Roundup: boys and girls hoops, wrestling

Van Wert independent sports

Boys basketball

Lima Central Catholic 37 Van Wert 36

LIMA — Garett Gunter’s trey from the top of the key with 52 seconds left gave Van Wert a 36-35 lead, but Lima Central Catholic’s Evan Unruh converted a pair of free throws with five seconds left and the Thunderbirds held on for a 37-36 win over the Cougars Saturday afternoon at Msgr. Herr Gymnasium.

After a timeout with two seconds left the Cougars had a shot to win, but a right wing three point attempt by Carson Smith glanced off the rim at the buzzer.

In a game of swings, Van Wert raced out to an 11-0 lead with 2:40 left in the first quarter and the Cougars led 13-5 at the end of the period. It was a different story in the second quarter, as Lima Central Catholic outscored the visitors 13-4 to take an 18-17 halftime lead. The advantage was stretched to six, 29-23 after three quarters and the Thunderbirds led by as many as 11 in the second half before the Cougars fought back late in the final period.

Unruh and Carson Parker each scored 14 for Lima Central Catholic (2-1) while Gunter finished with a game high 16 points and Aidan Pratt added 11 and eight rebounds for Van Wert.

The Cougars will open Western Buckeye League play at Celina on Friday, then will travel to Kalida on Saturday.

Lincolnview 41 Continental 25

CONTINENTAL — Daegan Hatfield scored 13 points and pulled down 18 rebounds and Garrett Richardson finished with 10 points as Lincolnview enjoyed a 41-25 season opening win over Continental on Saturday.

The Lancers outscored the Pirates in each of the four quarters and held the hosts to single digits in three of the quarters. Lincolnview led 9-4 after the first period, 22-15 at halftime and 37-19 entering the fourth quarter.

Both teams struggled from beyond the three point arc, with Lincolnview going 1-of-11 and Continental 0-7. The Pirates finished 8-of-37 (22 percent from the field) while Lincolnview was 14-of-40 (35 percent). The Lancers finished with a commanding 38-19 rebounding advantage.

Lincolnview (1-0) will play at Leipsic on Friday then will open the home portion of the schedule against Wayne Trace on Saturday.

Girls basketball

Crestview 64 Delphos St. John’s 17

DELPHOS — Undefeated Crestview held Delphos St. John’s to a single point in the second half and the Lady Knights cruised to a 64-17 win over the Blue Jays on Saturday.

Crestview (5-0) led 15-8 after the first quarter, 37-16 at halftime and 54-17 after three quarters. Most of the second half was played with a continuous clock.

Laci McCoy led the Lady Knights with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Brynn Putman and Cali Gregory each scored 10. Myia Etzler and Macy Kulwicki added nine and eight points respectively.

Crestview enjoyed a 31-19 rebounding advantage and forced 19 turnovers by Delphos St. John’s.

The Lady Knights will return to action Thursday at Spencerville.

Wrestling

Van Wert finishes fourth at McCracken Invitational

SIDNEY — Van Wert opened the 2021-2022 wrestling season with a fourth place finish at the eight team McCracken Sidney Invitational on Saturday.

Caleb Bledsoe led the Cougars by winning the 190 weight class with a pin in 4:50 over Sidney’s Eli Biddle. Renson Spear had a runner-up finish at 120 pounds after losing via pin in 1:20 to Shawnee’s Donovyn Campbell in the finals.

Van Wert had three third place finishers – Joaquin Estrada (113), who pinned teammate Kaedyn Swander in 2:14; Keaton Sudduth (144), who defeated Cameron Roberts of Benjamin Logan 3-2, and Fletcher Smith (190), who pinned fellow Cougar Morgein Bigham in 2:33.

Ashton Baer (138) also finished fourth, Christian Thatcher (175), Drew Deitemeyer (215) and Turner Witten (285) finished fifth, and Jordan Rawlins (150), James Smith (165), Caleb Wise (175) finished sixth.

Van Wert will travel to Celina Thursday for a WBL dual match.

Wapakoneta won the team title and Sidney was the runner-up.