Cougars beat Golden Bears; Lancers win

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Van Wert Cougars got back on the winning track Saturday with a 55-43 victory over Bryan in a non-conference game played in the Cougar’s Den.

The Cougars had a 1-point lead at the end of the first quarter, 13-12, and parlayed that into a one-basket advantage, 23-21, at the half. The third quarter proved to be the difference in the ballgame as Van Wert went on a 17-7 tear to lead 40-28 by the three-quarter mark. The Golden Bears outscored Van Wert by a basket in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome.

With the win, the Cougars are now 11-1 on the year, while the Golden Bears were 7-7 overall.

Corey Clifton was Van Wert’s leading scorer with 21 points, including two treys and a 5-for-6 performance at the free throw line. Jake Myers scored 14 points for the Cougars, while Joe Moonshower added 9 points for the locals. For Bryan, Adam McBride scored 14 points to lead the Golden Bears offensively.

Statistically, Van Wert was 20 of 34 from two-point range (58.8 percent), but hit only 2 of 7 three-point attempts (28.6 percent). The Cougars were awesome at the free-throw line, knocking down 9 of 10 attempts from the charity stripe (90 percent).

Bryan was 13 of 26 (50 percent) from two-point range and hit 3 of 8 three-point attempts (37.5 percent). The Golden Bears were 8 of 15 from the line (53.3 percent).

The Cougars had a slight edge in rebounding over Bryan, 15-14, and also had three fewer turnovers, 15-18, than the Golden Bears.

Van Wert also won the junior varsity game, 48-29, with Tyler Coll taking scoring honors for the Cougar JVs with 14 points, including two treys.

Van Wert will again play at home on Tuesday as they meet the Kalida Wildcats in another non-conference game.

Also on Saturday, the Lincolnview Lancers also were victorious, beating Antwerp 59-53 in a non-conference game on the Lancers’ home court.

The Archers took the early lead, 14-12, at the end of the first quarter, and lead by the same margin, 28-26, at the half.

But Lincolnview came out of the locker room fired up in the second half to outscore the Archers 32-25 and take home the victory over the Lancers’ Green Meadows Conference opponents.

Sloan Whitaker was Lincolnview’s and the game’s top scorer with 22 points, while Clayton Longstreth added 16 points and Kyle Williams scored 11 points for the Lancers. Zac Coleman led Antwerp with 12 points, while Jordan Koppenhofer added 10 points for the Archers.

With the win, the Lancers are now 4-8 overall, while Antwerp drops to 6-5.

Lincolnview shot 41.3 percent from the field (19 of 46) and was 5 of 17 from three-point range (29.4 percent). The Lancers were excellent at the free-throw line, though, canning 16 of 20 (80 percent) from the charity stripe.

Antwerp made 21 of 52 field goal attempts (40.4 percent), including 3 of 14 from beyond the arc (21.4 percent). The Archers were 8 of 13 at the line (61.5 percent).

Antwerp outrebounded the Lancers 22-18, but the Lancers had two fewer turnovers, 11-9.