Cougars beat St. Henry; Lancers lose

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

ST. HENRY – The Van Wert Cougars again rebounded from a disappointing loss to defeat St. Henry 64-48 in a non-conference game played Saturday at St. Henry.

The Cougars got out to a fast start, leading 16-6 in the first quarter and extending that lead to 19, 37-18, at the half. The lead was 18 points, 49-31, at the start of the fourth quarter and Van Wert put its reserves in for a portion of the final period en route to the 16-point victory.

Jacob Myers led the Cougars with 25 points, including three treys and a 3-of-4 performance at the free-throw line, while Corey Clifton scored 15 points for Van Wert and Reggie Phillips added13 points. Corey Seifring led the Redskins with 14 points, including a 6-for-9 night at the charity stripe, while Steve Luttmer and Caleb Heitkamp each scored 10 points for St. Henry.

After a subpar shooting night on Friday – including a 1-for-12 performance from three-point range, the Cougars were back in form on Saturday, hitting 4 of 11 three-pointers (36.3 percent) and were 24 of 39 from two-point range (61.5 percent). Van Wert also made 4 of 9 free-throw attempts (44.4 percent).

St. Henry was 4 of 14 from beyond the arc (28.6 percent) and made 13 of 36 two-point attempts (33.3 percent). The Redskins were better at the line, canning 10 of 18 free-throw attempts (55.6 percent).

The Cougars outrebounded St. Henry 30-26, but had nearly twice as many turnovers (21-11) as St. Henry.

With the win, Van Wert is now 14-3 overall, while the Redskins drop to 8-8 on the season.

The Cougar junior varsity squad also won, 44-26, with AJ Smith the top scorer for Van Wert with 9 points. The Cougar JVs are also 14-3 on the year.

Over at Lincolnview, the Lancer boys kept pace with the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays until the final quarter, but then they faltered just enough to allow St. John’s to pull away for a 43-35 non-league victory.

The Blue Jays led 8-6 at the end of the first quarter, but Lincolnview pulled to within a point, 15-14, by the time the two teams went into the locker room at halftime.

Delphos then outscored the Lancers 13-11 in the third quarter to lead by three points, 28-25, heading into the fourth and final period.

Lincolnview was so close, but an attempt to stage a rally in the final quarter fell short as the ‘Jays went on a 15-10 run to close out the contest.

Geise was the big gun for Delphos, scoring 26 points in the game, while Recker added nine for the Blue Jays. Sloan Whitaker was Lincolnview’s top scorer with 12 points, while Jack Frank canned 9 points for the Lancers.

Neither team shot the eyes of the basket from the field. Lincolnview hit 10 of 31 for 32.3 percent, while the Blue Jays were 11 of 33 (33.3 percent) in field goal shooting. The two teams were hot at the foul line, though, with the Lancers hitting 11 of 14 free-throw attempts (78.6 percent), while St. John’s was 15 of 19 (78.9 percent) from the charity stripe.

Lincolnview had 15 turnovers to 10 for the Blue Jays, while both teams came down with 16 rebounds in the game. The Lancers had seven steals to eight for St. John’s.