Bath gets league win over Cougar boys

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

LIMA – It took the Van Wert Cougars two quarters to solve Lima Bath’s intense full-court, man-to-man defense. That was at least one quarter too long, as the Wildcats won Friday’s Western Buckeye League match-up 72-57 at Bath.

Bath got out to a 10-point lead, 24-14, in the first quarter and built that to 16 points, 35-19, with an 11-5 run in the second quarter.

Van Wert (6-7, 2-3) outscored the Wildcats 37-36 in the second half, but that too little, too late, for the Cougars, who needed a bigger effort to defeat Bath (10-3, 4-1).

Matt Bidlack played a stellar game offensively for Van Wert, scoring 29 points, including 17 counters in the second half alone, while Connor Holliday added 14 for the Cougars, but the team missed the efforts of Kyle Keber, who didn’t dress for the game because of an injury received the previous game.

Bath had three players in double figures, led by Colin Gossard’s 22 points. Taren Sullivan added 21 points for the Wildcats and Trent Jones scored 15 points for Bath.

Van Wert was 23 of 51 from field goal range (45.1 percent), including 6 of 19 in three-point attempts (31.6 percent). The Wildcats hit 30 of 56 field-goal attempts (53.6 percent), including 3 of 10 from three-point range (30 percent).

Neither team shot well from the foul line, with the Cougars hitting half their free throws (5 of 10), and Bath doing the same (9 of 18), although the Wildcats free throws mostly came in the fourth quarter when Van Wert was trying to make a comeback.

Bath dominated the boards, coming down with 34 rebounds to 20 for the Cougars, while Van Wert also had twice as many turnovers (14-7) as the Wildcats.

The Cougars won a close junior varsity game 54-50 to go to 9-4 on the year. Colin Smith led Van Wert with 20 points, while Gavin Gardner scored 10 points and Brant Henry added 9 points. Bath was led by Chas Clark’s 20 points, while Ryan Gossard added 13 points.

The Cougars will host the Coldwater Cavaliers tonight in a non-conference contest in the Cougar’s Den.