Wildcats swipe down Blue Jays; keep lead in SHAC
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — The Whiteoak Wildcats are proving preseason polls mean very little in February. Before the start of the season, the Wildcats were picked to finish second in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference by the coaches of the league … on Tuesday night, they kept themselves in the driver's seat to deliver a Division II championship, as they held off a Ripley rally for a 65-58 SHAC win.
The win puts WHS (8-3, 11-7) one victory away from clinching no less than a share of the SHAC championship. A win by WHS on Friday against Manchester and a loss by second-place Fayetteville (7-4) on the same night would give the Wildcats the outright Division II conference title with one game remaining on the conference schedule.
Fayetteville defeated Fairfield, 89-87 in OT on Tuesday, taking sole possession of second place in the division at 7-4. FHS falls to 6-5 in the SHAC.
If WHS wins both of their next two league games (vs. Manchester and vs. North Adams), it won't matter what the remainder of the conference's Division II teams do, as WHS will win the division by one game.
The point is … the Wildcats control their own destiny in gaining their first conference title since 2006.
A big part of their home win on Tuesday as they hosted RHS was their fourth quarter, as WHS showed the ability to hold off a Blue Jay rally on more than one occasion.
In the fourth, RHS got to within two points of tying the score with 5:23 left on the clock off a Wildcat turnover, then within one point of tying the score at 51-50 with 5:51 on the scoreboard.
Both times, senior Doc Seip was there to fend off the charge with points from either driving to the paint or from the free-throw line. The senior led all scorers with a game-high 25 points, including a first half where he tallied 17 points. Seip finished with a double-double by adding 15 rebounds.
"We had a mismatch, and we've been looking at that lately in practice," WHS head coach Tom Wessner said about Seip driving to the hoop more. "We had him catch the ball not only at the post, but catch it at the wing and use his athleticism a little bit to get to the basket.
"We could do that the last couple games, and it's worked pretty well for us."
Again, the Blue Jays tried to tie the score as they made it a 53-51 score, but it was Seip who was there to extend the Wildcats' advantage with consecutive layups for a six-point advantage with 3:33 on the clock.
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Later in the fourth, senior Luke Taggert sank two free throws, keeping the visiting Blue Jays at bay. Taggert was second in scoring with 22 points, as all his points came in the final three frames. Taggert was also 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
With under a minute left in regulation, it was senior Gage Carraher's turn to play a pivotal role in keeping the Blue Jays away from the lead. Carraher took a charge with 57.5 remaining, and with 30 or so seconds left to be ticked away, the senior sank four straight free throws to seal the win. For the game, Carraher, who totaled 10 points, was 8-of-8 from the foul line, including six of those eight in the final eight minutes.
"Gage did a great job down the stretch making free throws," Wessner said. "He was big for us, and him being 8-for-8 from the free-throw line really helped us out. He's going to have to handle the ball at the end of games.
"We've done a good job of finding the open guy, and when they were putting pressure on us, they were looking over the top to look for those easy baskets."
Also scoring points for WHS were Blake Trueblood with two points, Tyler Williams with six and Brent Davis with a free throw.
In the first half, the score was tied four times, including in the second quarter at 25 and 27, with the final tie in the game (27-27) coming with 1:40 left in the first half.
After the score was tied at 27 in the second frame, Ripley's Andrew Inskeep sank his second 3-pointer of the quarter, putting the Blue Jays ahead 30-27 with 1:35 left in the first half.
The Wildcats responded with six straight points, including four from Taggert. Ripley's Jonathan Staggs made it a one-point game at the half at 33-32, with WHS leading.
"The first half, Ripley made a lot of shots," Wessner said. "We've been on our guys about rebounding the last week or so. The second half they missed some shots, and we got the rebounds and got ourselves to the free-throw line."
Leading RHS in scoring were Inskeep and Brad Kirschner with 16 points each. Jaylen Williams followed with 14 points.
In the first and third frames, WHS led 15-13 after the first quarter, and WHS built a four-point lead at 46-42 after three quarters.
Coach Wessner spoke about the upcoming game with Manchester on Friday, Feb. 8 at WHS.
