Warriors Win A Heartstopper
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE -ÊThe Wawasee Warriors have a flair for the dramatic.
With just over 18 seconds left in the final quarter of play in Friday's boys basketball game, Wawasee was ahead of Concord 52-50. All the Warriors had to do was get the ball across the half-court line and run the clock out.
However, the Concord Minutemen covered Wawasee like a cheap tent and forced the Warriors to turn the ball over on a 10-second violation with 9.1 ticks on the clock.
Concord inbounded the ball at the half-court line, but Warrior Travis Speicher stole the ball and passed down the court to Curtis Farrell. Farrell tossed up a shot that nicked the rim and bounced back into Speicher's hands. Speicher then put the basket in at the buzzer for the final score of the game, giving Wawasee a 54-50 win over Northern Lakes Conference opponent Concord.
After jumping out to 19-15 lead after one quarter of play, the Minutemen increased their lead to 27-21 with just 2:25 left in the second quarter.
But Drew Gradle netted two baskets in a row to cut the lead to two, and Brent Doty hit both ends of a one-and-bonus with 55.6 seconds left to tie the score at 27-27. Neither team was able to score in the final seconds, and the score remained knotted 27-27 at the half.
R.J. Wilson jump-started the second half by sinking a three-pointer with 6:30 left in the third quarter to give Wawasee a 30-27 advantage.
Concord's Jeremy Lugbill and Josh Staley hit consecutive baskets to give the Minutemen what would be their last lead of the game at 32-31.
Jeremy High, Andrew Packer and Wilson scored all 13 of the Warrior points in the third quarter, and Wawasee headed into the final frame with a one-point lead, 40-39.
In the final quarter of play, the Warriors played their toughest defense of the game. Wawasee held Concord to just 1-of-8 shooting from the field. Nine of Concord's 11 fourth-quarter points came from free throws.
In the end, Wawasee earned its second win in a row with the 54-50 victory over Concord.
"We can win games in the 50s and 60s," said Wawasee coach Robb Berger. "If we can hold the score low like that, we have a chance to beat teams. We aren't going to beat many teams if the score gets into the 70s and 80s."
Before the game started, both teams' coaches said the team that shot well was going to win the game, and they were right.
Although neither team shot above 50 percent, Wawasee was the team that shot better Friday night. The Warriors were 17 of 37 from the field (46 percent), while Concord hit only 14 of 38 shots (37 percent).
"I have tried to preach that defense wins basketball games," said Berger. "Tonight the kids stepped up and scored and played good defense. It was a total team effort."
R.J. Wilson led the Warriors with 18 points while Drew Gradle added 10. No Concord player scored in double figures, but John Morningstar, Lugbill and Staley each added nine points.
"We played a good game tonight," said Berger. "I thought for 32 minutes the guys worked about as hard as they could have. We have played a lot of close games lately, and it was good to be able to make the play at the end of this one to finish it out."
Wawasee is now 4-10 overall and 2-3 in the NLC, while Concord falls to 4-10 overall and 1-4 in the NLC. Wawasee hosts Manchester tonight at 6:15 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE -ÊThe Wawasee Warriors have a flair for the dramatic.
With just over 18 seconds left in the final quarter of play in Friday's boys basketball game, Wawasee was ahead of Concord 52-50. All the Warriors had to do was get the ball across the half-court line and run the clock out.
However, the Concord Minutemen covered Wawasee like a cheap tent and forced the Warriors to turn the ball over on a 10-second violation with 9.1 ticks on the clock.
Concord inbounded the ball at the half-court line, but Warrior Travis Speicher stole the ball and passed down the court to Curtis Farrell. Farrell tossed up a shot that nicked the rim and bounced back into Speicher's hands. Speicher then put the basket in at the buzzer for the final score of the game, giving Wawasee a 54-50 win over Northern Lakes Conference opponent Concord.
After jumping out to 19-15 lead after one quarter of play, the Minutemen increased their lead to 27-21 with just 2:25 left in the second quarter.
But Drew Gradle netted two baskets in a row to cut the lead to two, and Brent Doty hit both ends of a one-and-bonus with 55.6 seconds left to tie the score at 27-27. Neither team was able to score in the final seconds, and the score remained knotted 27-27 at the half.
R.J. Wilson jump-started the second half by sinking a three-pointer with 6:30 left in the third quarter to give Wawasee a 30-27 advantage.
Concord's Jeremy Lugbill and Josh Staley hit consecutive baskets to give the Minutemen what would be their last lead of the game at 32-31.
Jeremy High, Andrew Packer and Wilson scored all 13 of the Warrior points in the third quarter, and Wawasee headed into the final frame with a one-point lead, 40-39.
In the final quarter of play, the Warriors played their toughest defense of the game. Wawasee held Concord to just 1-of-8 shooting from the field. Nine of Concord's 11 fourth-quarter points came from free throws.
In the end, Wawasee earned its second win in a row with the 54-50 victory over Concord.
"We can win games in the 50s and 60s," said Wawasee coach Robb Berger. "If we can hold the score low like that, we have a chance to beat teams. We aren't going to beat many teams if the score gets into the 70s and 80s."
Before the game started, both teams' coaches said the team that shot well was going to win the game, and they were right.
Although neither team shot above 50 percent, Wawasee was the team that shot better Friday night. The Warriors were 17 of 37 from the field (46 percent), while Concord hit only 14 of 38 shots (37 percent).
"I have tried to preach that defense wins basketball games," said Berger. "Tonight the kids stepped up and scored and played good defense. It was a total team effort."
R.J. Wilson led the Warriors with 18 points while Drew Gradle added 10. No Concord player scored in double figures, but John Morningstar, Lugbill and Staley each added nine points.
"We played a good game tonight," said Berger. "I thought for 32 minutes the guys worked about as hard as they could have. We have played a lot of close games lately, and it was good to be able to make the play at the end of this one to finish it out."
Wawasee is now 4-10 overall and 2-3 in the NLC, while Concord falls to 4-10 overall and 1-4 in the NLC. Wawasee hosts Manchester tonight at 6:15 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]