Van Wert’s Nathan Stoller (11) goes up for a layup during Wednesday’s sectional tournament game against Coldwater. (Jan Dunlap\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe first half wasn\u2019t all that great for the Cougars, who took a three-point lead, 10-7, in the first quarter, only to lose it in the second period when Coldwater went on a 14-8 run to lead by three points, 21-18, at the half.<\/p>\n
The second half was a different story, though, as Van Wert outscored the Cavaliers 36-17, including a 21-10 third quarter run, to win going away.<\/p>\n
The Cougars had three players in double figures, led by 15-point offensive performances from Michael Smelser and Connor Holliday. Kyle Keber added 11 points for Van Wert.<\/p>\n
Coldwater\u2019s top scorer was Brody Hoying, the only Cavalier player in double figures, with 16 points.<\/p>\n
The Cougars were 19 of 39 from the field (48.7 percent), including a 11-of-20 performance from two-point range (55 percent). Coldwater made 13 of 40 field goal attempts (32.5 percent).<\/p>\n
Both teams shot well from the free throw line, with Van Wert making 8 of 11 free throw attempts (72.7 percent), and the Cavaliers canning 5 of 7 from the line (71.4 percent).<\/p>\n
The Cougars outrebounded Coldwater 26-20, while the Cavaliers had fewer turnovers, 7-8, than Van Wert.<\/p>\n
The win advances the Cougars (11-12) to the Division III sectional tournament championship game at St. Marys against St. Henry (16-7). The teams will play in the second game of the night this Friday, following the Lima Central Catholic-Allen East game.<\/p>\n
Coldwater ends its season with a 10-12 record.<\/p>\n
![\"VW](\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/VW-boys-vs-Coldwater-sectional-tourney-2-2014.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAVE MOSIER\/independent sports ST. MARYS — The Van Wert Cougars looked better than they have in several weeks as they defeated Coldwater in a Division III sectional tournament game played at St. Marys on Wednesday. The first half wasn\u2019t all that great for the Cougars, who took a three-point lead, 10-7, in the first quarter, […]<\/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-49003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 02:50:55","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\/49003","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=49003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Van](\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/VW-boys-vs.-Coldwater-2-2014-Stoller.jpg\")
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