Whiteoak moves on to sectional finals; defeats East by 25 points
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MCDERMOTT — From start to finish, the Whiteoak Wildcats never trailed in their Division IV SE District Sectional Semifinal game on Wednesday night, resulting in the Blake Kibler-led Wildcat squad continuing their season and moving on in convincing fashion.
The Wildcats not only achieved the next goal on their list, they did so by jumping out to an early lead over the Sciotoville East Tartans to eventually gain a 68-43 victory. The win by the Wildcats was their first win in tournament play since Feb. 21, 2012, when they defeated Western Latham, 70-41 in the sectional semifinals.
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Whiteoak’s first quarter is when they set the tone by outscoring the Tartans, 20-6 in the first eight minutes of play, including a 14-0 run to start the game as Hamilton sank a 3-pointer and a two-point basket to open the Wildcats scoring, followed by two points by Zach Rand for a 7-0 lead less than three full minutes into the game.
“We had a 10-day layoff, and that was either going to come to bite us or come to help us and give us fresh legs,” Whiteoak head coach Blake Kibler said. “We were fired up, amped up to get out there.
“The second quarter, we got really high up but then teetered out a little bit. We got it back in rhythm. They made a run on us in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter we took over and put them in their place.”
Next was the Wildcat defense on display by forcing a 10-second call, and from there, the Wildcat offense continued their run of scoring with seven more points with Trever Yeager scoring points in the paint and Rand following things up with a three-point play as he stole the ball and took it on a trip to the paint for two points while being fouled.
Rand completed the play with a free-throw conversion for a 12-0 WHS lead. Rand finished the game 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.
The Wildcats (13-10) completed their 14-0 run with a layup by Hamilton, who also took the ball full court for two points. For the game, Yeager totaled 19 points, while Rand and Hamilton each scored 13 points.
East (5-16) didn’t score points until the 3:13 mark of the first frame, but after they reached the scoreboard, Hamilton scored off an inbounds lob pass at the 2:30 mark of the first for a 16-2 advantage. The quarter eventually came to a close with Whiteoak and East each scoring four points in the final 2:23 with Whiteoak’s points coming from two free throws by Rand and a jumper from Yeager for the 14-point lead after eight minutes.
Again in the second frame, the Wildcats’ defense was on full display with their aggressive play holding East to single-digit scoring yet again, outscoring the Tartans, 13-8 in the quarter for a halftime lead of 33-14.
Though East was first to score points in the second, Whiteoak’s Charley Skinner (2), Yeager, Hamilton and Atlee Carr all scored points to increase the Wildcats’ lead to 29-8 with 3:26 still remaining in the second quarter for what turned into a 9-0 run.
East answered with three straight points, but Yeager made it a 31-12 lead with a free throw, and following two free throws by East, Skinner scored the final points of the frame for a 33-14 lead.
Whiteoak’s 19-point lead following the third frame was cut down to 11 points when the third frame ended with East outscoring the Wildcats, 22-14 in the quarter.
Whiteoak’s third frame wasn’t their best, but they still had points from Yeager, Stephen Ross, Rand and Hamilton to keep the lead at 47-36. Ross totaled 12 points for the Wildcats in the sectional semifinal win.
“On our scouting report, we knew their guard was going to be tough,” Kibler said. “They started making shots and started getting in desperate mode so they just started shooting. They made two or three 3-pointers and made a couple floaters there. They made some shots, but in the fourth quarter we adjusted and took over the game defensively.”
In the fourth quarter, the Wildcats outscored the Tartans, 21-7 with points by Yeager, Hamilton, Ryan Roberts, Ross, Rand and Logan Cummings. Of the 21 fourth-quarter points, Ross scored eight for the Wildcats, while Rand had four points in the frame.
For East, their leading scorer was Will Shope with 15 points, followed by Zack Garrett with 10 points and J.D. Hatcher with nine.
Next for the Wildcats is a sectional final game on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 6:15 p.m. vs. Southern Hills Athletic Conference counterpart Peebles at Northwest High School.
“We’re known for our tournament wins,” Kibler said. “You go in there [the WHS gym] and see all those banners up there. The season’s very important, but the tournament is really, really important. It’s huge for us, huge for our program.
