{"id":188129,"date":"2025-01-03T23:49:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T04:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=188129"},"modified":"2025-01-03T23:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T04:54:11","slug":"bulldogs-bite-the-cougars-in-49-44-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/01\/03\/bulldogs-bite-the-cougars-in-49-44-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs bite the Cougars in 49-44 win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

ELIDA — For the second straight game, the foul line was the difference in a contest involving Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Friday night\u2019s WBL matchup against Elida, the Bulldogs went 14-of-24 (58 percent) from the free throw line, while the Cougars shot just five free throws and hit three. Another big disparity was rebounding, as Elida out-rebounded the visiting Cougars 37-24. 21 of Elida\u2019s rebounds were on the offensive end, as the Bulldogs posted a hard fought 49-44 victory. Parker Crim had 13 rebounds, including 12 offensive boards.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Zach Crummey (23) and Parker Crim battle for a rebound during Friday night’s Van Wert-Elida game. Photo courtesy of Monica Campbell<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The win was the fifth straight for Elida (6-4, 2-1 WBL) while Van Wert fell to 3-7 (1-2 WBL). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bulldogs didn\u2019t do themselves any favors in the first quarter, connecting on just 3-of-17 (18 percent) action shots, while Van Wert was 6-of-8 shooting on the way to a 13-9 lead at the end of the period. Xavier Kelly scored five of Van Wert\u2019s first quarter points and four other Cougars registered a bucket in the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second quarter, the two teams were nip and tuck for much of the period, but the Cougars produced the final five points before halftime, including a basket and ensuing free throw by Cohen Bragg and a buzzer beating bucket by Keaten Welch that gave Van Wert a 25-20 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things changed in the third quarter, as Elida opened the period with a 15-5 run, including seven points by Zori Island and five by Amari Wash, which gave the Bulldogs a 34-30 lead. Once again Van Wert scored the final five points of the quarter, thanks to a triple by Welch and an offensive rebound and putback by Zach Crummey, and the Cougars carried a 35-34 lead into the fourth quarter. Welch had two triples in the quarter and finished with a team high 14 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game was tied 36-36 two minutes into the final period but Elida scored seven unanswered points, which proved to be too much for Van Wert to overcome. Griff McCracken hit a trey to make it 43-39 with 90 seconds left, but that was as close at the Cougars would get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Island led all scorers with 19 points while Wash added 14. After a slow start, the Bulldogs finished 16-of-52 shooting (31 percent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welch was Van Wert\u2019s only double digit scorer but Crummey added nine points and 10 rebounds and Kelly added eight points. The Cougars were 18-of-40 shooting (45 percent) but were plagued by 16 turnovers, compared to 11 by Elida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams are back in action today. The Bulldogs will host Coldwater while Van Wert will face Lincolnview in a girls\/boys varsity doubleheader at Lincolnview. The girls game will tip off at 5 p.m. and the boys game will begin approximately 20 minutes after the completion of the first game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Bulldogs   9  10  15  15 \u2013 49<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cougars 13  12  10    9 \u2013 44<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida:<\/strong> Zori Island 6-5-19; Parker Crim 1-3-5; Marcus Hill 2-0-6; Amari Wash 5-3-14; Eben Jackson 2-1-5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert:<\/strong> Xavier Kelly 3-0-7; Griff McCracken 3-0-8; Keaten Welch 6-0-14; Zach Crummey 4-1-9; 1-3-5; Caden Collins 1-0-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV: Van Wert 27-25<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports ELIDA — For the second straight game, the foul line was the difference in a contest involving Van Wert. During Friday night\u2019s WBL matchup against Elida, the Bulldogs went 14-of-24 (58 percent) from the free throw line, while the Cougars shot just five free throws and hit three. Another big disparity 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-188129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 20:24:46","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\/188129","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=188129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188142,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188129\/revisions\/188142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}