Slow start costs Cougars in 49-34 loss

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Slow starts have been costly for Van Wert this season and that trend continued during Saturday’s non-conference game against Coldwater. The Cougars fell behind 13-3 in the first quarter and never recovered in a 49-34 loss to the Cavaliers. It was the sixth straight loss by Van Wert.

While Coldwater had a big size advantage, with 6-7, 6-6 and 6-4 post players, it was the outside game that clicked early in the game. Coldwater’s Miles Pottkotter drained three treys in the opening quarter and the Cavaliers jumped out to a 13-3 lead, then held a 20-10 advantage at the end of the period.

“Statistically and from film, Pottkotter wasn’t their best shooter and it kind of affected our game plan,” Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said Pottkotter’s success from long range. “We wanted to help inside more because of their size and length but we had to bring a guy out to help on the perimeter, so it kind of changed some things up there. Defensively, their size posed some problems for us, especially because they put a 6-6 kid at the top of their zone…there were times we handled it well and there were times we went over the top and there were deflections or the ball was thrown out of bounds.”

Owen Kunk added five points in the second quarter and Will Barry contributed four off the bench the Cavalier lead grew to 33-17 at halftime.

Baylon Blockberger and Luke Schwieterman combined for nine points in the third quarter and Coldwater (12-3) carried a 44-24 lead into the final period.

Blockberger and Pottkotter each scored 12 points for Coldwater, while Keaten Welch led all scorers with 13 points. Kaden Shaffer added nine points for the Cougars (3-14).

“We knew this weekend – we circled it and said it was probably going to be our most challenging back-to-back weekend of the season,” Laudick said. “All we can do is go back to work. Shawnee will come to our play on Friday and they’ve got things going in the right direction. They just beat a very good St. Marys Memorial team.”

“Our guys are hard workers and we as coaches are going to get to work and we’re going to put together a plan to put ourselves in the best position,” he continued. “It’s our first single weekend of the year, so there’s really only one thing we need to focus on and we’re going to put all of our efforts into Shawnee. They’ll be up for the challenge and we just have to execute the game plan.”

Box score

Coldwater 20 13 11 5 – 49
Van Wert 10 7 7 10 – 34

Coldwater: Baylon Blockberger 4-3-12; Brady Lefeld 2-0-4; Owen Kunk 4-0-9; Miles Pottkotter 4-1-12; Luke Schwieterman 1-4-6; Will Barry 3-0-6

Van Wert: Kaden Shaffer 3-0-9; Conner Campbell 2-4-8; Rylan Miller 1-0-2; Keaten Welch 6-0-13; Colin Haggerty 1-0-2.

JV: Coldwater 42-37