Cougars roll past St. Henry 66-49

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A fourth quarter scoring explosion allowed Van Wert to pull away from St. Henry 66-49 on Saturday night, giving the Cougars (6-13) three wins in four games.

31 of Van Wert’s 66 points came in the fourth quarter and 15 of those came from Owen Treece, who finished the game with 32. The 5-11 junior guard drilled a pair of treys, three baskets and was 3-3 from the foul line in the final period.

“Early in fourth quarter we put together a possession where we were able to grind it out for about 30 or 40 seconds,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick explained. “It led to an open look and what happened from there was it created a lot of driving lanes for guys to get to the basket and kick it open teammates for outside shots. It seemed like they were all falling in during the fourth quarter.”

“The cherry on top of the sundae was when Spencer Adams, one of our seniors who doesn’t get a lot of time, was able to knock down a three with about 10 seconds to go in the game,” Laudick added. “To hear our crowd, the student section and more importantly our bench and the rest of his teammates go crazy was really cool.”

Along with Treece and Adams, Brown added five points in the fourth quarter, while Hilleary chipped in with four more. Brown and Hilleary each finished with 11 points, and Hilleary pulled down a team high eight rebounds.

Carter Ontrop led St. Henry (10-10) with 13 points, including six in the first quarter, while Matt Bertke and Bennett Gels each scored eight.

Early on it looked like the game would be a low scoring slugfest. St. Henry led 10-8 at the end of the first period, with Treece accounting for all eight of Van Wert’s points.

The pace picked up a bit in the second quarter with Brown draining two triples and Treece and Hilleary each adding four points to help the Cougars to a 24-22 halftime lead.

Treece added five more in the third quarter and Van Wert held a four point lead, 35-31, entering the final period.

Van Wert finished the night 22-45 (49 percent) from the floor, including 11-23 from three point range, while St. Henry was 18-33 (55 percent) but just 3-12 from beyond the arc. Both teams fared well at the free throw line, with the Cougars converting 11-13 and the Redskins 10-14. St. Henry had a 20-15 rebounding advantage, but the Redskins also had 13 turnovers, compared to just four for Van Wert.

“We’re trending in the right direction as we head toward the end of the regular season and the tournament,” Laudick said. “Our guys are excited and they’re ready to get back to work.”

Van Wert’s junior varsity team improved to 17-2 with a 46-30 win.

The Cougars will play at Bath on Friday night.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 8 16 11 30 – 66
St. Henry 10 12 9 18 – 49

Van Wert: Clayton Proffit 2-0-5; Owen Treece 11-5-32; Keaton Brown 3-2-11; Tanner Barnhart 0-2-2; Colin Place 1-0-2; Spencer Adams 1-0-3; Jake Hilleary 4-2-11

St. Henry: Matt Bertke 4-0-8; Bennett Gels 4-0-8; Casey Bruening 1-0-2; Andrew Lange 1-0-3; Ben Evers 1-2-4; Riley Link 1-3-6; Carter Ontrop 6-0-13; Logan Lefeld 0-5-5

JV: Van Wert 46-30