VW Cougars race by the Roughriders

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Much of the first quarter of Friday’s game between Van Wert and St. Marys Memorial was back and forth but after that, it was all Cougars, who cruised to an 88-50 win over the Roughriders at Van Wert High School. The 88 points was the most scored in a game by Van Wert since the 2006-2007 season, when the Cougars beat Shawnee 84-63.

It was a game that saw all five Van Wert starters hit double digits.

Late in the opening period, St. Marys Memorial (2-12, 0-6 WBL) led Van Wert 14-13, but Keaten Welch hit back-to-back triples from the left wing, with the second one coming at the buzzer and giving the Cougars a 19-14 lead. Welch’s long distance shots proved to be the catalyst for what was to come next – 18 unanswered points that were part of a 23-1 scoring run, and consecutive 29 point quarters by Van Wert. 

“I called a timeout in the first quarter and we talked about playing with more purpose on the defensive end,” Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said. “Everything for them was really way too easy and once Keaten hit two huge threes that kind of propelled us and gave us gave us some momentum, but it started on the defensive end like it always does with us. If you want to get on a run, you have to get stops. I thought offensively we did a really good job of making the extra pass, looking up the floor, working inside out against the zone and stepping into shots and the ball went through the hoop tonight – when that happens, everything looks easy.”

Xavier Kelly scored 11 of his 18 points in the second quarter as the Cougars stretched their lead to 38-17. Late in the period, Kaiven Welch and Griffin McCracken drilled consecutive treys and gave Van Wert a commanding 48-23 halftime advantage.

McCracken scored eight of his 13 points, Cohen Bragg scored seven of his 13 points and Zach Crummey accounted for five of his 15 points in the third quarter, and Van Wert’s lead ballooned to 77-43 by the end of the period.

“We have a bunch of selfless guys that work real hard to get each other shots and make plays for each other,” Best said. “A lot of that starts with our point guard. ‘X’ (Xavier Kelly) played a really good floor game for us tonight and he sets the table for us.”

Kaiven Welch added a pair of treys in the fourth quarter, which was largely played with reserves by both teams. Freshman Brayson Davis scored five points in the period for Van Wert and the latter half of the quarter was played with a continuous clock.

“Kaiven is kind of an unsung hero,” Best said. “The kids love him and he’s a phenomenal teammate. He comes to practice and works his rear end off, he’s always got a smile on his face and as a coach that’s very rewarding when you see guys get rewarded for that and tonight I was very happy for Kaiven.”

It was a good shooting night overall for the Cougars, who hit 31-of-53 shot attempts (58 percent) and 13-of-14 free throw attempts. Van Wert had just five turnovers, compared to 16 by the Roughriders. St. Marys converted 21-of-40 shots and just 1-of-4 foul shots. Each team had 19 rebounds.

Van Wert (14-3, 6-0 WBL) remains in a first-place tie with Shawnee and will travel to Ottawa-Glandorf in a key WBL game Friday night. The Titans lost to Bath 45-33 on Friday.

“I’ve always had a bunch of respect for O-G and Tyson (McGlaughlin),” Best said. “I just hope our guys come back ready and prepared and have a good week of prep and stay healthy. I think we’ll go over there play with good purpose.”

Van Wert won the junior varsity contest in exciting fashion. Easton Putman hit a pair of free throw with 0.2 seconds left, giving the Cougars a 43-41 win.

Box score

Van Wert  19  29  29  11 – 88

St. Marys  14  11  18    7 – 50

Van Wert: Kaiven Welch 3-0-9; Xavier Kelly 8-0-18; Griffin McCracken 4-2-13; Keaten Welch 4-3-13; Brayson Davis 2-0-5; Caden Collins 1-0-2; Zach Crummey 5-5-15; Cohen Bragg 5-3-13

St. Marys Memorial: Blake Dingledine 4-1-10; Cayden Geiger 3-0-6; Reese Howell 1-0-3; Clayton Rhodes 1-0-2; Kasey Gross 5-0-13; John Youngs 1-0-2; Cale Rice 1-0-2; Kaiden Ibarra 1-0-2; Bruno Klobunde 1-0-2; Aiden Minerding 1-0-3; Huck Hertenstein 2-0-5