Cougars rally by Kalida for 37-32 victory

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

KALIDA — It was no big surprise, but points were at a premium during Saturday’s game between Van Wert and Kalida at Richard Kortokrax Court.

It was just 29-28 after three quarters of play, then Kalida’s Justin Siebeneck hit a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give the Wildcats a 32-28 lead. It would turn out to be the final time Kalida would score.

Aidan Pratt’s offensive rebound and bucket pulled the Cougars to within two, 32-30, with 4:20 left in the game, then a layup by Garett Gunter tied the game 32-32 with 2:50 remaining. A minute later, Pratt put Van Wert ahead 34-32, then the 6-4 junior hit both ends of a one-and-one bonus with 24 seconds left and a foul shot with 10 seconds left to end a game-clinching 9-0 scoring run by the Cougars.

“He’s a special athlete, a great young man and he kind of lives for these moments,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said of Pratt. “During a couple of times outs he said ‘we’ve got this coach.’ He was beating himself up last week after missing a couple of free throws and I’m just pleased with him and the progress he’s making out on the floor.”

“I’m pleased with all the little things we did down the stretch, including a big steal by Maddix Crutchfield, to find a way to win,” the coach added. “It wasn’t a pretty win but a win is a win.”

Pratt finished with a game-high 17 points, including 7-of-8 from the foul line.

Van Wert (3-1) finished the game 15-of-31 from the floor and 7-of-10 from the free throw line and 14 turnovers. By comparison, Kalida was 9-of-41 shooting and 8-of-11 from the foul line with 10 turnovers, including eight in the second half. The Wildcats (3-4) dominated the boards, 30-19.

“I’m pleased with our group,” Laudick said. “I think they’ve bought into what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to be 11 strong and each night it’s going to be a little different in how or who it may be but to be 3-1 after our first four games after 11 practices, I’ll take it.”

The game was tied 9-9 at the end of the first quarter, which included a buzzer-beating trey by Kalida’s EJ Miller. The Wildcats enjoyed a 16-11 lead in the second quarter but Van Wert scored the final five points of the period on a triple by Carson Smith and a bucket by Gunter that tied the game 16-16 at halftime.

“We knew it would be a slugfest, a grind-it-out type of game,” Laudick said. “That’s the way they make you play and that’s the way they want you to play. They don’t want to get into a track meet and we would rather try to get up and down the court.”

Van Wert scored the first six points of the third quarter on layups by Pratt, Nate Jackson and Nate Phillips to take a 22-16 lead but Kalida battled back to take a 29-26 lead at the end of the period, with Siebeneck scoring five of his team-high 12 points in the quarter.

After four straight road games to open the season, the Cougars will play their first game at home against Defiance on Friday, then will host Wayne Trace on Saturday (4 p.m. JV start).

“We’re excited to play at home in front our fans, our students and the band,” Laudick said. “It’s going to be a tough test and it’s going to be an opportunity to see where we are. Our focus is on Defiance because obviously we want to try to do some things in the WBL and I know some of our guys have a little bad taste in the mouths from our sectional final game last season (51-30 Defiance), so we’ll see what happens.”

“We have four days to have good practices, continue to get our basketball legs and try to improve on some things that we need to work on because there are definitely some things we need to work on,” Laudick added.

Scoring summary

Kalida 9 7 13 3 – 32
VWHS 9 7 10 11 – 37

Kalida: Justin Siebeneck 4-3-12; Grant Vorst 1-0-2; Drew Fersch 2-2-6; EJ Miller 2-1-6; Jaden Smith 2-2-6