{"id":189929,"date":"2025-02-21T23:58:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T04:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=189929"},"modified":"2025-02-21T23:58:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T04:58:24","slug":"cougars-fall-to-elida-in-overtime-63-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/02\/21\/cougars-fall-to-elida-in-overtime-63-59\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars fall to Elida in overtime 63-59"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

ELIDA — No. 5 seed Van Wert pushed No 1 seed Elida to the limit, but the Cougars came up short in overtime, losing to the Bulldogs 63-59 in a Division IV sectional championship game at the Elida Fieldhouse on Friday. The loss ended Van Wert\u2019s season at 10-13, while Elida improved to 16-7 and advanced to Tuesday\u2019s district semifinal game against Bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis game was like the sequel to several of our games this season,\u201d Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said. \u201cOur guys did everything from an effort standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Van Wert’s Zach Crummey and Elida’s Parker Crim battled all night. Photo courtesy of Monica Campbell<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After a neck-and-neck first quarter, the Cougars led 20-19, with Cohen Bragg pumping in a pair of treys and Keaten Welch added six points on a pair of buckets and two foul shots, while Elida\u2019s A\u2019Mari Wash also scored six points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scoring pace slowed considerably in the second quarter, with the Cougars outscoring the Bulldogs 8-4 for a 28-23 halftime lead. Elida trailed by as many as six in the third quarter but Wash and Zori Island each scored six points to pull within two by the end of the quarter, 41-39. Van Wert\u2019s Caden Collins had a big third period, swishing in a trey and adding a pair of conventional baskets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth quarter turned out to be a back and fourth affair,w ith the Bulldogs taking a 44-43 lead on an offensive rebound and layup by Parker Crim. Later in the period, a three point bomb by Griff McCracken gave the Cougars a 48-46 lead. Van Wert\u2019s last bucket in regulation came on a layup by Zach Crummey with 2:40 left. Island tied the game 52-52 with two foul shots with 1:48 left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a layup by Island to start overtime, back-to-back layups by Crummey gave the Cougars a 56-54 lead, but Wash scored five straight points to give Elida the lead for good. Wash went on to lead all scorers with 26 points. Two free throws by McCracken pulled Van Wert to within one, 59-58, but that was as close at Cougars would get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crummey led the Cougars with 16 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots, while Bragg added 10 points. Van Wert finished 23-of-51 from the floor and 11-of-14 from the foul line. The Cougars also out-rebounded the Bulldogs 25-24. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy heart is full of pride for our guys, our team and our program,\u201d Best said. \u201cOur kids learned how to do hard things this year. They did everything I asked them to do. I\u2019m proud that they call me their coach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank our fans, especially the Cat Pack,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s some pride and excitement in what direction this program is headed, but there is still more work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Bulldogs  19   4  16  13  11 \u2013 63<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cougars  20   8  13  11    7 \u2013 59<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida:<\/strong> Zori Island 7-1-16; Brody Altenbach 2-0-5; Parker Crim 3-0-6; Marcus Hill 3-4-10; Amari Wash 8-10-26<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert:<\/strong> Xavier Kelly 3-0-6; Griff McCracken 2-2-7; Keaten Welch 2-5-9; Nate Gearhart 1-0-2; Caden Collins 4-0-9; Zach Crummey 6-4-16; Cohen Bragg 4-0-10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports ELIDA — No. 5 seed Van Wert pushed No 1 seed Elida to the limit, but the Cougars came up short in overtime, losing to the Bulldogs 63-59 in a Division IV sectional championship game at the Elida Fieldhouse on Friday. The loss ended Van Wert\u2019s season at 10-13, while Elida improved […]<\/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-189929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 00:52:13","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\/189929","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=189929"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189932,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189929\/revisions\/189932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}