Rocky River trey ends Cougars’ season

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

BOWLING GREEN – With seconds to go in Thursday’s regional semifinal game, the Van Wert Cougars looked like a team headed to the Division II regional finals. But one missed three-pointer by Corey Clifton and a trey made by Rocky River’s Kyle Dunne and the Pirates scuttled Van Wert’s season with a 54-52 regional semifinal win.

It was a game of momentum, with Rocky River taking the early upward swing with a 21-14 first-quarter performance that also left them up by seven at the half, 34-27. But the Cougars, who were hanging their heads a bit in the first half, came out pumped up in the third period and took the lead by two points, 45-43, with an 18-9 performance in the quarter.

The final quarter was a wild one, but Van Wert had the chance to put it away when Clifton brought the ball up with less than a minute to go and the Cougars leading 52-51. However, instead of driving to the basket and possibly drawing a foul, the 6-3 senior pulled up at the three-point line and let fly. The shot didn’t go and Rocky River had a chance to win the game, which it did when Dunne hit his trey attempt with about 10 seconds left on the clock.

Van Wert had another good game, statistically, but turnovers hurt the Cougars repeatedly during the contest. Van Wert ended up with an uncharacteristically high 21 turnovers, while the Pirates had 14 miscues in the contest. The Cougars did control the boards, though, bringing down 25 rebounds to 16 for Rocky River.

Clifton led all scorers with 20 points, including two treys, while junior Reggie Phillips had 18 points for Van Wert. Jacob Myers was held to 8 points in the contest. Dunne led Rocky River with 16 points, while James Myers added 14 points and Jimmy Corrigan had 12 points for the Pirates.

The Cougars again shot well, hitting 2 of 8 three-pointers (25 percent) and 19 of 27 two-point attempts (70.4 percent) for a total field-goal percentage of 60 percent. Rocky River was 4 of 17 from three-point range (23.5 percent) and hit 16 of 28 two-point attempts (57.1 percent) for an overall field-goal shooting percentage of 44.4 percent.

Van Wert hit 8 of 12 of its free throws (66.7 percent), while the Pirates were an incredible 10 of 11 from the charity stripe (91 percent).

With the loss, the Cougars end their season at 19-5, while Rocky River (22-2) will now meet Toledo Rogers (15-5) in the regional finals (click here for more photos).