Proffitt, VW Cougars stun Roughriders

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

FINDLAY — The final seconds of Thursday’s Division II district semifinal game didn’t go according to plan for Van Wert but things worked out anyway, resulting in a thrilling one point victory at Liberty-Benton High School.

6-11 Ohio St. signee Austin Parks split a pair of free throws, giving St. Marys Memorial a 55-53 lead with 4.2 seconds left. Van Wert senior guard Nate Phillips raced the ball into the forecourt and delivered a pass to AJ Proffitt, who launched a game winning triple from the right corner as time expired, giving the No. 3 seed Cougars a stunning 56-55 win over the second seeded Roughriders.

It was Proffitt’s fourth trey of the game and it helped avenge a 62-60 regular season loss to the Roughriders (18-6). Proffitt was mobbed by the team and the student section afterward.

“Originally we just wanted to advance the ball past half court and call a timeout to get a shot set up, but Nate brought it up court and hit me with a great pass and it set me up with a look to win the game,” Proffitt explained. “It feels great knowing that the shot won the game, but also my teammates doing what they do to make it possible.”

“The plan was for St. Marys to foul like their coach was screaming and the plan was for Van Wert to take a timeout like their coach was screaming,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said with a chuckle. “None of it was drawn up, it was literally our guys making a play and that’s how it happened. To be honest I had no idea who shot it because I was at half court trying to get an official’s attention and I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw the ball going up and from my perspective it looked like it had a pretty good shot.”

Back-to-back baskets by Carson Smith gave Van Wert a 42-37 lead entering the fourth quarter and it felt like momentum had shifted in favor of the Cougars. However, the Roughriders scored the first nine points of the period. The run featured three baskets by Parks, including a slam dunk that gave St. Marys Memorial a 46-42 lead with 5:05 left.

“It’s a credit to our guys – they never get too high and they never get too low in certain situations and this is one of those,” Laudick said. “They’ve been in some competitive situations where they’ve had to find ways to win and tonight we found a way to win.”

Later in the quarter, Proffitt and Jace Turner exchanged threes and the Roughriders led 49-47, but Van Wert responded with a bucket by Aidan Pratt that left many fans puzzled. One official called a blocking foul on St. Marys Memorial, while another called an offensive foul. The two officials got together but couldn’t agree and after consulting with the third official, they decided to count the basket, called a double foul and went to the scorers table for alternating possession, which gave St. Marys the ball.

Van Wert led 10-9 after the first quarter and 24-22 at halftime. Parks, who finished with a game high 30 points, scored nine points in the third quarter, while Phillips scored six and Garett Gunter added a pair of timely baskets for the Cougars.

Proffitt led Van Wert with 14 points, while Gunter finished with 10. Pratt and Phillips combined for 17 points. The Cougars shot just four free throws all night, converting three. St. Marys Memorial was 11-of-18 from the line.

Van Wert (17-7) will face No. 1 seed Defiance in the district championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Liberty-Benton. The Bulldogs defeated Shawnee 65-58 to advance to the title game. Defiance defeated Van Wert 51-44 on December 16.

Box score

Van Wert 10 14 18 14 – 56
Memorial 9 13 15 18 – 55

Van Wert: Nate Phillips 4-0-8; AJ Proffitt 5-0-14; Luke Wessell 1-2-4; Carson Smith 3-0-7; Garett Gunter 5-0-10; Aidan Pratt 4-1-9; Conner Campbell 1-0-2

St. Marys Memorial: Cobain Owens 2-3-9; Brayden Sullivan 1-0-3; Jace Turner 4-0-9; Evan Angstmann 1-2-4; Austin Parks 12-6-30