Whiteoak battles, drops game to Peebles in Friday night SHAC contest

MOWRYSTOWN — The Whiteoak Wildcats kept the score within reach at times in the first half and got to a single-digit deficit in the third quarter, but the Peebles Indians were too strong in the latter part of the second half, defeating the host Wildcats, 71-54 Friday at Whiteoak High School. 

The first frame was the closest of all the quarters played with the Wildcats trailing by just five points after eight minutes at 15-10. 

Whiteoak was first to reach the scoreboard in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference game with Sawyer Blair draining a 3-pointer for the lead 30 seconds into the game. Peebles answered with two free throws by Grady Knechtly, only to see Whiteoak’s Carson Hart make a free throw for a 4-2 lead. 

Peebles scored the next four points with baskets by Paxton Ryan and Josh McClary, but a jumper from Whiteoak’s Blair tied the score at 6-6. After the Indians gained a two-point lead off a bucker by Knechtly, WHS tied the score at 8-8 when Brady Brandenburg made a layup in the paint. 

The score was later tied at 10-10 following a basket by Whiteoak’s Jason Gaskins, only to see Peebles take a five-point lead to end the first frame following a 3-pointer, plus a steal and layup from McClary for the 15-10 score. 

WHS cut the Peebles lead to three points to start the second quarter following a bucket by Brandenburg, but a 3-pointer from Keegan Puckett of Peebles put the Indians up six points one minute into the second frame. 

Peebles eventually increased their lead to 11 points with 4:27 left in the quarter following a 3-pointer by Connor Gross at the 4:27 mark of the quarter. A basket by Blair made it a seven-point deficit for the Wildcats, but Peebles continued to add to their second-quarter advantage with the halftime break seeing them lead by 13 points at 38-25. 

The Indians led by 11 points when the third quarter ended at 52-41, as WHS did cut the Peebles advantage to nine points twice in the third at the 2:07 mark following a basket by Christopher Wessner, and later Wessner made another basket at the 1:30 mark of the third. 

Peebles scored four consecutive points to regain a 13-point lead, but WHS ended the third quarter with a basket at the buzzer by Hart. 

“Toward the end, it kind of got away,” Whiteoak head coach Cory Copas said. “We never put any pressure on them toward the end of the game, we never made them feel uncomfortable. We never got close enough where they said we got to kind of buckle it down.

“We missed a lot of buckets early and stuff like that, and we weren’t very good from the free-throw line. When you give up easy buckets like that for us to score, and you don’t convert on free throws, that doesn’t help. Peebles is a good offense, with four or five shooters. We threw the game plan out in the second half and decided to sit down and guard. We had a lot of miscommunications that we’ll have to watch film and figure it out.”

Peebles eventually held a 17-point lead when the game was over, outscoring the Wildcats 19-13.

Whiteoak was led in scoring by Brandenburg with 14 points, ending the game with six two-point baskets, and he was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Wessner totaled 12 points with five two-point buckets and he was also 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Blair was also in double figures in the scoring column with an 11-point game, totaling four two-point baskets and one 3-pointer.

Whiteoak also had nine points scored by Gaskins with a 3-pointer, a two-point basket and he was 2-of-2 in his free-throw attempts. Hart chipped in with six points, making a basket and going 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. Lucas Pollard finished with four points for the Wildcats, making two baskets. 

“The kids are playing hard, but we aren’t here for moral victories,” Copas said. “It’s great we have the effort, but we have to get the job done, and this is two out of three games where we haven’t got the job done. I told them we have the ability and stuff like that if we show up, that we can play with some teams, but we also cannot show up and get beat by teams. 

“We just have to get back to work and be ready to play.”

Whiteoak finished the game with 20 two-point baskets, two 3-pointers, and they went 10-of-15 from the free-throw line. 

McClary led Peebles with 22 points, finishing the game with six two-point baskets, three 3-pointers, and he was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. Bo Johnson totaled 16 points for PHS with seven two-point baskets and he was 2-of-3 from the free-throw line. Knechtly totaled 10 points off five two-point baskets. 

Other scoring for the Indians included: Colyn Sims (4), Gross (5), Ryan (9) and Puckett (5). PHS totaled 24 two-point baskets, six 3-pointers and they were 5-of-12 from the free-throw line. 

Whiteoak now stands at 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the SHAC Division II standings. Peebles improves to 3-0 overall and 3-0 in the Division II SHAC standings. 

Next for WHS is a home SHAC game on Tuesday, Dec. 16 on the road against the Eastern Warriors. Whiteoak’s Saturday, Dec. 13 game against Felicity was postponed due to inclement weather. 

Peebles will play again Tuesday, Dec. 16 on the road in a SHAC contest against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs. 

BOX SCORE 
PHS     15 23 14 19 — 71
WHS    10 15 16 15 — 56