Place, Treece lead VW to double OT win

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Nate Place scored 29 points and Owen Treece was fouled on a steal, hit a pair of game winning free throws, then intercepted an inbounds pass to preserve a 62-60 double overtime win over Kalida on Tuesday.

Treece’s one-and-one foul shots came with 3.2 seconds left in the second overtime and they helped the Cougars improve to 6-7 on the season.

“Owen is a three sport athlete that prepares every day of the year,” Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley said. “I have to tell him to take days off, because he’s always doing something.”

“He was a step slow tonight – he said that, but it’s hard to try to save legs when you’re playing seven guys and that’s what we’re playing right now. He made the tough plays at the end.”

The game was tied 55-55 at the end of regulation and neither team scored in the first overtime. Drew Bagley’s layup with 1:32 left in the second extra session gave Van Wert a 57-55 lead, but Kalida’s Luke Erhart responded with a trey and a basket to put the visitors up 60-57 with 35 seconds left.

Place converted a layup and free throw to tie the game 60-60 with 16.7 seconds remaining in the second overtime, setting the stage for Treece’s heroics.

“We made all the right plays when it mattered,” Bagley said. “It wasn’t perfect, but that’s a good basketball team over there and I thought our kids after a slow start really competed well.”

Prior to the second overtime, Van Wert led just once, 3-2 with 6:35 left in the first quarter. Kalida’s Trevor Lambert scored eight points in the opening period and the Wildcats led 12-8 at the end of the quarter.

Kalida (9-5) opened up a 19-10 lead early in the second quarter, but Place hit three consecutive triples to keep the Cougars in the game, and 13 of his 29 points came in the period, which helped the Cougars cut the deficit to two, 31-29 at halftime.

“I’ve been very hard on Nate the last two days of practice,” Bagley said. “Your best player has to be your best practice player and I told him that.”

“I have to be able to coach the best player the hardest and he accepted that challenge tonight. We had a really good talk about it and I’m really proud of how he responded to that talk. I thought he just played basketball tonight and didn’t get caught up in all the emotions that sometimes happen in a game.”

Kalida scored the first four points of the third quarter on a pair of free throws by Lambert and bucket by Grant Laudick, but Treece, who finished with 12 points, countered with a basket and two foul shots, then Blake Henry’s one handed slam tied the game 35-35 with 4:45 left in the period. Lambert answered with a trey, but Bagley coverted a shot to make it 38-37. From there, the Wildcats scored the final eight points of the quarter and led 46-37 entering the fourth.

Place scored and Treece drilled a triple to pull the Cougars to within four, 46-42, but Gabe Hovest’s three pointer pushed Kalida’s lead back out to seven with 5:40 left in regulation. Van Wert trailed 55-48 with two minutes left, but Place connected on another trey, the LeTrey Williams scored his only points of the game with 1:12 left to draw the Cougars to within two, 55-53 with 1:12 left. Bagley, who finished with 15 points, tied the game with a basket with 28 seconds left in regulation.

“Our kids aren’t going to quit,” the elder Bagley said. “They know I won’t let them quit. Our focus now has to be getting better each day and prepare for tournament seeding.”

The Cougars will host Kenton on Friday then will travel Coldwater on Saturday.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 8 21 8 18 0 7 – 62
Kalida 12 19 15 9 0 5 – 60

Van Wert: Owen Treece 3-4-12; Nate Place 11-1-29; LeTrey Williams 1-0-2; Blake Henry 1-0-2; Lawson Blackmore 2-0-4; Drew Bagley 5-1-13

Kalida: Gabe Horvest 4-0-10; Trevor Lambert 7-2-17; Owen Recker 1-0-3; Evan Roebke 3-1-7; Luke Erhart 7-0-15; Grant Laudick 4-0-8

JV: Van Wert 45-35