{"id":202669,"date":"2026-02-14T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=202669"},"modified":"2026-02-14T00:01:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:01:33","slug":"foul-shots-lead-shawnee-by-van-wert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/02\/14\/foul-shots-lead-shawnee-by-van-wert\/","title":{"rendered":"Foul shots lead Shawnee by Van Wert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Free throws can make or break any basketball team and Friday night, Shawnee proved it. The Indians converted 22-of-24 foul shots, including 16-of-18 in the fourth quarter, on the way to a 60-53 win over Van Wert. Meanwhile, the Cougars converted just 1-of-6 free throw attempts in the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory gave Shawnee (16-5, 8-0 WBL), the reigning Western Buckeye League champions, at least a share of this season\u2019s league title. The Indians can win it outright with a victory over Ottawa-Glandorf next Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Van Wert’s Cohen Bragg (24) launches a three point attempt against Shawnee. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of our guys,\u201d Best said. \u201cThe whole culture of our program was on display tonight. It was fun to be a part of. I\u2019m disappointed and upset for our guys but they\u2019ll be ok. We still have hope (for a title share). We have a game against Spencerville and we still have another WBL game and so do they, so we\u2019re still alive, we just need some help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The help would come in the form of Ottawa-Glandorf, who plays at Shawnee next Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shawnee led 15-10 at the end of the first quarter and 18-11 early the second quarter, but Van Wert (15-5, 7-1 WBL) responded with back-to-back treys by Griffin McCracken, then a layup by Cohen Bragg that gave the Cougars a 19-18 lead. From there, the two teams went back and fourth and Van Wert led 26-25 at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really liked what we did in the first half,\u201d Van Wert head coach Jeremy Best said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A McCracken trey nearly midway through the third quarter gave Van Wert a 35-31 lead, then a layup by the 5-9 senior late in the period gave the Cougars a 41-39 lead entering the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A triple from the left corner by Bragg put Van Wert ahead 44-43 two minutes in the fourth quarter, but it was the final time the Cougars would lead in the game. Beckett Bertke converted a pair of free throws and casually swished in a trey from the top of the key, giving the Indians a 48-44 lead with 4:14 left. A layup by Bragg would put Van Wert to within two, 48-46, but that was as close as the Cougars would get, as the Indians went to work at the foul line. Beckett Bertke was 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the period while younger brother Trevick Bertke was 4-of-4 in the quarter. They finished with 22 and 20 points, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

“The Bertkes put you in so many mismatch situations,\u201d Best said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t have an answer all the time on the defensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert had three players in double figures, as McCracken finished with 13, while Bragg and Welch each finished with 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert will host Spencerville today (4 p.m. junior varsity tipoff).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Shawnee   15  10  14  21 \u2013 60<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert   10  16  15  12 \u2013 53<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shawnee: <\/strong>Trevick Bertke 6-6-20; Ashton Wright 1-1-3; Greyson McDonald 0-1-1; Luke Marshall 1-0-2; Cameron Barker 1-0-2; Sullivan Hasting 2-2-7; Beckett Bertke 4-12-22; Luke McGuire 1-0-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert:<\/strong> Xavier Kelly 4-1-9; Griffin McCracken 5-0-13; Keaten Welch 5-0-12; Caden Collins 1-0-3; Zach Crummey 2-0-4; Cohen Bragg 5-0-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV: Van Wert 51-44<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports Free throws can make or break any basketball team and Friday night, Shawnee proved it. The Indians converted 22-of-24 foul shots, including 16-of-18 in the fourth quarter, on the way to a 60-53 win over Van Wert. Meanwhile, the Cougars converted just 1-of-6 free throw attempts in the game. The victory gave […]<\/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-202669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 18:38:02","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\/202669","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=202669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202676,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202669\/revisions\/202676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}