Cougars turn back Ottoville 59-57

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

OTTOVILLE — It went right down to the wire but Van Wert was able to hold off Ottoville in a matchup of once beaten teams at L.W. Heckman Gymnasium on Tuesday.

The Cougars led 59-57 when Ottoville’s Keaton Schnipke went to the foul line for two shots with 3.6 seconds left. The first free throw was off the mark, then the second one purposely glanced off the right side of the rim and Kellen Schlagbaum was able to grab the rebound. However, his return shot was swatted away by Aidan Pratt as time expired.

“We didn’t execute a couple of things down the stretch like we wanted to but we gave ourselves multiple chances to get back and gave ourselves another chance to get back even,” Ottoville head coach Keith Utendorf said. “I’m darn proud of our kids for their effort.”

“The guys at Ottoville, they buy into coach Utendorf’s mentality of don’t quit and I felt our guys were the same way,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. “Our guys have been in a lot of situations where up or down, they don’t lose their composure and in a game like this we had to keep our composure and we had to make plays and we did enough to come out with a win against a very good team.”

The Big Green led 11-7 after one quarter and 20-16 nearly halfway through the second quarter when the Cougars (4-1) rattled off nine unanswered points to take a 25-20 lead. Pratt hit back-to-back baskets and Luke Wessell drilled a triple during the run. Pratt also scored the final two baskets of the period, giving Van Wert a 30-24 halftime lead.

“I felt in the first quarter we weren’t moving the ball efficiently enough to score against their pressure,” Laudick said. “It finally clicked on three or four possessions in the second quarter. We knocked down some open shots and we had guys cutting to the basket for easy layups.”

After Ottoville’s Michael Turnwald tied the game 34-34 with 4:26 left in the third quarter, Van Wert’s Carson Smith drained a trey, then Garett Gunter hit two foul shots to extend the lead to 41-34. The Cougars later extended the lead to 49-39 on a three pointer by AJ Proffitt but the Big Green (7-2) closed the quarter with six consecutive points, including a buzzer beater by Alex Suever to make it 49-45 entering the fourth quarter.

“We were down 10 with a minute and a half to go in the third quarter and we cut it to four and we just tried to stay with it and our kids did,” Utendorf said. “Credit our kids and credit to Van Wert – they’re such a good basketball team with great kids. It was just a really good high school basketball game.”

Van Wert had three players finish in double figures. Pratt led the way with 18 points, including nine in the second quarter, while Wessell had 14 points, with five of those coming in the fourth quarter. Smith had 13, including a pair of treys in the third quarter. The Cougars connected on 23-of-45 floor shots and 6-of-11 free throws.

“When you’re 13-of-36 coming in, 6-of-11 sounds like we torched the nets from the free throw line,” Laudick said with a chuckle. “Part of that is our legs late in the game…we’re a lot closer than we were two weeks ago as far as conditioning level and I think as we continue to get the free throw line this season I think our average is going to go up.”

Schlagbaum led all scorers with 22, with nine points coming in the third quarter. Turnwald finished with 15 points and the Big Green converted 19-of-55 shots and 12-of-18 foul shots. Each team had 23 rebounds.

Van Wert is scheduled to play at Columbus Grove on Friday and Ottoville will host Minster next Wednesday.

Box score

Van Wert 7 23 19 10 – 59
Ottoville 11 13 21 12 – 57

Van Wert: AJ Proffitt 2-0-6; Carson Smith 5-0-13; Garett Gunter 0-2-2; Aidan Pratt 8-1-18; Nate Phillips 3-0-6; Luke Wessell 5-3-14

Ottoville: Jace Langhals 3-0-7; Kellen Schlagbaum 6-8-22; Alex Suever 2-0-5; Carter Horstman 3-2-8; Michael Turnwald 5-2-15

JV: Ottoville 36-35