{"id":99611,"date":"2018-03-08T07:09:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T12:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=99611"},"modified":"2018-03-08T07:13:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T12:13:29","slug":"van-wert-falls-to-no-1-wauseon-at-onu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/03\/08\/van-wert-falls-to-no-1-wauseon-at-onu\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Wert falls to No. 1 Wauseon at ONU"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

ADA — A size differential was a key factor in Wednesday night\u2019s Division II district semifinal at Ohio Northern University.<\/p>\n

Wauseon fielded a starting lineup of 6-0, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-9, and the top-ranked Indians used that size to post a 51-41 victory over Van Wert.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Nate Place drives between three Wauseon defenders.<\/strong> Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wauseon improved to (24-0) and will play Shawnee in (18-7) in the district title game on Saturday, while Van Wert\u2019s season came to an end at 13-11.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are really good,\u201d Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley said. \u201cThey\u2019re 24-0 for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two teams were nearly even for the first part of the opening quarter. Nate Place scored Van Wert\u2019s first five points and the Cougars led 5-4, then 8-6. But the Indians held Van Wert scoreless for the final 2:45 of the period and led 14-10 after one.<\/p>\n

The Indians enjoyed a 12-6 scoring advantage in the second quarter. 6-9 senior Austin Rotroff opened the period with two baskets, while Levi Seiler hit a bucket and a trey. Van Wert\u2019s only baskets came at the 3:53 and 3:00 mark, when Jacoby Kelly hit consecutive triples and by halftime, Wauseon led 26-16.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the first half wore on, we took some \u2018hero\u2019 shots, not out of selfishness, but because we were trying to make plays,\u201d Bagley said. \u201cOur kids prepared extremely hard, and they believed. They never stopped believing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jacoby Kelly trys to make a play.<\/strong> Bob Barnes photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cougars fought back and trimmed the deficit to 32-25 midway through the third quarter. Drew Bagley hit three foul shots, Kelly connected from the floor and Place converted two free throws, forcing a Wauseon timeout with 4:18 left in the period.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing into the game, coach Bags said we have no pressure, they have the pressure because they\u2019re undefeated,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWhen they called that timeout, it was a momentum transition. They had to adjust, but unfortunately we didn\u2019t adjust back.”<\/p>\n

After the timeout, the Indians went on a 7-1 scoring run to end the quarter, with 6-4 junior Levi Seiler providing four of those points.<\/p>\n

Trailing 39-26 to open the final quarter, Van Wert continued to fight, but could draw no closer than eight late in the period. Place was 6-of-6 from the foul line and Bagley scored four of his six points in the quarter.<\/p>\n

Kelly led Van Wert with 15 points, while Place had 14, and Bagley and Blake Henry each finished with five.<\/p>\n

Seiler finished with a game high 16 points, while Trent Armstrong and Rotroff each had 10. Rotroff also had 17 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expected to win, we really did,\u201d Bagley said. \u201cThey (Wauseon) are really good, they\u2019re really well coached and they play the right way. They\u2019ll be a tough out in this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scoring summary:<\/p>\n

Wauseon 14 12 13 12 \u2013 51
\nVan Wert 10\u00a0 6\u00a0 10 15 \u2013 41<\/p>\n

Wauseon: Levi Seiler 6-3-16; Trent Armstrong 3-4-10; Owen Newlove 2-4-8; Brooks Gype 2-2-7; Austin Rotroff 5-0-10<\/p>\n

Van Wert: Nate Place 3-7-14; Owen Treece 1-0-2; Jacoby Kelly 5-1-15; Blake Henry 1-3-5; Drew Bagley 1-3-5<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor ADA — A size differential was a key factor in Wednesday night\u2019s Division II district semifinal at Ohio Northern University. Wauseon fielded a starting lineup of 6-0, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-9, and the top-ranked Indians used that size to post a 51-41 victory over Van Wert. Wauseon improved to (24-0) […]<\/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-99611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 20:48:10","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\/99611","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=99611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}