VW Cougars race by Elida, win 72-44

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

ELIDA – Van Wert scored early and often and the Cougars cruised to their fifth straight victory, a 72-44 win over Elida on Friday night.

“We keep preaching to our guys that we’re trying to play 32 minutes and we’re getting closer,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. “I thought we set the tone early on and I thought we got great contributions from everybody that played tonight. We’re excited that we’re winning and it’s hard to win in the WBL on the road.”

The Cougars (6-9, 2-4 WBL) jumped out to leads of 7-0 and 12-3, then enjoyed a 21-10 advantage at the end of the first quarter, with Nate Jackson accounting for eight of those points, including a pair of three point buckets. Jackson went on to finish with a season high 10 points.

After Elida’s Tyler Long drained a triple early in the second quarter to draw the Bulldogs to within 11, 26-15, Van Wert scored 17 unanswered points to take a 43-15 halftime lead. The run included seven consecutive points by Ty Jackson and when the quarter ended, the Cougars outscored the hosts by a 22-5 margin.

“Nate and Ty are working their tails off in practice along with everybody else and I’m happy to see it paying off on the offensive end,” Laudick said.

Owen Treece scored eight of his game high 17 points in the third quarter and Ethan Brown added five of his 11 points as the Cougars built a 58-29 lead entering the final period.

Both coaches emptied their benches in the fourth quarter.

Elida (2-14, 1-6 WBL) was 15-of-47 (32 percent) from the floor and 7-of-8 from the foul line with 22 rebounds and 15 turnovers. The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Long, who finished with 16 points.

Van Wert finished the game 28-of-56 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the free throw line with 24 rebounds and just six turnovers and Laudick said his team is playing with confidence.

“I would say it’s the highest it’s been all year,” Laudick explained. “We’re on a five game winning streak and we’re going to enjoy it but as soon as we get off the bus we have to hit the reset button because we’re going down to St. Henry, which is going to be a tall task. They’re a good athletic team that’s well coached, but we’re excited for the challenge.”

Scoring summary

Van Wert 21 22 15 14 – 72
Elida 10 5 14 15 – 44

Van Wert: Ethan Brown 5-0-11; Owen Treece 7-0-17; Garett Gunter 2-0-6; Trey Laudick 2-0-5; Ty Jackson 3-3-9; Aidan Pratt 1-1-4; Nate Jackson 4-0-10; Maddix Crutchfield 3-0-6; Evan Knittle 1-0-2; Connor Pratt 1-0-2

Elida: Tyler Long 5-2-16; Austin Miller 1-0-2; Aidan Bartels 3-0-7; Brendan Crow 3-0-7; Larkin Henderson 2-0-5; David Etzkorn 1-3-5

JV: Van Wert 69-56