Cougs finally win again, beat ‘Riders

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Van Wert Cougars stopped their losing streak on Friday with a win over St. Marys in Western Buckeye League boys’ basketball action in the Cougar’s Den.

The Cougars started a bit slow, but outscored St. Marys 26-12 in the middle two quarters and then withstood a fourth-quarter Roughrider rally — as well as a 40-point scoring performance by St. Marys’ senior point guard Garet Fledderjohann — to bring home the victory.

With the win, Van Wert evens its record at 10-10 and is now 3-5 in the WBL. The Roughriders fall to 5-13 overall and 1-7 in league play.

The Cougars led by a point, 13-12, in the first quarter and were up by eight at the half, 24-16. The Van Wert lead stretched to 15 points, 39-24, with a 15-8 run in the third quarter, but the ‘Riders went on a 28-21 run in the final stanza that tightened up the final score.

Van Wert had a balanced offense that included four players in double figures, led by AJ Smith’s 15 points. Matt Bidlack scored 13 points for the Cougars, while Connor Holliday and Nathan Stoller each had 11 points in the game. Fledderjohann had all but 12 points of the Roughriders’ final total as he made 12 of 17 two-point attempts, 4 of 9 from three-point range and was 12 of 17 at the free throw line.

As a team, Van Wert was 14 of 25 (56 percent) from two-point range, hit 5 of 15 three-point attempts (33.3 percent) and was 17 of 27 at the charity stripe (63 percent). The Roughriders made 9 of 21 two-point attempts (42.9 percent), were 6 of 17 from three-point range (35.3 percent) and canned 16 of 27 free-throws (59.3 percent).

St. Marys outrebounded the Cougars, 26-21, but also had more turnovers, 9-6.

The Van Wert junior varsity team won its 19th game of the season, against just one loss, with a 46-31 win over the Roughrider JVs. No one scored in double figures in the game, but Michael Smelser and Nick Keber each had 9 points for Van Wert.

The Cougars will next play Monday at Delphos Jefferson, and then host Ottawa-Glandorf on Friday to finish out its WBL schedule.