Cougars shut down Galion for district title

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

PAULDING — The old saying that defense wins championships has been true for Van Wert at tournament time. The Cougars held Galion to 17 points below their season average, which allowed top seeded Van Wert to beat No. 4 seeded Tigers 52-35 in the Division IV district championship game at Paulding on Saturday.

The first quarter was a close one as Galion (8-17) was very deliberate and Van Wert struggled from the floor early on. That seemed to change when Griffin McCracken hit back-to-back treys, with the second one giving the Cougars a 10-6 lead with 3:10 remaining in the opening quarter. Galion answered with a trey by Colton Flynn, but the final points of the period came from Xavier Kelly, who buried a triple from the right wing with 45 seconds left in the quarter, giving Van Wert a 13-10 lead.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted and they came out and tried to space the floor and tried to take advantage of some matchup scenarios,” Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said of the first quarter. “We got a little bit impatient offensively.”

In addition, Keaten Welch picked up his second foul with 1:59 left in the first quarter, which sent him to the bench for the remainder of the period and the entire second quarter.

“That’s not necessarily good for us but our other guys covered that and I felt real good at halftime,” Best said.

McCracken scored six of Van Wert’s 13 second quarter points while Kaiven Welch came off the bench and popped in an early three. Defensively, the Cougars held Galion to just three points in the period and enjoyed a 28-13 halftime lead.

Van Wert (19-6) wasted no time in the third quarter, as Cohen Bragg swished in a trey just 20 seconds into the period then added a pair of free throws a bit later, followed by a triple by McCracken that gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the game, 38-16. The 5-9 senior guard went on to finish with a game high 16 points.

“I really loved our first 2-3 minutes to start the third quarter,” Best said.

However, toward the end of the quarter and into the fourth quarter, Galion began to heat up and trimmed the deficit to eight points, including eight points by Flynn, who went on to finish with 14 points. The Cougars were able to regain control with Kelly scoring seven of his 12 points in the fourth quarter.

“We kind of had a little lull there and a lot of it was Galion – they were tough and gritty and they weren’t just going to let us do whatever we wanted to do,” Best explained. “I was pleased with how we regrouped a couple of different times during the game and the way we closed the game out.”

“They’re a really unique group of guys,” Best added. “We’re still relatively young in some spots and that shows up in games but what I love about them is their connectivity to one another – they like each other, they enjoy each other, they have fun with each other. They come to practice and compete on a daily basis and we haven’t wavered from that one time all year.”

“I could go back to Nate Gearhart last year as our only senior and he set the tone for these guys. I wish he could experience this and he is a big reason why these guys are where they are, because he was the ultimate teammate.”

Van Wert face Jonathan Alder in the regional semifinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center. The Pioneers (20-5) topped Heath 46-29 in their district championship game Friday night.

Box score

Van Wert  13  15  12  13 – 53

Galion      10    3   14    8 – 35

Van Wert: Kaiven Welch 1-0-3; Xavier Kelly 4-2-12; Griffin McCracken 6-1-16; Keaten Welch 1-4-6; Caden Collins 1-0-2; Zach Crummey 3-1-7; Cohen Bragg 2-2-7

Galion: Jameson Glew 3-2-8; Dominic Capretta 1-0-3; Colton Flynn 4-2-14; Cameron Smith 2-2-7; Christian Bare 1-1-3