Redskins get dominating win over VW

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Van Wert Cougars are probably hoping none of their potential tournament opponents get a tape of their game against St. Henry. The Redskin defense used a couple of zone defenses, double-teamed Jacob Myers and cruised to a 50-36 non-conference victory in the Cougar’s Den.

St. Henry used a 1-3-1 and a 2-3 zone to box out Myers, while the Redskins’ big men kept the Cougars from penetrating to the basket, effectively forcing Van Wert to hit the outside shot, which they had trouble doing.

Offensively, St. Henry dominated the boards, putting back second- and third chances for baskets. Although the Redskins hit only shot 37.5 percent from two-point range, they had 48 chances, making 18 of those. On the other side of the ball, Van Wert shot only 17 two-point attempts, and only hit 6 of those (35.2 percent). The Cougars hit 5 of 15 three-point attempts (33.3 percent), versus 1-for-1 for St. Henry, but the two-point deficit was too much to overcome.

Both teams shot reasonably well from the foul line. The Cougars were 9 of 13 in free throw attempts (69.2 percent), while St. Henry made 11 of 18 free throw attempts (61.1 percent).

The tall Redskins owned the boards, taking down 35 rebounds to just 14 for Van Wert.

St. Henry jumped out to a five-point lead, 13-8, at the end of the first quarter and upped that to 10 points at the half by outpointing the Cougars 8-3 in the second stanza. The pattern continued in the second half, as the Redskins outscored Van Wert 29-25 in the half for the 14-point win.

No Van Wert player was in double figures, with Joey Hurless the closest, with 9 points. Myers, who averages nearly 19 points a game, scored just 6 against the Redskins. St. Henry was led by Kyle Stahl’s 21 points, while Caleb Heitkamp added 10 points for the Redskins.

With the victory, St. Henry moves to 14-4 overall, while the Cougars fall to 12-5 overall.

A bright note was the play of the Van Wert junior varsity team, which upped its record to 16-1 with a 51-30 win over the Redskin JVs. Nathan Stoller led the way for the Cougars with 12 points, while Matt Bidlack added 10 points.

Van Wert will next play St. Marys this coming Friday.