VW Cougars shut down Crestview 47-39

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

CONVOY — The combination of a stifling defense and fourth quarter bench play by Maddix Crutchfield helped Van Wert defeat county rival Crestview 47-39 at Ray Etzler Gymnasium on Tuesday.

Trailing 34-32 to start the fourth quarter, the Cougars held Crestview scoreless for most of the period and Crutchfield scored seven of Van Wert’s 15 points down the stretch. The 6-1 junior missed all three of last week’s games due to a concussion, but came up big in the clutch Tuesday night.

“I told him he had to wait his turn tonight but show us what he could do when he got in there and he was able to do that,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick.

Van Wert rattled off 11 unanswered points to start the fourth quarter, putting the Cougars ahead 43-32. The Knights didn’t score until Rontae Jackson drilled a trey from the left wing with 1:03 left in the quarter. Jackson also hit a pair of free throws with under a minute left.

“I thought we got some good looks we just didn’t make shots when we needed to,” Crestview head coach Doug Etzler said. “Give credit to Van Wert, I thought they played really well defensively.”

The Cougars bolted out to a 7-0 lead to start the game but Crestview managed to tie the score 14-14 at the end of the first quarter. Aidan Pratt scored half of Van Wert’s points in the period, while Crestview’s Carson Hunter scored five points and Jackson and Wren Sheets each scored four.

Van Wert held the Knights to just five points in the second quarter and led 24-19 at halftime. Crestview stormed back in the third quarter and took a 31-28 lead on a three point bomb by Nate Lichtle with just over three minutes left in the period. Garett Gunter later gave the Cougars a 32-31 lead, but Carson Hunter beat the buzzer with a triple that gave Crestview a 34-32 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Pratt led all scorers with 16 points, including 12 in the first half. Gunter finished in double figures with 12 and Luke Wessell added eight. As a team, the Cougars 16-of-39 shooting and 12-of-21 from the foul line with 30 rebounds.

“I think he’s starting to see things a whole lot better than he was early in the season,” Laudick said of Gunter. “We hope he keeps on taking that step. He can do it in a lot of different ways, scoring, rebounding and distributing.”

Jackson led Crestview with 11 points and Hunter also hit double digits with 10. The Knights collectively shot 15-of-48 and 4-of-9 from the free throw line with 21 rebounds.

Van Wert (15-6) will finish the regular season at Bath on Friday while Crestview (14-6) will host Leipsic the same night. A win would give the Knights a share of the NWC crown with Bluffton.

“Two days to prepare and it’s a big home game for us and there’s a lot riding on it,” Etzler said.

Box score

Van Wert 14 10 8 15 – 47
Crestview 14 5 15 5 – 39

Crestview: Gavin Etzler 1-0-3; Rontae Jackson 4-2-11; Mitch Temple 1-0-2; Carson Hunter 4-1-10; JJ Ward 0-1-1; Nate Lichtle 2-0-5; Wren Sheets 3-0-6

Van Wert: Ethan Brown 0-2-2; Carson Smith 0-2-2; Garett Gunter 6-0-12; Aidan Pratt 5-5-16; Maddix Crutchfield 2-3-7; Luke Wessell 3-0-8

JV: Crestview 44-33