Cougs can’t close; lose to Kalida ‘Cats

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Mistakes and missed opportunities played a key role, as the Van Wert Cougars fell to Kalida 45-44 in Tuesday night’s non-league game at The Den.

“Free throw violations, missed free throws, missed layups,” Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley lamented, as the Cougars dropped to 7-7.

In addition, Van Wert’s leading scorer, Jacoby Kelly (16.7 ppg) missed his third straight game with a sprained MCL. His status for the weekend is unknown.

The Cougars had a chance to win or send the game into overtime, but sophomore Blake Henry missed the front end of a one-and-one with two seconds left, and time ran off the clock in the fight for the rebound. Henry finished the contest with a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds.

“He was aggressive tonight, and that’s what we need Blake to be, is aggressive,” Bagley said. “It was a good individual effort.”

The Cougars found themselves down 16-7 late in the first quarter, before Henry drilled a trey, then Austin Sudduth hit a basket and free throw to close the gap to 16-13 at the end of the first quarter.

“For whatever reason, they jumped on us on our home court,” Bagley said. “I don’t have an answer for that.”

Henry hit a basket and free throw, and tied the game at 16 early in the second quarter. Later in the quarter, he hit two free throws, a three pointer and a basket, and the Cougars led 28-21.

At one point, Van Wert held the Wildcats scoreless for nearly five minutes.

But Kalida’s Trevor Lambert scored late in the quarter, and Noah Lambert hit a three at the halftime buzzer to trim Van Wert’s lead to 28-26.

The Wildcats (6-8)  opened the third quarter with a triple Trent Siebeneck, but Henry quickly responded with a three of his own from the left corner.  A defensive struggled ensued for the remainder of the quarter, as the Cougars mustered just four more points, while Kalida scored just six more, leaving the game tied at 35 at the end of the period.

The Wildcats began the fourth quarter with another trey by Noah Lambert, but the Cougars countered with baskets by Nate Place and Drew Bagley.

Van Wert’s final points of the game came at the 3:19 mark of the fourth quarter, on two free throws by Henry.  The charity tosses put the Cougars up 44-41 before Kalida closed out the scoring with four free throws of their own, with the final one coming with eight seconds left on the clock.

The Cougars were unable to capitalize on a layup attempt, then a one-and-one with two seconds left.

“I don’t ever question our kids’ physical effort,” Bagley said. “But that was a tough one to swallow.”

The Cougars will play at Elida Friday, and at Coldwater Saturday. Both games will air live on WERT 1220 AM and 104.3 FM, and will stream live on www.wert1220.com and The Van Wert Independent (www.thevwindependent.com).

Box score

Kalida      16 10   9  10–45

Van Wert 13 15   7   9–-44

Kalida (45) — Trent Siebeneck 13, Noah Lambert 8, Grant Laudick 6, Collin Nartker 6, Jeffrey Knueve 7, Braden Decker 3, Trevor Lambert 2. Totals: 15 8-12 45.

Van Wert (44) — Nate Place 6, Nick Gutierrez 2, Blake Henry 21, Dylan Lautzenheiser 4, Drew Bagley 8, Austin Sudduth 3. Totals: 15 11-16 44.

JV game: Van Wert won 30-26