VW Cougars cruise by Bath 69-41

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Van Wert has been involved in some close games this season, but Friday’s Western Buckeye League finale against Bath was not one of them.

The Cougars jumped out to a 20-5 first quarter lead and cruised to a 69-41 win over the Wildcats. The win was the fourth straight by Van Wert (14-7, 5-4 WBL) and the sixth in the team’s last seven games. Bath finished the regular season 4-17 (1-8 WBL).

“When we watched the film from last Friday (56-53 over Elida), there was some tough love in that film session,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick explained. “I feel our guys put together the best week of practice that we’ve had this season and it carried over into the game tonight. It was good to see all sorts of contributions from different people.”

Carson Smith set the tone early with seven consecutive points in the first quarter, including a three pointer that put Van Wert ahead 11-2.

“I’m real happy for Carson, he kind of led the charge for us (in practice) this week,” Laudick said. “He was real vocal and our energy guy. When Carson shoots it well it kind of stretches the floor a little more, it gives other guys the opportunity to create and do some good things.”

Aidan Pratt added five points in the first quarter, then put in six more in the second quarter. However, Jaxson Foster scored all ten of his points in the second quarter and Bath connected on four treys to pull within 12, 35-23 at halftime.

Any thoughts of a big Bath rally quickly ended in the third quarter as Pratt and Smith combined for nine points and the Cougars outscored the visitors 18-7 in the period to carry a 53-30 lead into the final quarter. Kaden Shaffer added a pair of fourth quarter triples for Van Wert.

Pratt led Van Wert with 18 points, Smith added 17 and Nate Phillips put in 12. As a team, the Cougars connected on 27-of-54 action shots and 9-of-13 free throws. Van Wert had a massive 29-14 rebounding advantage.

Cole Craddock led Bath with 15 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, while Drake Craddock added 11 points. The Wildcats were 16-of-46 shooting and 2-of-5 from the foul line.

Van Wert will host No. 4 Crestview in the regular season finale, with the junior varsity game scheduled to tip off at 12 p.m.

“They’re coming in here with 19 wins so we’re real excited for the challenge,” Laudick said. “Crestview does a lot of really good things on offense and defense and we need to see where we are against a high quality opponent if we want to do something in the postseason.”

Box score

Cougars 20 15 18 16 – 69
Wildcats 5 18 7 11 – 41

Van Wert: Nate Phillips 4-2-12; Kaden Shaffer 3-0-8; AJ Proffitt 2-0-6; Carson Smith 8-0-17; Garett Gunter 3-0-6; Aidan Pratt 6-6-18; Rylan Miller 1-0-2

Bath: Drake Craddock 4-2-11; Trey Crawford 1-0-3; Cole Craddock 6-1-15; Mitch Barr 1-0-2; Jaxon Foster 4-0-10

JV: Van Wert 47-30