Van Wert falls in regional semifinals

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

BOWLING GREEN – A fast start to the game and an early fourth quarter blitz proved to be too much for Van Wert to overcome, as the Cougars fell to Jonathan Alder 63-45 in the Division II regional semifinals at Bowling Green State University Wednesday night.

The loss ended Van Wert’s season at 19-7, while Jonathan Alder improved to 21-5 and moved on to Saturday’s regional championship game to face Perkins, a 55-35 winner over Bath.

Playing in their third straight regional, the Pioneers jumped out to a 13-5 lead, with Garrett Bauer accounting for eight points, including a pair of treys. The Cougars had just two baskets in the opening period and trailed 18-9 to start the second quarter.

“The game didn’t really start like we wanted,” Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said. “They came out and shot the ball very well so you credit that. I thought we got nerved up a little bit early and I thought we got a little fast offensively in the first half. We wanted to try to be patient and make them defend a little bit but we didn’t do a very good job of that.”

“I knew we would show up and compete and we did, we just didn’t play great,” he added.

Brady Sweet drilled a pair of triples in the second quarter as the Pioneers extended their lead to 29-13, then 31-18 at halftime. Van Wert chipped away in the third quarter with a 9-2 scoring run, including five points by Keaten Welch, and the Cougars trailed 41-34 at the end of the period.

“We battled and hung in there and we talked about trimming that thing as much as we could,” Best said. “It just seemed like a lot of times the ball popped not near us or to us.”

Any hopes of a comeback were dashed very early in the fourth quarter. A deflected ball turned into a trey by Trey Bentley, then a step back triple by Danny Bentley, followed by a layup by Muetzel, all in less than two minutes, pushed Alder’s lead back to 15, 49-34. Despite Xavier Kelly scoring nine of his 11 points in the period, the Cougars never recovered. 

Alder had four players finish in double figures – Sweet led the way with 17, while Trey Bentley, Danny Bentley and Bauer each finished with 12 points. The Pioneers were 20-of-37 from the floor, including 9-of-16 from three point range and 14-of-19 from the foul line, and enjoyed a 32-20 rebounding advantage.

“They’re good – they’re physical, they definitely play with an edge and I think that affected us a little bit as the game wore on,” Best said.

Kelly and Zach Crummey led Van Wert with 11 and 10 points respectively, but the Cougars struggled from the floor, going 16-of-48, but converting 10-of-14 free throws.

The game was the final one for two seniors – Griffin McCracken, who scored six points in the game, and Kaiven Welch.

“You are as good as your seniors and we had two great ones and I just told them that we’ve had two years in a row since I took this program and we had Nate Gearhart last year and Griff and Kaiven,” Best said. “They bought in from Day No. 1. The first thing we tried to do is build a rapport with these guys…I never got one negative vibe about what direction our seniors were making sure our team was going and Griff was definitely a huge part of that, along with Kaiven.”

McCracken said as a freshmen, he dreamed of playing a game at the Stroh Center.

“My freshman year I was in the student section at the very top, the smallest guy and I was telling myself ‘I want to be here so bad – I want to play in this environment,’” he said. “To be a part of this team and to play on that court – I might be the happiest person ever. It really fulfilled my joy and I love these guys so much and I can’t describe how much they mean to me and what it means to play basketball with them each and every day.”

Box score

Pioneers  18  13  10  22 – 63

Cougars    9    9   16  11 – 45

Jonathan Alder: Brady Sweet 4-6-17; Trey Bentley 4-2-12; Danny Bentley 4-2-12; Garrett Bauer 4-2-12; Chase Muetzel 4-1-9; Ben McCain 0-1-1

Van Wert: Xavier Kelly 5-1-11; Griffin McCracken 2-0-6; Keaten Welch 1-5-8; Zach Crummey 4-2-10; Cohen Bragg 3-2-8; Caden Collins 1-0-2