Treece, Cougars dominate Bath 81-55

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Van Wert overcame a slow start and rolled by Bath 81-55 on Legends of the Game night at the Cougar’s Den.

Before the game, the school’s 11 1,000 point scorers were honored: Chuck Thompson, Kenny Sullivan; Jon Bagley, Chris Crosby, Pat Jackson, Quincy Cloud, Joe Gardner, Cory Sinning, Chris Morrow, Jacoby Kelly and Owen Treece.

Bath (10-11, 3-5 WBL) jumped to an 8-0 less than two minutes into the game, with six of those points coming on a pair of three pointers by Carter Parlapiano. After a quick timeout by head coach Ben Laudick, the Cougars (8-10, 3-4 WBL) came roaring back with 13 unanswered points, including seven straight by Ethan Brown and Van Wert went on to lead 20-15 at the end of the first quarter.

“The timeout was just to calm everybody’s nerves and to tell them to take a deep breath,” Laudick explained. “Once that first basket went in by Ethan, I think everybody exhaled and then we just played after that.”

Brown scored six consecutive points in the second quarter to give the Cougars a 28-20 lead, then Treece took over, scoring nine of Van Wert’s next 13 points, including a long buzzer beating triple that put his team ahead 41-29 at halftime.

The 5-11 senior added 14 more points in the third quarter, including three treys that never touched the rim. By the end of the period, Van Wert’s lead had ballooned to 63-42. Treece went on to finish with 34 points.

Aidan Pratt scored six of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and Laudick emptied his bench later in the period.

“Ethan Brown and Aidan Pratt have obviously made strides in the scoring department,” Laudick said. “We needed another guy or two to compliment Owen and when that happens it makes Owen a lot harder to guard.”

11 different Cougars scored and Van Wert was 35-of-60 shooting (58 percent) and 4-of-5 from the foul line. Bath was led by Parlapiano, who scored 21, and the Wildcats were 21-of-52 from the floor (41 percent) and 7-of-9 on free throws. Van Wert had a slight rebounding edge, 25-21.

The Cougars will face Ottawa-Glandorf (No. 8, Division III) today, with the junior varsity game slated to tip off at 4 p.m.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to see where we are against a really good opponent,” Laudick said.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 20 21 22 18 – 81
Bath 15 14 13 13 – 55

Van Wert: Ethan Brown 6-0-13; Owen Treece 13-2-34; Garett Gunter 1-0-2; Ty Jackson 2-0-4; Aidan Pratt 7-0-14; Nate Jackson 1-0-2; Maddix Crutchfield 1-0-2; Carson Smith 1-0-2; Evan Knittle 1-0-2; Connor Pratt 0-2-2; Ethan Rupert 2-0-4

Bath: Britton Hall 2-1-5; Bradyn Fleharty 4-1-9; Griffin Miksell 3-0-6; Jonah Wauben 3-3-9; Carter Parlapiano 8-0-21; Ian Armentrou 1-2-5

JV: Van Wert 79-34