Van Wert downs Celina in WBL finale

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

It wasn’t pretty, but Van Wert ended 2020-2021 Western Buckeye League portion of the schedule with 51-43 victory over Celina on Friday night.

The win was the eighth in nine games for the Cougars (10-10, 5-4 WBL), while Celina fell to 5-15 (3-6 WBL).

“It’s been a weird week,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. “The kids were in school for one day because of weather and it kind of carried over into practices this week. We were a little sluggish and that’s kind of how the game was by us and by Celina.”

“It wasn’t the prettiest basketball game but our guys found ways for us to make enough plays to come out on top,” Laudick added. “Anytime you can get a win on Friday night we’ll take it, I don’t care if it’s 100 or two points, a win is a win on Friday night.”

The game was tied 29-29 when Ethan Rupert came off the bench and drilled a triple from the right wing. The shot was followed by five unanswered points a bucket and foul shot and a layup off an offensive rebound – all by Owen Treece – giving Van Wert a 37-29 lead.

“We’ve missed Ethan this year because of an injury,” Laudick said. “He’s a guy who can string some shots together and what they were doing defensively it fit for him to get into open space. We have confidence in him to make shots and it propelled us a little bit to a victory.”

The Cougars were able to expand the lead to as many as 12 in the fourth quarter. Treece led all scorers with 14 points and Aidan Pratt finished with 11. Van Wert was 20-of-48 from the floor and 3-of-6 from the foul line, while Celina was 18-of-38 shooting and like the Cougars, 3-of-6 from the free throw line. Josh Rasawher had 12 points and Duncan finished with 11. Each team finished with 20 rebounds.

Van Wert opened the game with a 12-3 run and led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter. Ethan Brown scored four of his team’s nine second quarter points, while Jack Duncan accounted for six of Celina’s 10 points in the period. The Bulldogs had several opportunities to take the lead in the second and third quarters, but were unable to capitalize.

Van Wert will host Parkway today (12 p.m. JV start), and Celina will play at Wapakoneta in the Division II sectional semifinals on Tuesday night.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 16 9 12 14 – 51
Celina 12 10 9 12 – 43

Van Wert: Ethan Brown 4-0-8; Owen Treece 5-2-14; Garett Gunter 3-1-7; Trey Laudick 1-0-3; Aidan Pratt 5-0-11; Nate Jackson 1-0-2; Ethan Rupert 2-0-5

Celina: Jack Duncan 4-1-11; Reese Black 3-2-8; Quade Gilmore 2-0-4; Connor Nuding 1-0-3; Dylan Feister 1-0-2; Quinn Andrew 1-0-3

JV: Van Wert 56-40