Cougars bow to Defiance in WBL tilt

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

DEFIANCE – The Van Wert Cougars swarmed over Defiance in the first quarter, making fans almost think the ballyhooed match-up between the two schools was an anticlimax.

But injury-hobbled Corey Clifton wilted, as did his Van Wert teammates, in the middle quarters and the Bulldogs rallied to take away a 50-41 victory in a battle for first place in the Western Buckeye League.

The Cougars roared out to a 19-8 first-quarter lead, but couldn’t sustain their drive down the stretch when it counted. Clifton, the senior forward who leads Van Wert offensively with an 18.9-points-per-game average, showed he wasn’t back to full health in the second and third quarters and had to sit out several minutes of the third period, allowing Defiance to outscore the Cougars 15-3 in the quarter and take its first lead of the game.

Although the Bulldogs also scored more points, 8-5, in the second quarter, Van Wert still held a 24-16 advantage at the half.

The Cougars were still in it in the final stanza, but couldn’t close the four-point gap Defiance had at the end of the third quarter.

Jacob Myers led Van Wert with 18 points, while Clifton had a subpar night with only 10 points – far below his average. The Cougars’ offensive woes were also apparent in shooting percentages. Van Wert, which has a 50-percent two-point field goal shooting average, made just 7 of 22 two-point attempts Friday (31.8 percent). The Cougars were 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from three-point range and made 9 of 14 free-throw attempts.

Eric Stapleton did most of the offensive damage for the Bulldogs, making 18 points, including an 8-of-11 performance at the charity stripe. Anthony Kidston and Tory Guilliam each added 10 points for Defiance, which made 13 of 23 two-point attempts (56.5 percent), but was only 2 of 12 from three-point range (16.7 percent). The Bulldogs made 18 of 24 shots from the line (75 percent).

Defiance also outrebounded the Cougars, 23-17, but had six more turnovers (19-13) than Van Wert.

With the loss, the Cougars fall to 12-2 overall and 3-2 in league play and are now in a three-way tie with Bath and Elida for fourth place in the league, while Defiance is now 11-2 and 4-1 in the WBL, good enough for a three-way tie for first place with Celina and Ottawa-Glandorf.

The Van Wert junior varsity team was more successful than the varsity, beating the Bulldog JVs 45-40 to go to 11-3 on the year. AJ Smith led the JV Cougars with 18 points, while Stephon Puente was Defiance’s top scorer with 16 points.

Van Wert will next play winless Wapakoneta in WBL action next Friday in the Cougar’s Den. The junior varsity game will begin at 6 that evening.

Elsewhere in the county, Crestview was a 66-44 winner over Allen East, while the Lincolnview Lancers lost to Ada, 49-43.