WAVERLY RALLIES TO DEFEAT S-VE, 58-46, IN SEASON FINALE
By: Tim Birney | WaverlyAthletics.com | March 6, 2021 | Photo courtesy David Alliger
WAVERLY — Spencer-Van Etten started out hot, but Waverly was able to
cool the Panthers off to post a 58-46 victory on the final day of the
shortened season here Saturday.
S-VE jumped in front, 26-17, on the strength of five 3-pointers before
the Wolverines were able to regroup. The Panthers' largest lead of the
game came on Matt Merrick's third trey of the day with 3:19 remaining in
the first half.
With the Wolverines down nine, Brennan Traub scored a basket and Liam
Traub followed with a three a minute later, igniting the Waverly
comeback.
"We didn't play well up until that point," Waverly coach Lou Judson
said. "We just kind of got a spark going and kind of found a way to get
back in the game. We knew going into the second half that we didn't play
well and if we could play up to our capability we would be fine.
"Certain guys were maybe shooting the basketball too soon or too often,
and the ball was not finding the right guy. Today in the second half,
the ball found the right guy at certain moments.
Davis Croft scored following a Panther turnover and Joey Tomasso
out-jumped Jewell for a defensive rebound, then turning it into a bucket
moments later to knot the score at 26. Logan Jewell would find the hole
with a free throw with 5.4 seconds left in the half, but Waverly raced
to the other end with Brennan Traub getting open in the paint for a
buzzer beater to put the Wolverines on top to stay, 28-27.
"I've been doing a lot of substitutions all year long and allowing guys
to start that maybe wouldn't have started in a regular season, so it
gets you out of the flow a little bit," Judson said of the slow start.
Waverly remained hot after the break as Tomasso put in a follow-up and
Ryan Lambert scored on a fast break to make it 34-27.
Marcus Brock got a point back for Spencer on a free throw, but Tomasso
flipped in an easy shot in the paint and canned a three, the Kobe Decker
added a bucket to push the Wolverine advantage to 43-28.
"We started out really strong," S-VE coach Cliff Pierce said. "I think
fatigue actually hurt us a little bit as we got going. The first quarter
we were pretty fresh, played pretty well. The last two minutes of the
second quarter, that hurt us. We turned the ball over a bunch of times.
We didn't really run a good offensive set.
"We gave up a bunch of threes there toward the end of the first half and
then Waverly was able to take that momentum and come out in the second
half and kind of ride that wave. The third quarter really hurt us. I
think they outscored us, 22-6. Other than that, we played pretty well
the rest of the quarters."
James Sutherlin stopped the assault with a three, then made two of three
foul shots 47 seconds later to cut the gap to 43-33 with 2:49 left in
the third period.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, Waverly responded with a basket and a
steal and layup by Tomasso, and a trey from Croft to close out the
period with a 50-33 cushion.
Aidan Westbrook and Liam Traub combined for three free throw points,
offsetting a foul shot by Dominic Grier to make it 53-34 early in the
final stanza.
"We really worked through Aidan Westbrook in the post in the second
half," Judson said. "He found cutters and he was able to get to the rim
and do some good things for us there.
Matthew Byrne knocked down the first of his two fourth-quarter treys,
then Jewell added a free throw to keep the difference at 15. Brennan
Traub canned a trey at the 3-minute mark and Croft tallied Waverly's
final points with 2:34 to go to push the lead to 2:34 on the clock for a
58-38 lead.
"I was pleased with our team defense today," Judson said. "We knew James
Sutherlin and Matthew Byrne, and those guys are tough, and James
Sutherlin being one of the better guards in Section IV, so we knew we
had our hands full today."
Sutherlin added a basket and a trey, and Byrne nailed his third three of the day to close out the scoring.
The game had several lead changes in the first two minutes as Tyler
Doster and Sutherlin scored the first two buckets. Aidan Westbrook
converted a conventional three-point play and Decker scored to make it
5-4 Waverly. The lead changed twice on threes by Merrick and Decker,
then went back in S-VE's favor on a basket by Sutherlin.
The Panthers would tack on treys by Byrne and Brock to go up, 17-12, at
quarter's end. A trey and layup by Merrick offset a reverse layup from
Westbrook and a three by Peyton Bowen, then a Sutherlin free throw and
another Merrick three gave S-VE its biggest lead of the game at 26-17.
Tomasso led the Wolverines with 15 points. He also had a pair of steals.
Decker and Westbrook contributed nine points each. Croft and Brennan
Traub chipped in with seven points apiece. Croft added five rebounds and
two assists, and Traub handed out two assists.
Liam Traub tacked on four points and two steals, Bowen had three points
and eight boards, Lambert added two points and two assists, and Brady
Blauvelt tacked on two points and a blocked shot.
Sutherlin led all scorers with 17 points, Merrick scored 11 and Byrne
chipped in with nine. The trio combined to sink eight 3-pointers, three
each by Merrick and Byrne. Brock added four points, Doster and Jewell
had two apiece and Grier scored a point.
Waverly closed out the season with an 8-4 record, all its losses coming to Class AA teams.
"(I was) very pleased with our performance and very please with the
season," said Judson. "I just wished we could have gone a little bit
further this year."
S-VE finished at 4-2, playing a limited schedule due to its season being cut short by a COVID quarantine.
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