OTTAWA — Friday night’s Western Buckeye League boys basketball matchup between Ottawa-Glandorf and Van Wert was a game of spurts.
Van Wert made the final run Friday.
Fortunately, Ottawa-Glandorf was able to withstand Van Wert’s final push, as the Titans slipped out with a hard-fought 62-60 victory over Van Wert at Robert J. Hermiller Gymnasium.
With the win, O-G improves to 10-2 overall and 5-0 in the WBL. Van Wert slips to 8-5 overall and 2-2 in league play.
O-G led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter.
However, Van Wert battled back, and with time winding down, made it a 2-point game, on a 3-pointer by Carson Smith (eight points, on two 3-pointers).
O-G came into Friday’s contest ranked No. 7 in Division III in the latest Associated Press state poll.
“It was a game of runs,” O-G head coach Tyson McGlaughlin said. “I thought we were in control there. We get a couple buckets and kick it in gear. … They (Van Wert) made a couple shots. … Then we kick it in gear again. It was a physical game. It was an O-G/Van Wert game. That’s the WBL.
“I thought our guys did a good job on being strong with the ball and getting to our spots. But we have to do a better job of finishing off games.”
Theo Maag, a 6-foot, 7-inch junior forward, led O-G with 18 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Colin White had 15 points, including 9 of 10 shooting from the free throw line. Carson Fuka added 10 points, including 6 of 7 from the charity stripe.
“Theo Maag was phenomenal tonight,” McGlaughlin said. “He was everywhere. He was able to get his hands on a lot of long rebounds; and we needed that.”
Van Wert had three players score in double figures. Garett Gunter scored 15 points, including two 3-pointers. Ethan Brown and Aidan Pratt each scored 12 points for the Cougars. Pratt also had five rebounds and three blocks.
Both teams traded baskets, early on. There were three lead changes before the Titans finally pulled out to a 16-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.
O-G’s sticky man-to-man defensive pressure helped cause six Van Wert turnovers in the first eight minutes.
O-G was 7 of 17 shooting from the field, while Van Wert connected on 4 of 10 from the floor in the opening quarter.
The Titans turned up the pressure in the second quarter, but the Cougars kept it close.
With a little more than three minutes left to play in the second, O-G led 19-16.
That’s when the Titans made a push.
O-G closed out the half on a 10-2 run to take a 29-18 lead into the halftime break.
Landen Jordan led O-G in the first half with seven points. Jordan had seven points for the contest. Maag had six points, two blocks and three rebounds for the Titans in the half.
Pratt and Brown each scored six points for the Cougars in the first half. Pratt pulled down five boards and had a block.
In the first half, O-G was 12 of 24 from the floor. Van Wert was 8 of 18 from the field.
O-G kept applying full-court pressure.
By the third stop, O-G led 49-35.
Maag dominated down low in the third quarter, scoring eight points.
But Van Wert was not done.
In the fourth, Van Wert got within six points, 54-48, with a little more than four minutes left to play, on an inside move by Brown.
With 1:53 left to play, Smith hit a 3-pointer to pull Van Wert within five, 56-51.
Then with time winding down, Smith hit another 3-pointer to cap off Van Wert’s run. In the final stanza, the Cougars outscored O-G 25-13.
For the game, Van Wert shot 56 percent from the field. O-G connected on 45 percent of its field goal attempts.
Van Wert committed 14 turnovers, while O-G turned it over seven times on the night.
“We had some really good defensive possessions, but we lost some because they (Van Wert) got a hustle rebound or a loose ball. … Those 50/50 balls, they (Van Wert) got,” McGlaughlin said. “You have to give them credit for that, because they could have folded. They could have thrown the towel in. Van Wert continued to battle. We have to finish games. We’ve been in some of these situations, late in the (fourth) quarter. That’s not the way we want to handle things.”
By Mark Altstaetter
Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.