"Manchester is a very good team, and Coach (Aaron) Lockhart does a great job with those guys," he said. "We know we can't come in and take them lightly, no matter what Manchester's record is. It's going to be a very tough game."
The win puts WHS (8-3, 11-7) one victory away from clinching no less than a share of the SHAC championship. A win by WHS on Friday against Manchester and a loss by second-place Fayetteville (7-4) on the same night would give the Wildcats the outright Division II conference title with one game remaining on the conference schedule.
Fayetteville defeated Fairfield, 89-87 in OT on Tuesday, taking sole possession of second place in the division at 7-4. FHS falls to 6-5 in the SHAC.
If WHS wins both of their next two league games (vs. Manchester and vs. North Adams), it won't matter what the remainder of the conference's Division II teams do, as WHS will win the division by one game.
The point is … the Wildcats control their own destiny in gaining their first conference title since 2006.
A big part of their home win on Tuesday as they hosted RHS was their fourth quarter, as WHS showed the ability to hold off a Blue Jay rally on more than one occasion.
In the fourth, RHS got to within two points of tying the score with 5:23 left on the clock off a Wildcat turnover, then within one point of tying the score at 51-50 with 5:51 on the scoreboard.
Both times, senior Doc Seip was there to fend off the charge with points from either driving to the paint or from the free-throw line. The senior led all scorers with a game-high 25 points, including a first half where he tallied 17 points. Seip finished with a double-double by adding 15 rebounds.
"We had a mismatch, and we've been looking at that lately in practice," WHS head coach Tom Wessner said about Seip driving to the hoop more. "We had him catch the ball not only at the post, but catch it at the wing and use his athleticism a little bit to get to the basket.
"We could do that the last couple games, and it's worked pretty well for us."
Again, the Blue Jays tried to tie the score as they made it a 53-51 score, but it was Seip who was there to extend the Wildcats' advantage with consecutive layups for a six-point advantage with 3:33 on the clock.
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Later in the fourth, senior Luke Taggert sank two free throws, keeping the visiting Blue Jays at bay. Taggert was second in scoring with 22 points, as all his points came in the final three frames. Taggert was also 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
With under a minute left in regulation, it was senior Gage Carraher's turn to play a pivotal role in keeping the Blue Jays away from the lead. Carraher took a charge with 57.5 remaining, and with 30 or so seconds left to be ticked away, the senior sank four straight free throws to seal the win. For the game, Carraher, who totaled 10 points, was 8-of-8 from the foul line, including six of those eight in the final eight minutes.
"Gage did a great job down the stretch making free throws," Wessner said. "He was big for us, and him being 8-for-8 from the free-throw line really helped us out. He's going to have to handle the ball at the end of games.
"We've done a good job of finding the open guy, and when they were putting pressure on us, they were looking over the top to look for those easy baskets."
Also scoring points for WHS were Blake Trueblood with two points, Tyler Williams with six and Brent Davis with a free throw.
In the first half, the score was tied four times, including in the second quarter at 25 and 27, with the final tie in the game (27-27) coming with 1:40 left in the first half.
After the score was tied at 27 in the second frame, Ripley's Andrew Inskeep sank his second 3-pointer of the quarter, putting the Blue Jays ahead 30-27 with 1:35 left in the first half.
The Wildcats responded with six straight points, including four from Taggert. Ripley's Jonathan Staggs made it a one-point game at the half at 33-32, with WHS leading.
"The first half, Ripley made a lot of shots," Wessner said. "We've been on our guys about rebounding the last week or so. The second half they missed some shots, and we got the rebounds and got ourselves to the free-throw line."
Leading RHS in scoring were Inskeep and Brad Kirschner with 16 points each. Jaylen Williams followed with 14 points.
In the first and third frames, WHS led 15-13 after the first quarter, and WHS built a four-point lead at 46-42 after three quarters.
Coach Wessner spoke about the upcoming game with Manchester on Friday, Feb. 8 at WHS.
"Manchester is a very good team, and Coach (Aaron) Lockhart does a great job with those guys," he said. "We know we can't come in and take them lightly, no matter what Manchester's record is. It's going to be a very tough game."