Cougars win OT thriller over O-G

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Recent history suggested Friday’s Ottawa-Glandorf at Van Wert game might be a close one. After all, three of the last four games between the two schools were decided by two points or less. History was correct, as the Cougars rallied from an eight point second half deficit to defeat the Titans 51-48 in overtime at the Cougar’s Den. It was the first overtime game for both schools this season.

“It wasn’t the most beautiful game of basketball to watch but I’m just so proud of our guys for responding,” Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said. “I don’t care what O-G’s record is, they’re a good basketball team that’s well coached, that has championship DNA all over them and they’re winners, so for our guys to pull that out in an overtime situation, to battle through some adversity, I’m super pleased with our guys.”

Trailing 34-29 to start the fourth quarter, Van Wert (8-10, 4-3 WBL) opened the period with an 11-0 scoring run. Keaten Welch scored the first five points of the quarter, then Cohen Bragg splashed in a triple from the right corner to give the Cougars a 37-34 lead. A free throw line jumper by Xavier Kelly and a pair of foul shots by Welch gave the Cougars a 41-34 lead with just over half of the fourth quarter left.

“Going from down five to up seven was a huge turning point for us,” Van Best said.

However, Ottawa-Glandorf (5-11, 3-4 WBL) closed the period with a 9-2 run, including a trey by Brody Fortman with 20 seconds left to tie the game 43-43 and force overtime.

Neither team cracked the scoreboard until 1:40 was left in the extra session. That’s when Griff McCracken drilled a trey from the right wing, a shot that gave Van Wert the lead for good. Welch connected on two free throws with 42 seconds left and Bragg added another a short time later, giving the Cougars a 49-43 lead.

The Titans weren’t done though, as 6-6 sophomore Nolan Duling hit a trey with 8.2 seconds left, then Ottawa-Glandorf stole the inbounds pass and Jordan Shumaker converted a layup to make it 49-48 with six seconds left. However, Welch was fouled with 2.8 seconds left and calmly sank both free throws, then the Cougars broke up a long inbounds pass to secure the win.

“It was good to see Keaten nail a couple of free throws down the stretch,” Best said. “Griff hit that big three then we got some stops. We turned it over to give them the ball back and hopefully we can fix that.”

Welch led all scorers with 18 points, including a 9-of-10 showing from the foul line. Crummey added 11 points and Kelly threw in nine.

“Zach did a great job on help defense and he had some huge rebounds for us and as a freshman, it’s impressive to watch him hold his ground against juniors and seniors that lean on him and push him and beat him around and he never falters,” Best said.

The first three quarters were a struggle for Van Wert.

The Cougars trailed 9-8 after the opening quarter, then trailed 22-17 as Ottawa-Glandorf’s Grady Toumazos drilled a trey at the halftime buzzer. The Titans extended their lead to as much as eight before leading 34-29 at the end of the third quarter.

“Their pressure is relentless,” Best said of the Titans. “We haven’t faced pressure like that – we knew it was going to be there but you can’t replicate that in practice.”

The Cougars will travel to Shawnee (15-2, 7-0 WBL) to face the league-leading Indians on Friday night.

“We’re going to take the weekend off,” Best said. “Our guys have earned that and we’ll come back Monday and prepare for a really good team.”

Box score

Cougars   8   9  12  14   8 – 51

Titans       9 13  12    9   5 – 48

Van Wert: Xavier Kelly 4-1-9; Griff McCracken 2-0-5; Keaten Welch 4-9-18; Zach Crummey 4-3-11; 3-1-8

Ottawa-Glandorf: Grady Toumazos 5-3-14; Brady Fortman 7-0-16; Ross Maag 1-0-2; Jordan Shumaker 2-1-6; Royce Ellerbrock 1-0-3; Adam Maag 2-0-4; Nolan Duling 1-0-3

JV: Ottawa-Glandorf 63-30