Cougars win in OT, to play for district title

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

ADA — It came down to one play, and it was perfectly executed.

Owen Treece fired a perfect alley oop pass to Nate Place who scored off the glass with three seconds left in overtime to give Van Wert a 27-25 win over Defiance in the Division II district semifinals at Ohio Northern University.

“We ran that quite a bit this week and I don’t think Owen threw one pass that was on the money,” Place said with a smile. “We missed all of them, they were all over my head, coach Bags was yelling at him all week, but at game time he came down and got it.”

“We had seen them run that before, but the timing of it was tremendous and they did a really good job of executing it,” Defiance head coach Kirk Lehman said. “When you do that and it comes down to the last play, it’s the difference in a game, so give them an awful lot of credit. It was a great call by coach Bagley and great execution by their kids.”

After the bucket, Blake Henry intercepted a long inbounds pass by Defiance (14-11) and the Cougars were able to run the remaining two seconds off the clock.

“It just shows a lot about our kids, their grit and their toughness,” Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley said. “We have a saying in our locker room and it’s been up there the whole year – ‘the game honors toughness’ – and I thought they really battled through adversity.”

Van Wert ended regulation in similar fashion to the overtime. After Tyrell Goings hit a jumper to tie the game 25-25 with 2:29 left, the Cougars were able to hold on to the ball against Defiance’s 2-3 zone defense for the remainder of the game. Place received a feed down low but was unable to convert, sending the game to overtime.

The rest of the game was a defensive struggle. Defiance’s D.J. Dobson hit a pair of treys in the final minute of the opening quarter to give the Bulldogs a 10-6 lead.

A bucket by Jack VanderHorst early in the second period gave Defiance a 12-6 lead, but the Cougars went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-12 lead with 2:55 left until halftime. Place, Henry and Drew Bagley had layups, and Henry added a jumper during the run. Dobson buried a trey from the top of the key with 1:50 left to give Defiance a 15-14 lead, a score that stood at halftime.

A layup by Bagley and a steal and layup by Place gave Van Wert an 18-17 lead with 5:10 left in the third quarter, but by the end of the period the Bulldogs held a 23-22 lead.

The only points of the fourth quarter came on a triple from the right corner by Treece at the 3:30 mark and the bucket by Goings a minute later.

When the game ended, Defiance was 11 of 49 (22 percent) from the floor, while Van Wert was 13 of 36 (36 percent), including just 1 of 14 from three point range. The Bulldogs had a commanding 35-25 advantage on the boards, including 15 offensive rebounds.

“Part of that was good defense, it really was,” Bagley said. “We knew they were going to play a 2-3 zone and we worked on a lot of different things this week.”

“I thought that’s the way we had to play tonight,” Lehman said. “They scored 67 on us two weeks ago and we didn’t stop them very often.”

“Give our kids credit, I thought defensively and rebounding the basketball we were tremendous. Even on the offensive boards I thought we were really good and I thought we gave a great effort, we just couldn’t get shots to fall.”

“They’re so well coached,” Bagley said of Defiance. “Coach Lehman is a good friend of mine and I have a tremendous amount of respect for their team. I feel for those guys, but it’s survive and advance time.”

In an odd twist, neither team shot a free throw the entire game.

Drew Bagley led Van Wert with eight points, while Place had eight rebounds and six points. Henry also finished with six points. Goings led all scorers with 10 points.

Van Wert (16-9) will play No. 1 seed Shawnee for the district championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ohio Northern. The winner will advance to next week’s regional semifinals at Bowling Green State University.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 6 8 8 3 2 – 27
Defiance 10 5 8 2 0 – 25

Van Wert: Owen Treece 2-0-5; Nate Place 3-0-6; Blake Henry 3-0-6; Lawson Blackmore 1-0-2; Drew Bagley 4-0-8

Defiance: D.J. Dobson 3-0-9; Will Lammers 1-0-2; Tyrell Goings 5-0-10; Alex Nation 2-0-4