Van Wert holds off Marion Local in OT

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A buzzer beating triple by Marion Local sent the game to overtime, but Van Wert answered the bell in the extra session in a 50-46 win on Saturday night.

The win snapped a four game losing streak and improved Van Wert’s overall record to 3-7, while Marion Local dropped to 2-8.

It appeared the Cougars would win in regulation, after a steal and a pair of foul shots by Owen Treece gave Van Wert a 40-37 lead with 8.5 seconds left, but Marion Local’s Charlie Huelsman drilled a trey as time expired, sending the game into overtime.

Huelsman opened the scoring in overtime with a quick bucket, but Treece responded with a triple from the left wing. A pair of Jake Hilleary free throws gave Van Wert a 45-42 lead, but Huelsman answered with a two free throws with two minutes left. Hilleary hit another foul shot, but an ensuing layup by Huelsman tied the game 46-46 with 55 seconds left.

Treece hit two free throws with 29.5 seconds left, then after a Marion Local turnover with 11.7 seconds left, the 5-11 junior iced the game by converting a long, picture perfect inbounds pass from Keaton Brown into a layup.

“That was player led,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said of the final bucket. “That’s the next progression for our team, is for those sort of things to happen. They see something that we might not see from our perspective and they say this is what we want to do.”

Van Wert led 10-8 after the first quarter, but trailed 22-20 at halftime. The Flyers led 27-24 with 3:40 left in the third quarter, but Treece scored the final five points of the period on two free throws and a deep trey just before the buzzer to give the Cougars a 29-27 lead. Treece went on to finish with a game high 30 points.

“It was huge to have that momentum,” Laudick said. “It was nice for us to have something go positive to end a quarter because so many times this year it hasn’t.”

A early fourth quarter bucket by Brown boosted Van Wert’s lead to 31-27, but the Flyers went on a 6-0 run to grab a 33-31 lead with three minutes left. Treece drained a trey from the right wing, then Ethan Brown converted a pair of free throws less than a minute later to put the Cougars ahead 36-34.

Another big play – a blocked shot off a Marion Local offensive rebound with 1:35 left – loomed large down the stretch.

“In some of our losses that have been close we’ve struggled to find a way to make a play or two but tonight it was answering when they (Marion Local) answered,” Laudick said. “Jake Hilleary played a really good game tonight and I thought Ethan Brown did a really nice job stepping up and I thought Clayton Proffitt responded well.”

“Our message before the game was ‘whoever, however, whatever, we don’t care, let’s just figure out a way to get it done tonight,” the coach added.

Hilleary finished with nine points, while Alex Eyink led the Flyers with 16 points. Huelsman finished with 14, including six in the fourth quarter and overtime period.

Van Wert has a challenging weekend ahead, at state ranked Ottawa-Glandorf (11-0) on Friday and at Bryan (10-2) on Saturday.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 10 10 9 11 10 – 50
Marion Local 8 14 5 13 6 – 46

Van Wert: Clayton Proffitt 1-0-3; Owen Treece 9-8-30; Keaton Brown 2-0-4; Parker Conrad 1-0-2; Ethan Brown 0-2-2; Jake Hilleary 2-4-9

Marion Local: Alex Eyink 6-0-16; Bryce Moeller 2-0-5; Charlie Huelsman 4-4-14; Peyton Otte 1-1-3; Matt Everman 1-0-3; Alex Klosterman 2-0-5

JV: Van Wert 45-39