Van Wert falls to Wayne Trace 47-39

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

HAVILAND — Things looked good early on for Van Wert but a big third quarter spurt by Wayne Trace proved to be too much to overcome, as the Raiders downed the Cougars 47-39 on Saturday.

Van Wert (1-2) opened the game with an 11-0 scoring run, including a pair of triples by Griff McCracken and a bucket and two free throws by Zach Crummey. By the end of the quarter, the Cougars led 16-9. Points were at a premium in the second quarter. Wayne Trace (3-1) scored just five points, none after the 4:50 mark, while Van Wert had only four points on a two handed slam dunk by Crummey and another basket by the 6-5 freshman, who went on to finish with a team high 15 points. Both coaches gave a rather pointed assessment of the first half.

“Both teams looked a little rough,” Wayne Trace head coach Jim Linder said.

“Obviously we struggled to make shots,” Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said.

Trailing 20-14 to start the third quarter, Wayne Trace scored 16 unanswered points to take a 30-20 lead, with Caden Sinn popping in a pair of three pointers and Tyson Gerber adding one of his own for a quick 23-20 lead. Carter Clemens added five points during the run. McCracken ended Van Wert’s scoring drought with a trey with 60 seconds left in the quarter and Cohen Bragg added another with 20 seconds left to make it 30-26 at the end of the period.

“Our whole goal tonight was toughness, toughness toughness,” Linder said. “I thought we really battled and scored when we needed to and we changed our defenses enough to keep them off balance. They’re a young team and sometimes that bothers them.”

“The more we made shots the more we fed off that energy and it was just of one of those momentum things,” he added.

Early in the fourth quarter, another triple by McCracken pulled Van Wert to within two, 33-31, but that’s as close as the Cougars would get, as Wayne Trace would go on to close the game on a 14-8 scoring run. Tanner Laukhuf scored six points in the period and Gerber added five. McCracken finished with 12 points, all on three pointers.

“We’ve had one day off in the last 13 days and it was evident we were running on fumes,” Best said. Our effort was there but our legs were not. I love how my guys are playing for me.”

Sinn finished with 17 points and Gerber added 10. The Raiders were 14-of-35 shooting and 11-of-19 from the foul line with 16 rebounds and 16 turnovers. Van Wert was 14-of-42 from the floor and 4-of-6 from the free throw line with 21 rebounds and 13 turnovers.

Van Wert will open WBL play at home against Bath on Friday, then will host Kalida on Saturday. Wayne Trace will entertain Crestview on Saturday.

Box score

Raiders    9   5  16  17 – 47

Cougars 16   4    6  13 – 39

Wayne Trace: Caden Sinn 6-0-17; Tanner Laukhuf 2-4-9; Brady Miller 0-2-2; Tyson Gerber 4-0-10; Carter Clemens 2-5-9

Van Wert: Griff McCracken 4-0-12; Keaten Welch 1-0-3; Caden Collins 1-0-3; Micah Cowan 1-1-3; Zach Crummey 6-3-15; Cohen Bragg 1-0-3

JV: Van Wert 45-32