Van Wert falls short vs. Defiance 51-44

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

DEFIANCE — The two halves seemed very different at Defiance High School on Friday night, as the first half featured big runs by the Bulldogs and Van Wert, while the second half saw the two teams duke it out for points.

When the final horn sounded, Defiance claimed a 51-44 win, while improving to 5-1 (2-0 WBL). Van Wert fell to 2-1 (1-1 WBL).

The Cougars took advantage of four early Defiance turnovers and raced out to a 9-3 lead, with a pair of buckets by Garett Gunter, one by Aidan Pratt and a triple by Luke Wessell. However, sparked by nine consecutive points by 6-6 Cayden Zachrich, the Bulldogs went on a 17-2 run and led 20-11 entering the second quarter, including a buzzer-beating triple by Isaac Schlatter.

Schlatter whistled in another trey to open the second quarter, increasing Defiance’s lead to 23-11, but the Cougars stormed back with 13 unanswered points to grab a 24-23 lead with a minute left until halftime. Carson Smith accounted for eight of those points, including a pair of treys. Van Wert went into the locker room with a 28-26 lead after Nate Phillips went coast-to-coast and beat the buzzer with a layup.

“We thought it would be a roller coaster type game with highs and lows,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. “We had to weather the storm and our guys are resilient. To go into halftime up two is a credit to their effort.”

After getting down by six, 34-28 early in the third quarter, Defiance put the clamps on, holding Van Wert to just two more points in the third quarter and eight in the fourth quarter. Tyler Fredrick’s shot as the buzzer sounded gave the Bulldogs a 38-36 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Pratt kept things close in the fourth quarter with six points, including a short jumper that pulled the Cougars to within three, 47-44 with 22 seconds left. Zachrich, who finished with a game high 23 points, secured the win by hitting four consecutive foul shots after that. Pratt led Van Wert with 14 points, while Gunter and Wessell each had 10.

“We’re probably not quite all the way back in basketball shape yet but we’re a lot closer than we were last weekend,” Laudick said. “I’m super pleased with our effort. We knew it would be a battle coming in here and we thought it would be a one or two possession game. The scoreboard says seven points but in reality it was probably a two possession game at the end.”

The Cougars were 20-of-45 shooting but attempted just two foul shots all night, missing both. Defiance was 18-of-51 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the free throw line. The Bulldogs out-rebounded Van Wert 27-19.

Van Wert will play at Wayne Trace tonight.

“We stole the game from them at the end last year and they’re hungry for a little revenge,” Laudick said.

Box score

Defiance 20 6 12 13 – 51
Van Wert 11 17 8 8 – 44

Defiance: Bradyn Shaw 4-0-8; Isaac Schlatter 5-1-16; Cayden Zachrich 7-8-23; Tyler Fredrick 2-0-4

Van Wert: Carson Smith 3-0-8; Garett Gunter 5-0-10; Aidan Pratt 7-0-14; Nate Phillips 1-0-2; Luke Wessell 4-0-10

JV: Defiance 51-23