{"id":174374,"date":"2024-01-05T23:34:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T04:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=174374"},"modified":"2024-01-05T23:34:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T04:34:16","slug":"bulldogs-ride-big-second-half-to-a-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/01\/05\/bulldogs-ride-big-second-half-to-a-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs ride big second half to a win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

It sounds clich\u00e9 but it was definitely a tale of two halves, at least for Defiance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first half of Friday night\u2019s game at Van Wert, the Bulldogs shot just 21 percent from the floor. In the second half, Defiance seemingly couldn\u2019t miss, going 18-of-22 from inside the arc as the Bulldogs claimed a 59-46 win over the Cougars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defiance forwards Brogan Castillo and Kahlil Ligon were the main catalysts in the second half. Castillo scored all 12 of his points in the third and fourth quarters, while Ligon poured in 17 of his 19 points after the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Collin Haggerty scored six points against Defiance. Photo courtesy of Monica Campbell<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey just pounded it inside with Castillo and Ligon in the second half,\u201d Van Wert head coach Ben Laudick said. \u201cIt was tough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert led 10-3 after the first quarter, with Rylan Miller and Keaten Welch each scoring four points in the period. However, the Cougars were outscored 14-2 in the second quarter, including a buzzer beater by Logan Hutcheson that gave Defiance a 17-12 halftime lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think through our first nine games we\u2019ve gotten off to very slow starts in the first quarter and this is a game we actually got off to a really good start, and our second quarter has generally been one of our better quarters this season,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cThey cranked up their pressure in the second quarter and it got us off-balance a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welch led Van Wert (2-8, 0-2 WBL) with 17 points, including eight in the third quarter, while Rylan Miller finished with 10 points. As a team, the Cougars finished 16-of-37 from the floor and 12-of-18 from the foul line. The Bulldogs converted 25-of-55 action shots and 7-of-14 free throws. Defiance (4-5, 1-1 WBL) held a commanding 30-18 advantage on the boards, including 14 offensive rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt like we boxed out okay, it\u2019s just our reaction to go get the rebound\u2026sometimes they were just a step quicker for us,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of been an Achilles heel for our first 10 games. We know we\u2019re probably not going to out-rebound many teams, it\u2019s just that sense of urgency to go get it \u2013 we were lacking it in certain possessions when we really needed to get a rebound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars were without their leading rebounder (6.9 per game), Conner Campbell, who\u2019s also the team\u2019s second leading scorer 11.6 per game). The 6-2 senior guard missed the game with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a big part of what we do, he\u2019s a good athlete and we definitely missed him tonight,\u201d Laudick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert will host Lincolnview in a special girls\/boys varsity doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. today. The Lancers (4-4) were off Friday night and enter the game on a three-game winning streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re playing well right now, they\u2019re shooting the ball really well now,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cIn a way they\u2019re kind of similar to us \u2013 they\u2019re not a huge team but they\u2019re finding a way to put the ball in the basket. We have to defend the perimeter and keep them in front of us and when the shots go we have to rebound and secure the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Defiance 3 14 20 22 \u2013 59
Van Wert 10 2 12 22 \u2013 46<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defiance:<\/strong> Logan Hutcheson 2-0-4; Brez Zipfel 1-0-2; Garret Rodenberger 3-0-6; Jordyn Wright 1-1-3; Antonio Lopez 2-4-8; Josiah Schlatter 2-0-5; Brogan Castillo 6-0-12; Kahlil Ligon 8-2-19<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert: <\/strong>Gage Stemen 1-0-2; Kaden Shaffer 3-1-9; Rylan Miller 4-2-10; Keaten Welch 7-3-14; Collin Haggerty 2-4-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV: Van Wert 39-29<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor It sounds clich\u00e9 but it was definitely a tale of two halves, at least for Defiance. In the first half of Friday night\u2019s game at Van Wert, the Bulldogs shot just 21 percent from the floor. In the second half, Defiance seemingly couldn\u2019t miss, going 18-of-22 from inside the arc as the […]<\/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-174374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 05:08:30","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\/174374","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=174374"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174390,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174374\/revisions\/174390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}