Parkway holds off Van Wert 43-40

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

ROCKFORD — A late fourth quarter rally by Van Wert came up just short as the Cougars fell to Parkway 43-40 Friday night.

The Cougars, who had trailed by double digits early in the fourth quarter, chipped away and trailed 41-35 with 1:50 left. Kaden Shaffer drilled a triple from the right wing to pull Van Wert to within three, 41-38, then the 5-9 senior guard came up with a steal and an assist to Rylan Miller that made it 41-40 with 45 seconds left. However, Parkway’s Trevor Stearns, who hasn’t missed a foul shot this season, calmly drained a pair of free throws for a 43-40. Van Wert got off two potential game-tying three point shots in the closing seconds, but both were off target.

“I thought Trevor’s free throws were huge,” Parkway head coach Doug Hughes said. “Give Van Wert credit – they played extremely hard, they’re a great defensive team and they’re very well coached. They were extremely aggressive out there.”

“It was 31-17, there’s a timeout and we sent a message to our guys that we had a run in us,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. “We referenced last year’s group and one thing that group taught us was we’re never out of it and I feel like it’s carried over to this team. They fought like crazy – did we do everything right? No, but we obviously battled until the final buzzer.”

“Brighter days are ahead of us and I think our guys believe that after seeing what they saw tonight,” he added.

Parkway led 15-13 after one quarter, with Wyatt Carpenter coming off the bench to score seven of his team leading 16 points, while Trent Rollins added a pair of buckets. Keaten Welch scored seven of his 16 points in the opening period, and Shaffer, who finished with 13 points, and Nate Gearhart each added a triple.

“Wyatt has been a spark for us,” Hughes said. “I don’t know that he’s had a bad practice, a bad scrimmage or a bad game, he’s played really well for us all year and he played extremely well again tonight. He goes in with that second group and they need him to play like that and he’s come through.”

“Keaten kind of was kind of our guy the first weekend and with Conner Campbell injury that he suffered in practice this week, we needed someone else to step up this week and Kaden’s our catalyst,” Laudick said. “He gets guys in the right spot and he’s saying all the right things – that what we need from senior returning letterman, that leadership.”

Scoring was at a premium in the second quarter, with the Panthers scoring four points and Van Wert hitting just one basket, making it 19-15 at halftime.

Stearns went to work in the third quarter, scoring six points, while Rollins added five. Welch went 6-of-6 from the foul line in the third quarter and the Cougars trailed 34-28 entering the final period.

Van Wert finished 12-of-40 from the floor and 12-of-20 from the free throw line, while Parkway was 17-of-38 shooting and 5-of-8 foul shooting. The Panthers enjoyed a 24-17 rebounding advantage, but Parkway also had 17 turnovers, compared to nine by the Cougars.

“We turned it over, we’ll learn from it and we’d better not be making these same mistakes in January and February,” Hughes said. “It’s early and I told our guys it was a great job of finding a way to win the game.”

It was Parkway’s first win over Van Wert since the 2019-2020 season. The Panthers improved to 2-1 while Van Wert fell to 0-3.

The Cougars will host Wayne Trace today (4 p.m. JV tipoff) while Parkway will travel to Crestview.

“I know that the Wayne Trace Raiders are really good, but we welcome the opportunity to play probably one of the best teams on our schedule this year and we get to do it at home,” Laudick said. “Coach Linder has a great group of guys and he’s going to have them ready to play.”

“I know they’re big,” Hughes said of the Knights. “During my preparation for Van Wert I watched that game against Crestview. I thought Connor Sheets hit some big shots in that game and was huge for them, and I know everything goes through Wren (Sheets). They’re going to be a handful on their home court.”

Box score

Panthers 15 4 15 9 – 43
Cougars 13 2 13 12 – 40

Parkway: Trevor Stearns 3-4-10; Devon Crouch 1-0-2; Xavier Samples 1-0-3; Wyatt Carpenter 6-0-13; Caiden Berry 2-0-4; Trent Rollins 3-2-9; Ethan Pond 1-0-2

Van Wert: Kaden Shaffer 4-2-13; Rylan Miller 1-0-2; Keaten Welch 3-8-16; Collin Haggerty 2-1-5; Gage Stemen 1-1-3; Nate Gearhart 1-0-3

JV: Van Wert 41-35