{"id":97342,"date":"2018-01-10T07:08:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T12:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=97342"},"modified":"2018-01-10T07:08:43","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T12:08:43","slug":"coaches-corner-bagley-hammons-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/01\/10\/coaches-corner-bagley-hammons-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Coaches Corner: Bagley, Hammons, Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Two local teams \u2013 Van Wert and Lincolnview \u2013 are trying to shake off successive losses, while Crestview is 7-3 after a 3-2 start. This week\u2019s Coaches Corner features thoughts from coaches Mark Bagley, Brett Hammons and Jeremy Best<\/p>\n

Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Cougars have lost five of their last six games and are coming off a weekend they\u2019d like to forget. After a 53-37 home loss to St. Marys on Friday, Van Wert traveled to Fort Wayne and fell to Fort Carroll 74-32 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mark Bagley<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI thought last week we had our best four days of practice that we have had all year long,\u201d head coach Mark Bagley said. \u201cThe performance we had on Friday night totally caught me off guard. I think whenever you shoot poorly it magnifies all of your weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturday we played the best team on our schedule,\u201d Bagley said of the Indiana Class 4A Chargers. \u201cThey played phenomanally well, and I think were still kind of stunned (by Friday night). We tried to move on and tried to move forward, but shot horribly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played against athletes with a skill level that we haven\u2019t seen all year,\u201d Bagley added.<\/p>\n

Despite last week\u2019s results, Bagley said the team is working hard to fix offensive and defensive problems and improve the overall state of mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all we can do right now,\u201d Bagley stated. \u201cWe have a lot of areas to concentrate on because we\u2019re playing two outstanding basketball teams this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cougars are scheduled to play defending Western Buckeye League champion Ottawa-Glandorf (10-0, 2-0 WBL) on the road on Friday, before returning home to play Marion Local (5-3) on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put a tremendous amount of pressure on you defensively, they rebound the ball well, they pass the ball well, they have a great point guard, they have two bigs,\u201d Bagley said of the fourth-ranked Titans. \u201cThey have the total package.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c(As far as) Marion Local, success in the football playoffs has made them a little inconsistent, but they\u2019ve had some dominating performances,\u201d Bagley added. \u201cTheir inside play is unbelievable with (6-4 forward) Tyler Mesher (20 points per game) and (6-6 forward) Nathan Bruns is one of the finest all around players in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both games are scheduled to air live on WERT 1220AM\/104.3FM.<\/p>\n

Lincolnview head coach Brett Hammons<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After a 6-1 start, the Lincolnview (6-4, 2-0 NWC) has lost three straight to teams (Kalida, Ottoville and Fort Recovery) with a combined record of 25-7.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Brett Hammons<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In those losses, the Lancers found themselves down early but fought back each time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that we have learned that we can\u2019t put ourselves in a hole to start the game,”\u00a0 head coach Brett Hammons said. \u201cWe got down by double figures to start all three games and it was a battle to get back in. The guys fought to get back in which is a credit to them, but we have to start games better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also learned we need to play better team defense in order to beat good teams,\u201d Hammons added. \u201cWe have to help each other out on every possession and understand how to guard the opposing team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through 10 games, Caden Ringwald leads the team in scoring with 17.1 points per game, followed by Chayten Overholt (16.5) and Zane Miller. Miller leads the team in rebounding (4.2), followed by Overholt (4.1).<\/p>\n

Lincolnview is scheduled to play two games this weekend \u2013 against Bluffton (4-4, 0-2 NWC) on Friday and at Miller City (5-6) on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth teams are athletic and well coached,\u201d Hammons explained. \u201cThey like to mix their defenses up to make things difficult on offenses. We will have to recognize these things during the game. Both teams also have guys that attack the basket. This has given us problems in previous games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to give ourselves a chance to win we have to stay in front of the basketball for four quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crestview head coach Jeremy Best<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Knights improved to 7-3 overall with a 63-47 victory over Miller City on Monday. Derek Stout scored 23 points, including 11 in the first quarter, while Javin Etzler finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jeremy Best<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Crestview has won three straight and four of five, with the only loss coming to Ottoville (52-48) on December 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go back a couple of weeks to the fourth quarter of the Ottoville game, I think we had a little bit of a fundamental shift in our mindset that we\u2019ve carried forward,\u201d Best said after Monday\u2019s win over Miller City. \u201cI think we took a good hard look at ourselves in the mirror and assessed who we are, what we are, what we stand for, what our program is and what this team wants to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense has been the calling card for Crestview this season, as the Knights give up just 43.5 points per game. While pleased with the victory against a team that came in averaging 62 points per game, Best said the Knights now need to work on finishing games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t close the game out very well and that\u2019s an area we want to continue to get better at,\u201d Best explained. \u201cWe want to keep playing, but we just need to make more sound decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best also believes buying into the program and hard work in practice translate into success on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome to practice, work hard, be coachable and good things usually happen for you on game night, and that\u2019s an area our guys have done a much better job,\u201d Best stated.<\/p>\n

Crestview has is scheduled to host Arlington on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor Two local teams \u2013 Van Wert and Lincolnview \u2013 are trying to shake off successive losses, while Crestview is 7-3 after a 3-2 start. This week\u2019s Coaches Corner features thoughts from coaches Mark Bagley, Brett Hammons and Jeremy Best Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley The Cougars have lost five of […]<\/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-97342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 23:57:29","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\/97342","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=97342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}