Whitko Rally Comes Up Short
March 2, 2017 at 4:57 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
Central Noble’s Mason Smith hit a fadeaway three from the right corner as time expired to give the Cougars a 62-61 high school boys basketball win over the Wildcats.
After trailing by 18 in the second quarter, 17 at halftime and by 10 heading into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats had a 61-59 lead with 15 seconds to go when Spencer Sroufe and River West each hit the second of two free throws down the stretch.
The Cougars worked the ball down low, but Wildcat sophomore Sroufe rejected a potential game-tying shot by Trey Phillips, sending the ball out of bounds with 2.5 seconds left.
Operating without a timeout, Central Noble’s Reeve Zolman found Smith acting as a safety valve. With senior Alex Bechtold’s hand in his face, Smith turned and fired, with the ball going through the net just before the final buzzer.
It was a great shot; a fadeaway from the corner,” Whitko coach Eli Henson said. “Good for him.”
The epic comeback was necessary because Whitko played, arguably, its worst half of the season to open the game. The Cougars outhustled the Wildcats on every loose ball and gathered 10 rebounds on the offensive end, including three on missed free throws.
“In the first half, they wanted it a little more than us,” Henson said. “They had 10 offensive rebounds, and that led to 10 or 12 points, and we were giving up offensive rebounds on free throws. That’s a problem.
“In the second half we responded well. We never gave up. Sometimes you wonder if you’d rather lose by 20 or come back and then lose like that. But I’m proud of those guys; they showed the effort in that second half, and they wanted it. They’re a good group of kids, and they fought through it. That game meant a lot to them, and to lose it, it’s not fun.”
At halftime, Henson said he told his seniors not to let their careers end on a sour note.
“I challenged them. I looked at the seniors and said ‘you can’t go out like this. You gotta bring it in the second half,’” he said. “I challenge them a lot, and I get on them and I ride them, but they respond well to it, and they did in the second half.”
Whitko made a pair of second-half runs. The ‘Cats opened the third quarter on a 9-2 run, but the Cougars wasted little time in restoring their 17-point lead with five minutes to go in the period.
From there Whitko began chipping away, forcing turnovers here and getting stops there, until they got within striking distance on a pair of Sroufe free throws to cut the lead to six, 49-43, with 6:04 left in the game.
Two minutes later the Cougars built the lead back to 11, but back-to-back-to-back threes, first by Nate Walpole then two by West, left Whitko down by two. After his second three, West stole the inbounds pass and hit a layup to tie the game at 59-59 with 1:17 left.
Sroufe then hit one of two free throws with 34.6 seconds to go, and West did likewise about 20 seconds later to set up the dramatic finish.
“River had a great second half. He was everywhere on defense, on offense he was getting rebounds like crazy,” Henson said.
“But in the first half we had a huge hole, and being down 17 at half is tough to come back from. We did, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation. We got out of it, but we couldn’t get a stop in the last few seconds like we needed to.”
Walpole scored 18 points in his final high school game. West had 15 of his team-high 20 points after halftime. Sroufe finished with 11 points.
Central Noble’s Ridley Zolman hit six three-pointers on his way to a 20-point night before fouling out. Smith finished with 17 and Reeve Zolman added 14 for the Cougars, who will face Westview (a 64-46 winner over Fremont) in the second semifinal Friday night.
Whitko finished its season with a 14-9 record.
CENTRAL NOBLE 62, WHITKO 61
W 5 11 23 22 – 61
CN 15 18 16 13 – 62
Whitko – Alex Bechtold 0-2 1-2 1, Colin Craig 2-2 0-0 5, Cade Bechtold 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Robbins 2-7 0-0 6, Nate Walpole 4-15 9-13 18, River West 8-12 1-3 20, Spencer Sroufe 4-9 2-4 11. Totals 20-42 13-22 61.
Central Noble – Lucas Deck 0-0 0-0 0, Reeve Zolman 5-13 4-4 14. Zach Brazel 0-1 0-0 0, Mason Smith 7-9 1-4 17, Trey Phillips 2-11 1-3 5, Chase Hunter 2-5 2-3 6, Ridley Zolman 7-9 0-0 20. Conner Lundquist 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 8-14 62.
Three-pointers – Whitko 8 (West 3, Robbins 2, Craig, Walpole, Sroufe), Central Noble 8 (Ri. Zolman 6, Smith 2); Rebounds – Whitko 22 (Walpole 6, West 6), Central Noble 34 (Smith 14); Turnovers – Whitko 11, Central Noble 19; Fouls – Whitko 21, Central Noble 19; fouled out – Craig, Ri. Zolman; Records – Whitko 14-9, Central Noble 12-12.
