{"id":151015,"date":"2022-02-07T04:57:20","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T09:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=151015"},"modified":"2022-02-07T07:18:51","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T12:18:51","slug":"cougar-finish-strong-top-st-henry-54-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/02\/07\/cougar-finish-strong-top-st-henry-54-41\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars finish strong, top St. Henry 54-41"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

A late third quarter triple by Carson Smith keyed a run that allowed Van Wert to pull away from St. Henry at the Cougar\u2019s Den on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Van Wert’s Carson Smith pumped in four triples against St. Henry. Bob Barnes\/file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A bucket by St. Henry\u2019s John Hartings had pulled the Redskins to within one, 36-35, when Smith stepped beyond the arc in the left corner and drilled a trey that sparked a 20-6 run that eventually gave the Cougars a 54-41 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been on an upward swing and becoming that third consistent scorer that we\u2019ve been looking for a while,\u201d Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said of Smith. \u201cI\u2019m real pleased with what he\u2019s doing and he\u2019s shooting with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith finished with 14 points, including four treys, as the Cougars improved to 11-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Henry\u2019s Evan Bowers hit a three pointer to open the fourth quarter but Van Wert responded with nine unanswered points, including a pair of free throws and a basket by Garett Gunter, giving the Cougars a 50-38 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game began as a back-and-forth affair with Van Wert holding a 16-13 lead after the opening quarter. Aidan Pratt and Luke Wessell each scored four points in the period, and Wesell pulled down four offensive rebounds. Bennett Gels hit a pair of three pointers for the Redskins (10-8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars increased the lead to 28-21 at halftime, with Ethan Brown accounting for four points and Smith and Pratt each adding three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pair of baskets and a free throw by Pratt gave Van Wert a 34-25 lead midway through the third quarter, but St. Henry chipped away and trimmed it to one before Smith\u2019s big shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Pratt finished with 14 points, Gunter added nine and the Cougars finished 19-of-43 from the floor and 11-of-16 from the foul line. Bowers led St. Henry with 11 points and the Redskins were 15-of-52 shooting and 3-of-5 from the free throw line. Van Wert finished with a 33-31 rebounding advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert will play three Western Buckeye League games this week, Tuesday at home against St. Marys Memorial, Friday\u2019s home finale against Elida, and at Kenton on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a difficult week ahead but we\u2019re just going to take it one game at a time,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cEach one of those teams presents a different test in their own unique way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Van Wert 16 12 13 13 \u2013 54
St. Henry 13 8 14 6 \u2013 41<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert: Ethan Brown 2-2-6; Carson Smith 5-0-14; Garett Gunter 3-2-9; Trey Laudick 1-0-2; Aidan Pratt 4-6-14; Maddix Crutchfield 1-0-2; Nate Phillips 1-0-2; Luke Wessell 2-1-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Henry: Seth Heitkamp 2-1-5; Bennett Gels 3-1-9; Evan Bowers 4-0-11; Jaden Lange 2-2-6; Sam Koesters 2-0-6; John Hartings 2-0-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV: St. Henry 64-54<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor A late third quarter triple by Carson Smith keyed a run that allowed Van Wert to pull away from St. Henry at the Cougar\u2019s Den on Saturday. A bucket by St. Henry\u2019s John Hartings had pulled the Redskins to within one, 36-35, when Smith stepped beyond the arc in the left corner […]<\/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-151015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 13:39:24","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\/151015","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=151015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}