Friday Flashback: VW edges Shawnee

Editor’s note: The Friday Flashback has returned to the VW independent Sports page and will run each Friday until the start of the 2025 fall sports season. This week’s feature goes back to December of 2012, when Van Wert traveled to Lima to face the Shawnee Indians in the 2012-2013 WBL opener for both teams. Below is the story as it appeared on the VW independent Sports page.

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

LIMA — It was a wild and wooly — and not all that pretty — battle when Van Wert and Shawnee opened the Western Buckeye League season in a game played Friday at Shawnee, but the Cougars managed to escape with a 42-40 win nevertheless.

Free throw shooting down the stretch was the key as Van Wert made 7 of 8 from the line in the final minute of play, including 6 of 6 from AJ Smith, the game’s top scorer with 14 points overall. Matt Bidlack added 9 points on a perfect 4-for-4 performance from the field, while Joey Hurless and Kyle Keber each had 7 points on the night. Joey Thomas led Shawnee with 13 points, while Tom Nolte added 12 points for the Indians. No other Shawnee player had more than 4 points on the night.

The Indians had a 1-point lead at the end of the first stanza, but Van Wert went on an 11-9 run in the second period to grab a one-point lead, 21-20, at the half. The Cougars upped their lead to three points, 27-24, at the three-quarter mark, and made those free throws when they counted in the final period.

With the win, Van Wert goes to 3-1 on the year and 1-0 in the WBL, while the Indians are now 1-3 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Both teams were deadly at the line, with each making 10 of 12 free throw attempts (83.3 percent), while struggling somewhat from the field. Although Van Wert knocked down 50 percent of its two-point attempts (10 of 20), the Cougars also missed a number they would normally make, while hitting just 4 of 17 from beyond the arc (23.5 percent). Shawnee was 11 of 36 from two-point range (30.6 percent) and hit 2 of 6 three-point attempts (33.3 percent).

Van Wert edged the Indians in the rebounding department, bringing down 17 caroms to 16 for Shawnee, while both teams had problems holding onto the ball, with the Cougars turning it over 19 times, to 23 for Shawnee.

The Van Wert junior varsity team also won, 49-27, over the Indians, with Nathan Stoller scoring 19 points and Drew Myers adding 12 counters for the Cougars. Shawnee was led by Griffin Hites’ 10 points.

Next week will be a busy one for Van Wert, with away games Monday against Coldwater (postponed from December 12) and Tuesday at Paulding, but the Cougars don’t play again after that until December 29.