“Now we’ve got to prepare for the monster Peebles Indians. They’ve got two special players, and Coach Arey does a really nice job over there. It’ll be interesting, and it’ll be fun.”
The Wildcats not only achieved the next goal on their list, they did so by jumping out to an early lead over the Sciotoville East Tartans to eventually gain a 68-43 victory. The win by the Wildcats was their first win in tournament play since Feb. 21, 2012, when they defeated Western Latham, 70-41 in the sectional semifinals.
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Whiteoak’s first quarter is when they set the tone by outscoring the Tartans, 20-6 in the first eight minutes of play, including a 14-0 run to start the game as Hamilton sank a 3-pointer and a two-point basket to open the Wildcats scoring, followed by two points by Zach Rand for a 7-0 lead less than three full minutes into the game.
“We had a 10-day layoff, and that was either going to come to bite us or come to help us and give us fresh legs,” Whiteoak head coach Blake Kibler said. “We were fired up, amped up to get out there.
“The second quarter, we got really high up but then teetered out a little bit. We got it back in rhythm. They made a run on us in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter we took over and put them in their place.”
Next was the Wildcat defense on display by forcing a 10-second call, and from there, the Wildcat offense continued their run of scoring with seven more points with Trever Yeager scoring points in the paint and Rand following things up with a three-point play as he stole the ball and took it on a trip to the paint for two points while being fouled.
Rand completed the play with a free-throw conversion for a 12-0 WHS lead. Rand finished the game 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.
The Wildcats (13-10) completed their 14-0 run with a layup by Hamilton, who also took the ball full court for two points. For the game, Yeager totaled 19 points, while Rand and Hamilton each scored 13 points.
East (5-16) didn’t score points until the 3:13 mark of the first frame, but after they reached the scoreboard, Hamilton scored off an inbounds lob pass at the 2:30 mark of the first for a 16-2 advantage. The quarter eventually came to a close with Whiteoak and East each scoring four points in the final 2:23 with Whiteoak’s points coming from two free throws by Rand and a jumper from Yeager for the 14-point lead after eight minutes.
Again in the second frame, the Wildcats’ defense was on full display with their aggressive play holding East to single-digit scoring yet again, outscoring the Tartans, 13-8 in the quarter for a halftime lead of 33-14.
Though East was first to score points in the second, Whiteoak’s Charley Skinner (2), Yeager, Hamilton and Atlee Carr all scored points to increase the Wildcats’ lead to 29-8 with 3:26 still remaining in the second quarter for what turned into a 9-0 run.
East answered with three straight points, but Yeager made it a 31-12 lead with a free throw, and following two free throws by East, Skinner scored the final points of the frame for a 33-14 lead.
Whiteoak’s 19-point lead following the third frame was cut down to 11 points when the third frame ended with East outscoring the Wildcats, 22-14 in the quarter.
Whiteoak’s third frame wasn’t their best, but they still had points from Yeager, Stephen Ross, Rand and Hamilton to keep the lead at 47-36. Ross totaled 12 points for the Wildcats in the sectional semifinal win.
“On our scouting report, we knew their guard was going to be tough,” Kibler said. “They started making shots and started getting in desperate mode so they just started shooting. They made two or three 3-pointers and made a couple floaters there. They made some shots, but in the fourth quarter we adjusted and took over the game defensively.”
In the fourth quarter, the Wildcats outscored the Tartans, 21-7 with points by Yeager, Hamilton, Ryan Roberts, Ross, Rand and Logan Cummings. Of the 21 fourth-quarter points, Ross scored eight for the Wildcats, while Rand had four points in the frame.
For East, their leading scorer was Will Shope with 15 points, followed by Zack Garrett with 10 points and J.D. Hatcher with nine.
Next for the Wildcats is a sectional final game on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 6:15 p.m. vs. Southern Hills Athletic Conference counterpart Peebles at Northwest High School.
“We’re known for our tournament wins,” Kibler said. “You go in there [the WHS gym] and see all those banners up there. The season’s very important, but the tournament is really, really important. It’s huge for us, huge for our program.
“Now we’ve got to prepare for the monster Peebles Indians. They’ve got two special players, and Coach Arey does a really nice job over there. It’ll be interesting, and it’ll be fun.”