Cougars come up short in WBL opener

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

A slow start by Van Wert proved to be too much for the Cougars to overcome Friday night. Visiting Bath bolted out to a 13-0 first quarter lead, then the Wildcats were able to hold off Van Wert for a 43-41 win in the Western Buckeye League opener Friday night.

The Wildcats seemingly couldn’t miss early in the first quarter, as Dagan Hawkins, Logan Markley and Jaxon Foster each drained a trey during the opening run. Van Wert finally got on the board with three minutes left in the first quarter when Xavier Kelly found the bottom of the basket. Kelly went on to score six points in the period and the Cougars trailed by just four, 13-9, at the end of the quarter.

“We didn’t get off to a good start and I think some of that was we weren’t ready and that’s usually on the coach, and I think Bath came ready to play, but our guys fought and climbed back in the game,” Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said. “The expression ‘you have to do something different on offense’ – a lot of it is decision making and a lot it is you have to credit what the opponent is doing to you. It was tough sledding for us tonight – they’re a long, physical, athletic team that took away things that we wanted to try do. We need to adjust better in those situations.”

Scoring was at a premium in the second quarter. Markley scored four of Bath’s eight points while Keaten Welch accounted for five of Van Wert’s points, making it 21-17 at halftime. The Cougars remained within striking distance the entire third quarter and tied the game 29-29 when Griff McCracken drilled a triple from the left corner at the buzzer.

Van Wert’s only lead of the game came early in the fourth quarter, when McCracken buried his second trey to make it 32-31, but Foster immediately answered with a triple of his own to regain the lead. The game was tied twice in the fourth quarter – 34-34 and 38-38. Ultimately, Bath was able to secure the win with late free throws. Zach Crummey converted a basket as time expired, Van Wert’ first bucket in nearly five minutes.

“We’re going to get better offensively, I know that,” Best said. “It’s frustrating when you can’t score because then you have to guard again and defend and that’s not easy to do. I was proud of our guys from doing that because when you can’t score, you have to hang in their defensively and that was something we did tonight, but that’s not a situation we want to get into all the time.”

Markley led all scorers with 19 points, while Hawkins added 11. The Wildcats finished the game 15-of-32 shooting and 9-of-11 from the free throw line with 12 turnovers and 15 rebounds. 

Freshmen Kelly and Crummey led Van Wert with 13 and 12 points respectively. The Cougars were 13-of-36 shooting and 12-of-18 on foul shots with 13 rebounds and just six turnovers.

“We can be a good basketball team,” Best said. “You can see it in stretches of every game we’ve had and I know we’ve used the alibi of youth and inexperience and that’s true, but we have to start learning game scenario situations and grow in those areas.”

Along with the starting five of McCracken, Welch, Crummey, Micah Cowan and Cohen Bragg, Best used a heavy rotation off the bench, with Kelly, Nate Gearhart, Caden Collins and Trey Dotson all getting substantial floor time.

“I thought we got good minutes off the bench and that was refreshing to see,” Best said. “We have to get more consistency out of some of our guys on a nightly basis that have the experience, and it’s okay that we recognize that. If our kids are competitors, they’ll accept that challenge. We’ve had some guys that have been getting after it and our expectation of practice – you’re going to earn that to play in games, so Trey Dotson and Nate got more minutes tonight and hopefully that’s something we can continue because we’re going to need that as we move along.”

Van Wert will host Kalida tonight (4 p.m. JV tipoff).

Box score

Wildcats  13   8   8  14 – 43

Cougars    9   8 12  12 – 41

Bath: Dagan Hawkins 5-0-11; Logan Markley 6-6-19; Jaxon Foster 2-3-9; Jaden Ryan 1-0-2; Everett Bensman 1-0-2

Van Wert: Xavier Kelly 4-4-13; Griff McCracken 2-0-6; Keaten Welch 2-3-7; Zach Crummey 5-2-12; Cohen Bragg 0-2-2; Trey Dotson 0-1-1

JV: Van Wert 43-37