{"id":85006,"date":"2017-03-03T09:02:36","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T14:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=85006"},"modified":"2017-03-03T09:02:36","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T14:02:36","slug":"local-boys-ready-for-sectional-cage-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/03\/03\/local-boys-ready-for-sectional-cage-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Local boys ready for sectional cage finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A Western Buckeye league rematch, and a second game featuring two Van Wert County rivals will highlight this weekend\u2019s boys\u2019 basketball sectional championship games.<\/p>\n

After Tuesday\u2019s 68-59 win over St. Marys, the Van Wert Cougars will face WBL foe Elida at Paulding.\u00a0 The winner of tonight\u2019s game will claim the Division II lower bracket sectional championship, and will advance to next Wednesday\u2019s district semifinal against Ottawa-Glandorf or Bryan at Ohio Northern University.<\/p>\n

The Cougars (12-10) have won six of their last eight games, with the only losses coming to Fort Wayne Carroll and state-ranked Wapakoneta.<\/p>\n

\"Basketball\"\u201cWe have played better in the fourth quarter and finished games off making free throws,\u201d Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley said. \u201cOur offensive and defensive execution has been much sharper to finish games that, earlier in the year, we would\u2019ve lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur young kids have grown up and our seniors and captains have done a great job being leaders,\u201d Bagley explained. \u201cPlayer-led teams are the best kind of teams and they are growing each day in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s contest will be a rematch of one played January 27 at Elida, a game won by the Bulldogs 64-61. Four Cougars finished in double digits — Jacoby Kelly 21, Blake Henry 13, Nate Place 12, and Nick Gutierrez 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fast paced, high scoring game with neither team really able to stop the other,\u201d Bagley said. \u201cWe missed several free throws that game, and was a 50-50 game that we lost because of little things.<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s Van Wert-Elida game will air live on WERT 1220 AM and 104.3 FM, and will stream live on The Van Wert Independent (www.thevwindependent.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s Division IV sectional final at Van Wert High School will feature two county rivals\u2013-the Crestview Knights (15-6) and the Lincolnview Lancers (11-12). The winner will advance to Tuesday\u2019s district semifinal at Elida, and will play either Kalida or Miller City.<\/p>\n

The two teams squared off January 27th, and the Knights pulled away for a 63-49 victory. Trevor Gibson finished with 14, and Derek Stout had 13 for Crestview, while Caden Ringwald scored a game high 24, and Chayten Overholt had 12 for the Lancers.<\/p>\n

The two teams met in last year\u2019s district finals at Elida, with Lincolnview winning 52-51.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere was unbelievable,\u201d said Lancer head coach Brett Hammons. \u201cI\u2019ve never been in a gym that full and with that much energy. It was two very good teams competing against each other and giving everything that they had till the final buzzer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second-seeded Knights have won three straight, and elected to take a first-round bye. The Lancers have also won three consecutive games, including Tuesday\u2019s 66-47 victory over Antwerp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are playing better on the defensive end of the floor and we are starting to make shots,\u201d Hammons said.<\/p>\n

Lincolnview\u2019s improved play as of late hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed by Crestview head coach Jeremy Best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have several concerns about Lincolnview,\u201d Best said. \u201cThey are coached very well, and they are playing very efficient basketball and are getting production from multiple players.\u00a0 As of late, they are making putting the ball in the basket look easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a whole new season with tournament,\u201d Best added. \u201cWe have to stay balanced on the offensive end and defend like we are capable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomorrow\u2019s Crestview-Lincolnview game will tip off at 5, and will air live on WKSD 99.7 FM, and will stream live on The Van Wert Independent (www.thevwindependent.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports A Western Buckeye league rematch, and a second game featuring two Van Wert County rivals will highlight this weekend\u2019s boys\u2019 basketball sectional championship games. After Tuesday\u2019s 68-59 win over St. Marys, the Van Wert Cougars will face WBL foe Elida at Paulding.\u00a0 The winner of tonight\u2019s game will claim the Division II […]<\/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-85006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 23:41:44","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\/85006","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=85006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}