Cougars roar early, down Lancers 63-48

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

It was just what the doctor ordered for Van Wert – the Cougars started strong and finished strong during Saturday’s 63-48 win over county rival Lincolnview.

Entering the game, Van Wert had been outscored 163-98 in the first quarter of all games, but the senior duo of Collin Haggerty and Kaden Shaffer led the Cougars to a 21-12 first quarter lead. Haggerty, a 6-1 senior forward, scored 11 points in the opening period, while Shaffer, a 5-9 guard, added three baskets. The two didn’t miss in the second quarter either, with Haggerty adding six more points and Shaffer putting in five more, allowing Van Wert to enter halftime with a 38-25 lead.

“Last (Friday) night, Kaden Shaffer was very upset after the game and I kind of knew that he was going to come out and play with a little bit of fire under his belly,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. Collin doesn’t necessarily play that way but he was in attack mode to start and when he’s in attack mode and makes really smart decisions for himself and his teammates, you know you’re going to have a good chance. They set the tone for us on both ends of the floor.”

“A quick start is definitely what we needed tonight,” Laudick added.

“We came out flat,” Lincolnview head coach Brett Hammons said. “We told the guys we wanted to try to keep them out of the paint with I thought we did all right with, but we struggled with our help-side defense in the first half. Put that on us for not being ready to go but also credit Van Wert. Take away the first quarter and we made it a different ball game.”

The Lancers made a third quarter run, with freshman Max Hammons coming off the bench to score five points including a key bucket and foul shot, while Chayse Overholt whistled in a pair of treys. Cal Evans also added a three pointer and Lincolnview trimmed the deficit to seven, 48-41 at the end of the period. As the Lancers were making a run, Van Wert’s Gage Stemen drilled a triple from the left wing to push the lead to 43-34.

“We got it down to six and we really didn’t turn it over a lot in the game, it was just timely turnovers that helped them extend the lead back to double digits,” Hammons said. “We were able to chip away but we weren’t able to make enough plays. We didn’t win the 50-50 game but it’s just the way the ball bounces sometimes and we have to learn from this, the mistakes we made and even the things we did well in this game to keep fighting and get ourselves back in there.”

“We know we have these high and low moments and when we’re in those low moments we’re looking for people to just put their foot down and say ‘enough’s enough, we have to go make a play,’ whether it’s on the defensive or offensive end,” Laudick said. “Tonight, we were able to do that just about every time Lincolnview had a run in them. It’s showing growth in our team, we’re taking steps in the right direction and it feels good to see the guys continue to buy into what we’re trying to sell them in practice and in the middle of games.”

In the fourth quarter Van Wert outscored the Lancers 15-7, with freshman Keaten Welch scoring six of his 18 points, including a 4-for-4 performance from the foul line.

Haggerty led all scorers with 19 points and Shaffer added 12. Lincolnview had eight players in the scoring column, with Kreston Tow leading the pack with nine, including seven in the second quarter. Evans added eight points.

Lincolnview (4-5) entered the game on a three-game winning streak and Laudick admitted he had some concerns.

“Lincolnview didn’t play Friday night so they were fresh and we’re still trying to figure some things out with our depth,” Laudick explained. “In the film we saw they were shooting the lights out, but we felt that we had an advantage that we played last night and it didn’t go in our favor.” We wanted to get that taste out of our mouths.”

“There’s still a long way to go and we can learn from this and I think we can continue to get better,” Hammons added.

Lincolnview will host Spencerville on Friday and Van Wert will travel to Wapakoneta the same night.

Box score

Cougars 21 17 10 15 – 63
Lancers 12 13 16 7 – 48

Van Wert: Gage Stemen 3-0-7; Kaden Shaffer 4-4-12; Rylan Miller 1-0-2; Keaten Welch 5-8-18; Cohen Bragg 2-1-5; Collin Haggerty 7-5-19

Lincolnview: Kreston Tow 3-2-9; Cal Evans 3-1-8; Reide Jackson 1-1-4; Chayse Overholt 2-0-6; Max Hammons 2-1-5; Holden Price 2-0-4; Bennett Kill 2-2-6; Steven Smith 3-0-6

JV: Lincolnview 59-45