on two-pointers, with the Titans hitting 17 of 34 (50 percent), while Van Wert scorched the nets, canning 25 of 41 two-point attempts (61 percent). Overall, the Cougars shot 52 percent from the field, while O-G had a 41-percent field goal shooting night.

There weren’t many foul shots taken in the game, but Van Wert made the most, 3 of 5 (60 percent), while the Titans hit 50 percent (2 of 4) from the line on the night.

The Cougs crashed the boards, bringing down 21 rebounds to 14 for O-G, while turning the ball over 9 times, to 15 for O-G.

With the win, the Cougars’ record stands at 15-3 overall and 5-3 in league play, while Ottawa-Glandorf is now 6-2 in the WBL and 12-7 overall.

The Cougar junior varsity team lost its first WBL contest, falling 49-45 to Ottawa-Glandorf in the night’s opener. AJ Smith led Van Wert (14-4, 7-1 WBL) with 23 points, while Isaac Recker was the Titan JVs’ top scorer, with 19 points.

Also Friday night, the Lincolnview Lancers did a similar job on Allen East that the Cougars did on Ottawa-Glandorf, beating the Mustangs 56-39 in a Northwest Conference match-up.

The Lancers got off to a quick start, leading 20-14 at the end of the first period, and then outscoring Allen East 13-5 in the second quarter for a 14-point lead, 33-19, at the half. Lincolnview continued their offensive barrage, outscoring the Mustangs 11-6 in the third stanza and had a 19-point advantage, 44-25, with a quarter to go.

Even with the Lancer reserves getting some playing time, Lincolnview was only outscored 14-12 in the final quarter and game away with a 17-point victory.

The win against the league’s worst team puts the Lancers at 2-6 in the NWC and 5-13 overall. Allen East is now winless at 0-8 in league play and is 2-16 overall.

Sloan Whitaker led Lincolnview with 18 points and was one of three Lancer players in double figures (Kyle Williams score 14 points, while Clayton Longstreth added 13 points for Lincolnview). The Mustangs had two players in double figures. Dylan Mulholland led the team with 15 points, while Jacob Howard scored 11 points for Allen East.

The Crestview Knights got a 59-34 victory over Ada to go to 6-2 in the NWC and 14-4 overall. Paulding kept pace with the Knights with a 72-65 win over Spencerville to stay at 6-2 in league play and 13-5 overall. League co-leader Columbus Grove went to 7-1 in the NWC with a 57-53 win over Delphos Jefferson on Friday and is now in a tie for first place with Lima Central Catholic.