The Van Wert County Courthouse

Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

Smith seals Van Wert’s win over Shawnee

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

LIMA — Carson Smith came up big for Van Wert in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game against Shawnee.

The 6-3 senior scored eight of his 14 points in the final period, including a layup on a long inbound pass from Garett Gunter with 19 seconds left and a layup after grabbing a missed foul shot in the closing seconds, giving the Cougars a 60-55 win at Lappin Gymnasium.

Carson Smith scored eight of Van Wert’s 20 fourth quarter points. Bob Barnes/file photo

“His play was really big down the stretch for us,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said of Smith. “He leaked out and caught them on our press breaker and got a nice easy layup. We practiced some free throw things because when we played Coldwater we gave up some offensive rebounds – we drew up some things in practice and they literally took what we did in practice and did it in the game.”

Van Wert (10-6, 2-4 WBL) scored the first eight points of the game and stretched the lead to 16-6. However, the Indians scored 11 unanswered points and took a 17-16 lead early in the second quarter. Shawnee extended the lead to six on two occasions in the second stanza, 27-21 and 29-23. Austin Miller scored seven of his 16 points in the second quarter, while Will McBride added five.

The Indians (7-9, 2-4 WBL) led 29-27 to start the third quarter and pushed the lead to 42-36, before ending the period with a 44-40 advantage. Miller added five more points and Aidan Pratt and Gunter combined for nine points for Van Wert.

After Gunter opened the fourth quarter with a basket, Kaden Shaffer tied the game with a layup to tie the game 44-44. Shaffer also had a second quarter basket off the bench and provided a pair of key rebounds.

“He’s the smallest guy on the floor but he had the two rebounds and of good stops,” Laudick said of Shaffer. “His baskets were as timely as they could be. We need guys to pick us up and Kaden was one of the guys who did that.”

Van Wert finished the game 24-of-54 shooting and 11-of-16 from the foul line with 28 rebounds and 10 turnovers. Pratt led the Cougars with 18 points, while Gunter had 13.

Shawnee was 22-of-50 from the floor and 6-of-9 from the free throw line with 26 rebounds and 10 turnovers. Beckett Bertke had 13 points for the Indians.

Van Wert will host Delphos St. John’s on Tuesday and Kenton on Friday before traveling to St. Henry on Saturday.

Box score

Van Wert 16 11 13 20 – 60
Shawnee 13 16 15 11 – 55

Van Wert: Nate Phillips 1-0-2; Kaden Shaffer 2-0-4; AJ Proffitt 1-0-3; Luke Wessell 1-4-6; Carson Smith 7-0-14; Garett Gunter 6-1-13; Aidan Pratt 6-6-18

Shawnee: Will McBridge 4-0-9; Dominic Lynch 3-0-6; Toby Freiberger 1-2-4; Austin Miller 6-2-16; Beckett Bertke 5-2-13; Nick Pasion 2-0-5; Brady Gabes 2-0-5

JV: Shawnee 64-62

POSTED: 01/27/23 at 11:21 pm. FILED UNDER: Sports