{"id":150508,"date":"2022-01-22T00:18:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T05:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=150508"},"modified":"2022-01-22T00:19:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T05:19:18","slug":"cougars-claw-back-come-up-short-vs-og","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/01\/22\/cougars-claw-back-come-up-short-vs-og\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars claw back, come up short vs. OG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OTTAWA \u2013 A spirited comeback fell just short as state ranked Ottawa-Glandorf (No. 7, Division III) hung on for a 62-60 win over Van Wert on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe ran out of time and we also spotted them a lot of points, but we fought and clawed our way into it,\u201d Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. \u201cThat\u2019s a credit to our guys. I told them in the locker room that I love their character and their tenacity, and I feel like we could be down 50 and they\u2019re going to fight until the final buzzer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars trailed 49-32 late in the third quarter but chipped away with 25 points in the final period. An offensive rebound and triple from the right corner by Carson Smith made it 56-51 with 1:56 left, then after four free throws by the Titans, Garett Gunter drained a trey with 17 seconds left to make it 60-54. Ottawa-Glandorf\u2019s Carson Fuka converted a pair of foul shots, then Gunter drilled a triple with 10 seconds left and Smith hit another as time ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough one and this is a very hard place to win,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cWe\u2019re approaching 30 years since Van Wert has won here. We knew it was going to be a competitive game, it\u2019s just unfortunate that we\u2019re on the wrong side of the scoreboard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Titans (10-2, 5-0 WBL) converted just one basket in the fourth quarter but connected on 11-of-12 foul shots to secure the victory. For the game, Ottawa-Glandorf was 23-of-28 from the free throw line, compared to 5-of-8 by the Cougars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would have been nice if O-G missed some free throws but unfortunately they didn\u2019t,\u201d Laudick quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

After hitting one three pointer in the first three quarters, Van Wert (8-5, 2-2 WBL) connected on five in the fourth quarter, with most coming after Ottawa-Glandorf switched to a zone defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game was tied 8-8 with 3:15 left in the first quarter but the Titans scored eight unanswered points before Gunter beat the buzzer to make it 16-10 at the end of the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A layup by Smith with 4:30 left in the second quarter pulled the Cougars to within six, 22-16 but Ottawa-Glandorf scored 10 straight points and went on to lead 29-18 at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6-7 junior Theo Maag scored eight of his 18 points in the third quarter, while Colin White and Fuka each added six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert will host Coldwater today, with the junior varsity contest slated to start at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know their record isn\u2019t what they want it to be (1-10) but coach Fisher is going to have their guys ready to play,\u201d Laudick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Box score<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OG 16 13 20 13 \u2013 62
VW 10 8 17 25 \u2013 60<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottawa-Glandorf: Carson Fuka 2-6-10; Carter Schimmoeller 1-0-2; Eli Schmenk 0-1-1; Colin White 3-9-15; Theo Maag 8-2-18; Caleb Kuhlman 1-5-7; Landen Jordan 3-0-7; Caden Erford 1-0-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert: Ethan Brown 6-0-12; Garett Gunter 6-1-15; Aidan Pratt 5-1-12; Luke Wessell 2-0-4; Carson Smith 2-2-8; Maddix Crutchfield 2-1-6; Nate Phillips 1-0-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV: Ottawa-Glandorf 65-32<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor OTTAWA \u2013 A spirited comeback fell just short as state ranked Ottawa-Glandorf (No. 7, Division III) hung on for a 62-60 win over Van Wert on Friday. \u201cWe ran out of time and we also spotted them a lot of points, but we fought and clawed our way into it,\u201d Van Wert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 07:22:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}