Central Noble’s Mason Smith hit a fadeaway three from the right corner as time expired to give the Cougars a 62-61 high school boys basketball win over the Wildcats.
After trailing by 18 in the second quarter, 17 at halftime and by 10 heading into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats had a 61-59 lead with 15 seconds to go when Spencer Sroufe and River West each hit the second of two free throws down the stretch.
The Cougars worked the ball down low, but Wildcat sophomore Sroufe rejected a potential game-tying shot by Trey Phillips, sending the ball out of bounds with 2.5 seconds left.
Operating without a timeout, Central Noble’s Reeve Zolman found Smith acting as a safety valve. With senior Alex Bechtold’s hand in his face, Smith turned and fired, with the ball going through the net just before the final buzzer.
It was a great shot; a fadeaway from the corner,” Whitko coach Eli Henson said. “Good for him.”
The epic comeback was necessary because Whitko played, arguably, its worst half of the season to open the game. The Cougars outhustled the Wildcats on every loose ball and gathered 10 rebounds on the offensive end, including three on missed free throws.
“In the first half, they wanted it a little more than us,” Henson said. “They had 10 offensive rebounds, and that led to 10 or 12 points, and we were giving up offensive rebounds on free throws. That’s a problem.
“In the second half we responded well. We never gave up. Sometimes you wonder if you’d rather lose by 20 or come back and then lose like that. But I’m proud of those guys; they showed the effort in that second half, and they wanted it. They’re a good group of kids, and they fought through it. That game meant a lot to them, and to lose it, it’s not fun.”
At halftime, Henson said he told his seniors not to let their careers end on a sour note.
“I challenged them. I looked at the seniors and said ‘you can’t go out like this. You gotta bring it in the second half,’” he said. “I challenge them a lot, and I get on them and I ride them, but they respond well to it, and they did in the second half.”
Whitko made a pair of second-half runs. The ‘Cats opened the third quarter on a 9-2 run, but the Cougars wasted little time in restoring their 17-point lead with five minutes to go in the period.
From there Whitko began chipping away, forcing turnovers here and getting stops there, until they got within striking distance on a pair of Sroufe free throws to cut the lead to six, 49-43, with 6:04 left in the game.
Two minutes later the Cougars built the lead back to 11, but back-to-back-to-back threes, first by Nate Walpole then two by West, left Whitko down by two. After his second three, West stole the inbounds pass and hit a layup to tie the game at 59-59 with 1:17 left.
Sroufe then hit one of two free throws with 34.6 seconds to go, and West did likewise about 20 seconds later to set up the dramatic finish.
“River had a great second half. He was everywhere on defense, on offense he was getting rebounds like crazy,” Henson said.
“But in the first half we had a huge hole, and being down 17 at half is tough to come back from. We did, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation. We got out of it, but we couldn’t get a stop in the last few seconds like we needed to.”
Walpole scored 18 points in his final high school game. West had 15 of his team-high 20 points after halftime. Sroufe finished with 11 points.
Central Noble’s Ridley Zolman hit six three-pointers on his way to a 20-point night before fouling out. Smith finished with 17 and Reeve Zolman added 14 for the Cougars, who will face Westview (a 64-46 winner over Fremont) in the second semifinal Friday night.
Whitko finished its season with a 14-9 record.
CENTRAL NOBLE 62, WHITKO 61
W 5 11 23 22 – 61
CN 15 18 16 13 – 62
Whitko – Alex Bechtold 0-2 1-2 1, Colin Craig 2-2 0-0 5, Cade Bechtold 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Robbins 2-7 0-0 6, Nate Walpole 4-15 9-13 18, River West 8-12 1-3 20, Spencer Sroufe 4-9 2-4 11. Totals 20-42 13-22 61.
Central Noble – Lucas Deck 0-0 0-0 0, Reeve Zolman 5-13 4-4 14. Zach Brazel 0-1 0-0 0, Mason Smith 7-9 1-4 17, Trey Phillips 2-11 1-3 5, Chase Hunter 2-5 2-3 6, Ridley Zolman 7-9 0-0 20. Conner Lundquist 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 8-14 62.
Three-pointers – Whitko 8 (West 3, Robbins 2, Craig, Walpole, Sroufe), Central Noble 8 (Ri. Zolman 6, Smith 2); Rebounds – Whitko 22 (Walpole 6, West 6), Central Noble 34 (Smith 14); Turnovers – Whitko 11, Central Noble 19; Fouls – Whitko 21, Central Noble 19; fouled out – Craig, Ri. Zolman; Records – Whitko 14-9, Central Noble 12-12.
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