QUICK START, STRONG SECOND HALF CARRY WAVERLY TO 61-43 WIN OVER CANDOR
By: Tim Birney | Waverly Athletics | February 12, 2021 | Photo courtesy David Alliger
WAVERLY — Waverly got off to a quick start, thanks in large part to
freshman Joey Tomasso, withstood a shaky second quarter, then pulled
away in the second half in a 61-43 win over Candor here Friday night in
IAC boys basketball action.
Tomasso knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the first quarter to fuel an 18-9 first-quarter run.
“We’ve
been playing pretty well coming out of the gate in the first quarter,
and we did that again tonight,” said Waverly coach Lou Judson.
“But
that second quarter is one we’ve been struggling in,” he noted. “I
start to do some substitutions, and move some guys around. I’m playing a
lot of kids right now, trying to find line-ups that do well with one
another.”
Junior Davis Croft sparked an 8-2 run to open the
second quarter, giving the Wolverines a 26-11 lead with 5:35 left in the
first half.
Turnovers plagued Waverly for the remainder of the
quarter. In one stretch, the Wolverines turned the ball over in seven of
nine possession. They scored two points over the last 5 1/2 minutes and
saw their lead trimmed to eight points, 28-20, at the half.
Judson is perplexed by his team’s turnover woes. It committed 17 in the game, including 13 in the first half.
“That’s
the thing with this team that I haven’t been able to figure out yet,”
said Judson. “We’re small, I play four, at times five guards on the
floor breaking a press. You wouldn’t think we’d turn the basketball over
as frequently as we have been.
“It’s early,” he added. “It’s
poor decision-making, and we’re very weak with the basketball right
now.. I think those things will improve over time, and more practice in
the gym.”
Junior Brennan Traub buried a 3-pointer just 12 seconds
into the second half, then senior Aidan Westbrook grabbed a defensive
rebound and went coast-to-coast for a lay-up.
Senior Ryan
Lambert added a 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 spurt that gave the Wolverines a
36-20 lead with 4:55 left in the third quarter.
Waverly went up
40-23 on a bucket by Lambert with 3:26 remaining, but Nick Thomas and
Hunter Bates knocked down consecutive threes for the Indians to trim the
deficit to 40-29, but that was as close as Candor would get.
Junior
Brady Blauvelt canned a 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining in the third
quarter, and Lambert drained a long jumper with 5 ticks left on the
clock to push the lead back to 16, at 45-29, entering the final eight
minutes.
Tomasso scored in the low blocks to open the
fourth-quarter scoring, Lambert added a lay-up — off a steal and assist
from Tomasso, and junior Caden Hollywood scored on a driving lay-up to
give the Wolverines their biggest lead, at 51-29, with 7:02 left in the
game.
Candor scored the next five points — on a bucket by Thomas
and a 3-pointer by Zach Watson — to trim the lead to 51-34, but Tomasso
answered with five straight points, and Liam Traub made a free throw to
make it 59-34 with 2:10 left in the game.
Tomasso led Waverly
with a career-high 18 points, six steals, three rebounds, and three
assists, while Lambert had nine points and three boards, Westbrook had
eight points and six rebounds, and Croft had eight points and four
rebounds.
Blauvelt added seven points in the win, while Brennan
Traub chipped in with six points, senior Peyton Bowen grabbed four
boards, and Liam Traub had three rebounds and two blocked shots.
“I
really thought Joey Tomasso played an all-around good game tonight,”
said Judson. “He started out hot for us with 10 points in the first
quarter.
“He was very pesky on the defensive end, got his hands on a lot of balls … and he got some points in transition,” he noted.
“And, Aidan Westbrook played well defensively again, and got some points in transition,” added Judson.
Bates led a balanced Candor offense with 10 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Nine of Waverly’s 11 players played in all four quarters, and eight put their name in the scoring column.
“We
have a lot of guys getting in the scoring column for us, and getting a
few minutes here and there,” said Judson. “We have 11 kids and all of
them can play.
“It’s a different type of rotation that I’m use to
coaching, and it’s a different type of year,” he noted. “With no
playoffs, I’m trying to get some guys extra minutes to see what they can
do with them.
“I’ll probably be tightening that up a little bit as we move forward and get to the meat of our schedule,” Judson added.
Waverly (2-0) returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Newark Valley (0-1).

About the Author
Tim Birney is the founder / owner of River Road Media Group. He was born and raised in the Valley, graduating from Waverly High School in 1984.
Birney earned an Associate's Degree in Journalism from SUNY Morrisville in 1986 and a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism / Public Relations from Utica College of Syracuse University in 1988. He began his newspaper career at The Daily Review in Towanda in 1989, before moving on to The Evening Times in 1995. He spent more than 10 years at the Times, the last four as Managing Editor.
River Road Media Group includes Valley Sports Report (launched Aug. 10, 2009), Tioga County (NY) Sports Report (Aug. 13, 2018), and Northern Tier Sports Report (Aug. 31, 2020). Southern Tier Sports Report is set to launch in 2021.
