Cougar boys down Delphos St. John’s

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Van Wert Cougars had some trouble hanging on to the ball, but Delphos St. John’s shooting problems helped the Cougars to a 54-45 non-conference win at home on Friday.

With the Blue Jays doing a good job on Van Wert high scorer Jake Myers, who was held to just 8 points — less than half of his average Joey Hurless and Reggie Phillips stepped up their game, with Hurless leading the Cougar pack offensively with 18 points, and Phillips adding 13 points for Van Wert. St. John’s top scorer, Curtis Geise, also had problems offensively, scoring just 6 points after knocking down 20 against Crestview last week. Top scorer for the Blue Jays was Ryan Buescher, who had 17 points and was the only Delphos player in double figures.

The Cougars made some uncharacteristic errors — 16 of them in fact — while St. John’s had 10 turnovers on the evening. Van Wert did have the edge in rebounds, bringing down 27 of them to 25 for the Blue Jays.

The Cougars started off fast, leading by nine points, 19-10, at the end of the first quarter. St. John’s ratcheted up the defensive pressure, though, in the second period, holding Van Wert to 8 points while scoring 14 to come within three points, 27-24, at the half.

The Cougars then returned the favor in the third stanza, holding St. John’s to just 5 points, while scoring 13 and taking a 11-point lead, 40-29, heading into the final quarter.

The Blue Jays edged Van Wert by a basket in the final period, but couldn’t generate enough offense to make a difference.

With the victory, the Cougars are now 5-1 overall, while Delphos is now 3-3 on the year.

The Van Wert junior varsity team remained perfect, beating the Blue Jay JVs 51-30 in the opener on Friday. Matt Bidlack lead all scorers with 15 points, while Kyle Keber and Joey Moreland added 9 points for the Cougars. Ryan Koester led St. John’s with 12 points.

Van Wert will travel to Kenton on January 6 for its second Western Buckeye League game of the young season.