Whiteoak snaps losing skid, defeats Northwest
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — The losing drought is over for the Whiteoak Wildcats. In recent weeks, the Wildcats have struggled to get to the win column, losing seven straight games, but Tuesday night the fortunes went to the Wildcats, who defended their home court for a 46-41 victory.
The non-conference win saw the Wildcats not only stop a string of seven straight losses, but they took the lead in the third frame and held on to it for the remainder of the game by playing with more intensity in the second half than they did in the first two frames.
“We’ve lost seven in a row, and they’ve been kind of deer in the headlights, struggling with shots not falling and they kind of don’t know what to do if the offense isn’t flowing,” WHS head coach Blake Kibler said. “We just preach in the second half, we have got to pick up the tempo and pick up the intensity. They were playing a box-and-one and a triangle-and-two, and we’ve got to be relentless. We just kept preaching that, and they were finally ‘Ahh, Coach is right after all.’ The lightbulb went off.”
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The third frame itself saw the Wildcats go from trailing by a 28-22 score to leading by a 35-31 score as they held the Mohawks to a 13-3 third frame.
Whiteoak opened the third with a 3-pointer by Zach Rand, followed with a trey by Hunter Ruckel to tie the game at 28 at the 6:50 mark of the third, forcing Northwest to call a timeout. The Mohawks went ahead — as they didn’t trail until the 5:22 mark of the third — with one point from Brayden Campbell. WHS took their first lead with the aforementioned 5:22 mark showing on the scoreboard following a put-back basket in the paint from Brayden Yeager for a 30-29 advantage.
That was the start of a 7-0 run by WHS that saw their lead jump to six points with a 3-pointer that was sank by Bradley Ashbaugh and a jumper from Ruckel — who finished with a game-high 15 points — for a 35-29 lead with 2:24 on the clock. NWHS ended the third with a jumper by Ashton Hall.
Having a four-point lead to start the fourth saw Whiteoak allow the game to get tied at 35 with baskets from McDermott’s Hall and Billy Crabtree. WHS answered with a layup by Nick Bailey and a 3-pointer from the corner by Ruckel for a 40-35 advantage with 5:18 on the clock, forcing Northwest to call a timeout.
The Mohawks came back with a two-handed basket by Chase McClay, but that was answered with a bucket from Rand, who was fouled on the basket for a 40-37 advantage. Northwest came back with a layup at the 4:03 mark from Hall to get to within three points of tying the game. The next point in the game wasn’t scored until the 2:19 mark off a free-throw conversion by Rand as he ended the game with 11 points.
Again, Northwest came back with a layup, this time by Brandon Hobbs with 2:03 on the clock for a 43-41 score still in favor of WHS.
Eventually, WHS was sent to the free-throw line as Ruckel made maybe the most important basket of the night as he was fouled while driving to the hoop, with the basket being made. The three-point play was completed with the converted free throw with 19.3 on the clock to push the Wildcats ahead by two possessions at 46-41, sealing the win.
“We started putting the ball in the hole a little bit more in the second half, and things started to happen,” Kibler said. “They picked it up on the defensive end as well, but again, I think the ball started to fall and we started to pick it up.
“The pressure was on. It’s been on ever since we’ve been on this little losing streak. We’ve been battling injuries and stuff like that. This was a nice win against a quality team, and a win’s a win. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win.”
The first half was played closely with Northwest leading 13-8 at the end of the first quarter and following a 15-14 second frame, the Wildcats trailed 28-22 at halftime.
In the first quarter for WHS, the scoring came from Deavin Cumberland with five of the eight points and three points by Rand. In the second, Chase Butler sank a 3-pointer for WHS followed with a trey by Atlee Carr in the quarter. Also in the second frame, scoring from WHS came by Ruckel with three points and two points by Rand.
Hall led the Mohawks with 12 points, followed by McClay with nine points.
The non-conference win saw the Wildcats not only stop a string of seven straight losses, but they took the lead in the third frame and held on to it for the remainder of the game by playing with more intensity in the second half than they did in the first two frames.
“We’ve lost seven in a row, and they’ve been kind of deer in the headlights, struggling with shots not falling and they kind of don’t know what to do if the offense isn’t flowing,” WHS head coach Blake Kibler said. “We just preach in the second half, we have got to pick up the tempo and pick up the intensity. They were playing a box-and-one and a triangle-and-two, and we’ve got to be relentless. We just kept preaching that, and they were finally ‘Ahh, Coach is right after all.’ The lightbulb went off.”
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The third frame itself saw the Wildcats go from trailing by a 28-22 score to leading by a 35-31 score as they held the Mohawks to a 13-3 third frame.
Whiteoak opened the third with a 3-pointer by Zach Rand, followed with a trey by Hunter Ruckel to tie the game at 28 at the 6:50 mark of the third, forcing Northwest to call a timeout. The Mohawks went ahead — as they didn’t trail until the 5:22 mark of the third — with one point from Brayden Campbell. WHS took their first lead with the aforementioned 5:22 mark showing on the scoreboard following a put-back basket in the paint from Brayden Yeager for a 30-29 advantage.
That was the start of a 7-0 run by WHS that saw their lead jump to six points with a 3-pointer that was sank by Bradley Ashbaugh and a jumper from Ruckel — who finished with a game-high 15 points — for a 35-29 lead with 2:24 on the clock. NWHS ended the third with a jumper by Ashton Hall.
Having a four-point lead to start the fourth saw Whiteoak allow the game to get tied at 35 with baskets from McDermott’s Hall and Billy Crabtree. WHS answered with a layup by Nick Bailey and a 3-pointer from the corner by Ruckel for a 40-35 advantage with 5:18 on the clock, forcing Northwest to call a timeout.
The Mohawks came back with a two-handed basket by Chase McClay, but that was answered with a bucket from Rand, who was fouled on the basket for a 40-37 advantage. Northwest came back with a layup at the 4:03 mark from Hall to get to within three points of tying the game. The next point in the game wasn’t scored until the 2:19 mark off a free-throw conversion by Rand as he ended the game with 11 points.
Again, Northwest came back with a layup, this time by Brandon Hobbs with 2:03 on the clock for a 43-41 score still in favor of WHS.
Eventually, WHS was sent to the free-throw line as Ruckel made maybe the most important basket of the night as he was fouled while driving to the hoop, with the basket being made. The three-point play was completed with the converted free throw with 19.3 on the clock to push the Wildcats ahead by two possessions at 46-41, sealing the win.
“We started putting the ball in the hole a little bit more in the second half, and things started to happen,” Kibler said. “They picked it up on the defensive end as well, but again, I think the ball started to fall and we started to pick it up.
“The pressure was on. It’s been on ever since we’ve been on this little losing streak. We’ve been battling injuries and stuff like that. This was a nice win against a quality team, and a win’s a win. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win.”
The first half was played closely with Northwest leading 13-8 at the end of the first quarter and following a 15-14 second frame, the Wildcats trailed 28-22 at halftime.
In the first quarter for WHS, the scoring came from Deavin Cumberland with five of the eight points and three points by Rand. In the second, Chase Butler sank a 3-pointer for WHS followed with a trey by Atlee Carr in the quarter. Also in the second frame, scoring from WHS came by Ruckel with three points and two points by Rand.
Hall led the Mohawks with 12 points, followed by McClay with nine points.