Cougars struggle in loss to Wapakoneta

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

WAPAKONETA — Van Wert trailed Wapakoneta by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, but the Cougars fought back and trimmed the deficit to just two, 32-30, on a pair of Gage Stemen foul shots with 5:25 left in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, those would the final points Van Wert would score, as the Redskins finished the game on a 12-0 run and logged a 44-30 on Friday.

The loss dropped Van Wert to 3-9 (0-3 WBL) while Wapakoneta snapped a three game losing streak and improved to 6-5 (1-2 WBL).

It was a physical game to say the least, yet each team went to the foul line just four times, with Van Wert converting all four and Wapakoneta hitting two.

“Definitely the physical play threw us off a little bit,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. “We tried to stress all week that it would be a physical game, that they were going to guard us extremely hard. They’re ranked first in the WBL as far as points allowed per game and we knew it would be that type of game. There were times we handled it well and there were times were off balance just enough were it cause a turnover or a bad shot.”

The Redskins jumped out to a 6-0 first quarter lead and enjoyed a 10-4 advantage at the end of the period. Van Wert tied the game 10-10 on a Cohen Bragg bucket early in the second quarter, but Wapakoneta went on to lead 19-14 at halftime.

Wapakoneta’s Caleb Moyer converted a layup as the third quarter buzzer sounded, giving the Redskins a 29-24 lead. Moyer, who saw his first game action of the year due to a football injury scored five more points in the fourth quarter while Zac Niekamp drilled a key trey in the final stanza. He went on to finish with a game high 15 points while Moyer had 11.

Keaten Welch led Van Wert with 11 points, including five in the third quarter.

“We were down two with just a few minutes to go in the game and we just ran out of gas,” Laudick said. “We challenged our guys at halftime to go be some dogs. We’re just looking for some guys to make all the hustle plays we can in the second half and I felt in the second half we did that but the problem is the scoreboard doesn’t reflect that. We got off to that slow start at the beginning of both halves.”

“It may not show in the stat line but I though Gage Stemen took a step forward in making some plays for us in the second half,” he added.

Van Wert will host Marion Local today (1 p.m. junior varsity start)

Box score

Redskins 10 9 10 15 – 44
Cougars 4 10 10 6 – 30

Wapakoneta: Kaden Page 2-0-4; Caleb Moyer 5-1-11; Zac Niekamp 6-0-15; Nate Metzger 2-0-4; Cash Schadl 3-1-8; Ryan Sadler 1-0-2

Van Wert: Gage Stemen 1-2-4; Kaden Shaffer 1-0-3; Rylan Miller 3-0-6; Keaten Welch 4-2-11; Cohen Bragg 1-0-2; Collin Haggerty 2-0-4

JV: Wapakoneta 49-27