VW hot in 32-point win over Bellmont

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The weather was balmy — for January — outside the Cougar’s Den, but inside the Van Wert boys’ basketball team was torrid, shooting over 70 percent in the first half en route to a dominating 69-37 win over the Decatur Bellmont Braves in a cross-border battle on Tuesday.

Nine Cougars got into the scoring column, led by Jake Myers’ 23 points. Reggie Phillips was the only other Van Wert player in double figures, with 15, although Joey Hurless was close, with 9 points. Matt Chronister led Bellmont with 14 points.

The Cougars are now 7-1 on the season, while Bellmont falls to 3-6.

Van Wert led 19-12 at the end of a quarter, but then poured it on, outscoring the Braves 20-3 in the second quarter to lead by 24 points, 39-15, at the half. Although the reserves played most of the second half, the Cougars still outpointed Bellmont 30-22 for the 32-point margin of victory.

Van Wert was 30 of 53 from the field (56.6 percent) for the game, but shot 62.5 percent from two-point range. The Cougars made 2 of 4 free throw shots. The Braves hit 16 of 40 two-point shots (40 percent) and were only 1 of 10 from three-point range (10 percent) for a total field goal percentage of 34 percent. Bellmont also made 2 of 4 from the line (50 percent).

The Braves won the rebound war, bringing down 26 caroms to 16 for Van Wert. Bellmont also had fewer turnovers than the Cougars, 9-11.

The Van Wert junior varsity team remained unbeaten at 8-0 on the year with a convincing 49-24 win over the Braves JVs. Matt Bidlack, who also got some minutes of play on the varsity team, was the lead scorer for the Cougars with 11 points, while Kyle Keber added 9 points for Van Wert.

The Cougars will next get a test from co-Western Buckeye League leader Elida on Friday in the Cougar’s Den. That game will begin at 6 p.m. and is homecoming for Van Wert High School.