Whiteoak earns trip to sectional finals; defeats Eastern Eagles
The Whiteoak Wildcats are headed to the sectional finals by way of winning their Division IV SE District Sectional Semifinal game Tuesday night at home against the Eastern (Reedsville) Eagles, 60-47.
No. 15 seeded Whiteoak (6-17) won their sectional semifinal game by outscoring the No. 18 seeded Eagles (4-19) in three of the four quarters played, starting with a 13-11 first quarter. In the first, Zander Roades drained a 3-pointer, along with teammates Weston Blair and Brady Brandenburg each making two baskets for four points, and Aiden Crowe chipped in with two points off a basket.
WHS won the second quarter at 12-10, giving them a halftime lead of 25-21. In that second frame, Whiteoak’s Weston Blair scored four points, Brandenburg added three points, Sawyer Blair made a 3-pointer and Roades scored two points off a bucket.
The two teams combined for 35 points in the third quarter, with the Eagles scoring 18 points and the Wildcats totaling 17 points, leaving WHS in front, 42-39.
Whiteoak’s third quarter consisted of Tyler Wessner scoring seven points off three baskets from the field and a free throw. Roades was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, Weston Blair went 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, plus teammates Brandenburg and Sawyer Blair each made a two-point bucket.
The Wildcats took control of the game for good in the fourth quarter with an 18-8 scoring differential for the 13-point win.
Whiteoak’s final quarter scoring consisted of four two-point baskets by Weston Blair for eight points, Sawyer Blair scoring four points, Brandenburg with three points, Roades scoring two points and Wessner making a free throw.
Weston Blair led the Wildcats on the scoreboard with 18 points, finishing the game with eight two-point baskets, and he was 2-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Bradenburg followed with 12 points as he made five two-point baskets and two free throws in the win.
Roades totaled 11 points for WHS, as he scored points with a two-point basket, drained a 3-pointer and he was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Also for WHS, Sawyer Blair totaled nine points with two two-point baskets, a 3-pointer and he finished 2-of-2 with his free-throw chances. Wessner ended with eight points off three two-point baskets and a 2-of-3 performance from the free-throw line, while teammate Crowe totaled two points with a basket.
As a team, WHS finished with 20 two-point baskets, two 3-pointers and they were 14-of-19 from the free-throw line.
Eastern was led by Derek Barnes with 15 points off five 3-pointers. Other final scoring for the Eagles included: Tyler Hill (nine), Gavin Murphy (eight), Colton Lloyd (six), Tristan Middleswart (five) and Cooper Barnett (four).
The Eagles’ team totals included nine two-point baskets, eight 3-pointers, and they were 5-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Next for the Wildcats is a Division IV sectional final game on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Miami Trace High School against the No. 2 seeded — and Highland County/SHAC counterpart — Fairfield Lions (19-3) at 6:15 p.m. FHS won both regular-season meetings between the two schools.
BOX SCORE
EHS 11 10 18 08 — 47
WHS 13 12 17 18 — 60
WHITEOAK (60) — Z.Roades 1 (1) 6-6 11, S.Blair 2 (1) 2-2 9, T.Wessner 3 (0) 2-3 8, A.Crowe 1 (0) 0-0 2, W.Blair 8 (0) 2-4 18, B.Bradenburg 5 (0) 2-4 12. TOTALS: 20 (2) 14-19 60.
EASTERN (47) — G.Murphy 2 (1) 1-2 8, C.Lloyd 1 (1) 1-2 6, D.Barnes 0 (5) 0-0 15, T.Hill 3 (1) 0-0 9, T.Middleswart 1 (0) 3-4 5, C.Bennett 2 (0) 0-0 4. TOTALS: 9 (8) 5-8 47.
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