Place, Bagley lead VW past Parkway

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Nate Place scored 20 points, including a pair of key foul shots with 15 seconds left and Van Wert held off stubborn Parkway 56-50 in the home opener for the Cougars on Friday night.

Drew Bagley chipped in with 14 points, including four consecutive free throws with just over a minute left in the game as Van Wert improved to 1-1 on the season. The Panthers dropped to 2-1.

“Parkway is going to win a lot of games this year,” Van Wert head coach Mark Bagley said of the Panthers. “They’re a good basketball team and they’re very hard to guard.”

“We gave them a lot of layups, but we kind of took control and it got to the point where we were going to the free throw line. They only had one team foul, and they had to foul a bunch and we finally got there.”

In addition to foul shots, Van Wert enjoyed late scoring surges in the first, second and third quarters. The Cougars found themselves down 10-7 with 1:36 left in the opening quarter but scored the final six points of the period, including two foul shots and a basket by Lawson Blackmore and a buzzer beater off an offensive rebound by Blake Henry at the end of the quarter.

The game was tied 19-19 with 3:38 left in the second quarter, then the Cougars closed the period on a 11-2 scoring run to grab a 30-19 halftime lead. Owen Treece started the run with an offensive rebound and basket, Bagley and LeTrey Williams each scored baskets, Henry scored, and Place drilled a trey. Parkway’s lone basket during the run came from Mason Baxter.

On the strength of four consecutive free throws by Caleb Kinney, the Panthers pulled to within four, 40-36, with two minutes left in the third quarter, but Place scored Van Wert’s final five points of the period, and the Cougars enjoyed a 45-37 advantage. Kinney went on to finish with 20 points.

Parkway again cut the margin to four, 49-45 with 4:02 left in the game, then neither team scored until Bagley connected on two foul shots at the 1:14 mark, and two more with 1:04 left to give Van Wert a 53-45 lead.

“We do all kinds of pressure free throw situations in practice,” the elder Bagley said.

“I thought we had some key possessions with three or four minutes left in the game,” Parkway head coach Doug Hughes said. “We had good looks at the basket, but we got fouled and didn’t hit our free throws, and we didn’t hit the shots we needed to beat a quality opponent like Van Wert.”

Kinney hit a basket with 33 seconds left, then Preston Shober, who finished with 10 points drained a trey with 20 seconds left to make it a 53-50 game, setting the stage for Place’s two late free throws and one by Blake Henry.

“Our kids did a great job of getting last week’s loss out of their minds,” Bagley said. “I was pleased with how they practiced and how they moved on.”

Parkway will host Crestview tonight, while Van Wert will open Western Buckeye League play at home against Wapakoneta on Friday.

In the junior varsity game, Ryan Hesse’s three pointer with five seconds left gave the Panthers a 35-32 win.

Scoring summary:

Van Wert 13 17 15 11 – 56
Parkway   10 21 16 13 – 50

Van Wert: Owen Treece 1-0-2; Nate Place 7-4-20; LeTrey Williams 2-0-4; Blake Henry 3-1-7; Lawson Blackmore 3-3-9; Drew Bagley 5-4-14

Parkway: Dylan Hughes 3-2-8; Mason Baxter 3-1-7; Jack Wehe 1-0-2; Preston Stober 4-1-10; Caleb Kinney 7-6-20; Caden Slusher 1-0-3