{"id":150901,"date":"2022-02-02T04:46:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T09:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=150901"},"modified":"2022-02-02T04:46:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T09:46:45","slug":"cougars-cash-in-at-the-free-throw-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/02\/02\/cougars-cash-in-at-the-free-throw-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars cash in at the free throw line"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

DELPHOS — Free throw shooting hasn\u2019t always been kind to Van Wert this season but that wasn\u2019t the case at Robert Arnzen Gymnasium Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars hit 11 of 12 foul shots in the game, including 10-of-10 in the fourth quarter and claimed a 55-47 win over Delphos St. John\u2019s. Carson Smith was 6-of-6 in the final period and scored the last six points for Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Van Wert’s Trey Laudick (11) and Carson Smith (5) play defense on Landen Grothaus. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were disappointed after Friday night\u2019s game against Shawnee,\u201d Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. \u201cIt was all about mental toughness and we made a lot of mental mistakes. We tried to correct those in the little preparation we had for St. John\u2019s and we told them free throws was one of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKudos to our guys for going to the line and knocking them down,\u201d Laudick added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert (10-6) opened the fourth quarter with a 35-30 lead then scored six unanswered points before Nolan Schwinnen hit the first of his three triples in the period. Delphos St. John\u2019s (8-10) eventually trimmed the deficit to six, 45-39, but a pair of foul shots by Garett Gunter gave the Cougars an eight point advantage. A steal and layup by Ethan Brown made it 49-39, then Smith went to work at the foul line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith finished with 11 points, as did Aidan Pratt. Maddix Crutchfield added 10 points for the Cougars, including eight in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert led 15-12 after the first quarter, with Landen Grothaus scoring seven points for the Blue Jays, including a pair of treys. Delphos St. John\u2019s tied the game 20-20 in the second quarter but the Cougars scored the next eight points, including a pair of baskets by Crutchfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaddix had a good night tonight,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cHe plays good defense and he\u2019s a load inside. He controls a lot of area and he\u2019s big and strong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delphos St. John\u2019s knotted the game 28-28 halfway through the third quarter but Van Wert regained the lead for good with a three pointer by Trey Laudick and buckets by Gunter and Nate Phillips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grothaus led all scorers with 16 points, Landon Elwer added 12, including six in the fourth quarter, and Schwinnen finished with 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blue Jays were 15-of-47 shooting and 11-of-14 from the free throw line with nine turnovers. The Cougars were 20-of-44 from the floor and had eight turnovers. Each team finished with 25 rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert is scheduled to play at Kenton on Friday while Delphos St. John\u2019s is slated to travel to No. 2 Versailles the same night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Van Wert 15 13 7 20 \u2013 55
St. John\u2019s 12 11 7 17 \u2013 47<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert: Ethan Brown 3-0-8; Carson Smith 2-6-11; Garett Gunter 2-2-6; Trey Laudick 2-0-5; Aidan Pratt 4-3-11; Maddix Crutchfield 5-0-10; Nate Phillips 2-0-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delphos St. John\u2019s: Landen Grothaus 5-3-16; Nolan Schwinnen 4-0-11; JJ Bonifas 2-0-4; Ethan Druckemiller 0-1-1; Landon Elwer 3-6-12; Aaron Moenter 1-1-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV: Van Wert 46-39<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor DELPHOS — Free throw shooting hasn\u2019t always been kind to Van Wert this season but that wasn\u2019t the case at Robert Arnzen Gymnasium Tuesday night. The Cougars hit 11 of 12 foul shots in the game, including 10-of-10 in the fourth quarter and claimed a 55-47 win over Delphos St. John\u2019s. Carson […]<\/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-150901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 20:09:45","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\/150901","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=150901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}