{"id":164086,"date":"2023-03-14T03:38:48","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T08:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=164086"},"modified":"2023-03-14T09:52:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T14:52:33","slug":"random-thoughts-strictly-basketball-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/03\/14\/random-thoughts-strictly-basketball-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: strictly basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers completely around high school basketball, including good luck wishes, Van Wert, Wayne Trace, Crestview and public vs. private schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good luck<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best of luck to the Crestview Knights as they make their first state semifinal boys basketball appearance since the 2018-2019 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, that was the year Crestview defeated Richmond Heights in the semifinals and beat Berlin-Hiland for the Division IV state title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second quarter cost Van Wert dearly against Lutheran West on Saturday. Even so, the Cougars fought back and made it a seven point game more than halfway through the fourth quarter. Van Wert was just that kind of team \u2013 absolutely no quit in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really do think they frustrated the Longhorns as the game went on. Lutheran West was accustomed to getting in a knockout punch against their opponents and they never really did it against Van Wert, even when the lead was 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn\u2019t help but notice a lot of disappointed faces on Van Wert\u2019s team and understandably so. However, this was a special team and did things no other Cougar basketball team had done in many years. It may sting for a while but one day they\u2019ll look back and realize all the great things they were able to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Wayne Trace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to admit, I didn\u2019t picture Wayne Trace and Ottawa-Glandorf going to two overtimes. That\u2019s not a knock on the Raiders, who literally left everything they had on the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a time in the first overtime that I thought they were going to pull it out, but it just wasn\u2019t meant to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Postseason success<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This information comes from Crestview High School Principal Dave Bowen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone wondering, Crestview athletic teams have participated in 19 state Final Fours in the last 20 years with five state championships and four state runner-up finishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State champions: 2005, 2012, 2016 softball; 2014, 2019 boys basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State runner-up: 2003 boys basketball; 2003, 2009, 2011 softball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total final four appearances by state: softball 9; boys basketball 4; girls basketball 3; baseball 2, volleyball 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those are some pretty impressive numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public vs. private<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re keeping track, out of the 16 teams semifinal basketball teams in four divisions, nine are public schools and seven are private or parochial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All four schools in Division IV are public schools. Three of the four in Division II are parochial schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers completely around high school basketball, including good luck wishes, Van Wert, Wayne Trace, Crestview and public vs. private schools. Good luck Best of luck to the Crestview Knights as they make their first state semifinal boys basketball appearance since the 2018-2019 season. Ironically, that was […]<\/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-164086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 15:55:35","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\/164086","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=164086"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164101,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164086\/revisions\/164101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}