WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE — The formula has been pretty much the same all season for the Wilmington High School boys basketball team.
Patient offense. Stingy defense.
The Hurricane’s 51-45 win over Washington Friday night was the formula personified and gave WHS head coach Michael Noszka the 200th coaching victory in orange and black.
“I’d like to thank all the players and coaches who have contributed to our success the last 12 years,” Noszka said, still clutching the game ball under his right arm. “It’s been fun.”
Wilmington goes to 12-8 overall and 10-3 in the SCOL.
Washington drops to 7-12 and 5-8.
Dylan Beaugard, scoreless on five shot attempts in the first quarter, led all scorers with 21 points. He had seven points and assisted on the other three WHS field goals in the second. In the third, the junior guard had 10 points and then in the fourth he drained four free throws in the final 41 seconds to seal the win.
In addition to the points, Beaugard had eight rebounds, five assists and five steals in one of the best all-around performance of the season.
“The way Dylan is playing right now, tells me he’s not been healthy (before),” Noszka said.
Matthew Smith tossed in 14 points for WHS, a total that include a trio of three-pointers. He also had five steals. Chris Wolary led Wilmington with seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Overall, Wilmington was 18 for 47 from the field and committed 11 turnovers.
Washington hit on 19 of 42 from the field and had 12 turnovers.
Jarett Patton had 11 points, but all of them were in the first half. Noszka credited the WHS defense with holding Patton scoreless in the third and fourth quarters.
“Jeffery (Mansfield) did a great job on Patton,” Noszka said. “In the second half, we weren’t going to leave him (Patton) alone.”
Richard Burns Jr. led the Blue Lions with 14 points.
The flow of the game was back and forth through much of the first half. Late in the second quarter, the Blue Lions began to pull away. A Patton three-pointer at the 3:53 mark put Wilmington in a 21-14 hole.
Down 25-20 at the half, Noszka reflected back to the end of the first half against Hillsboro when Wilmington was unable to finish strong. It was a similar scenario Friday in Fayette County.
“Our margin for error is not great,” said Noszka. “End of quarter situations are critical for us. We have to finish quarters better.”
Led by Beaugard and Smith, who combined for for 17 of Wilmington’s 19 third quarter points, the Hurricane seized the lead late in the third and held on. Beaugard assisted on Smith’s three-pointer that put Wilmington on top 36-34 with 1:52 to go in the period.
After Washington tied the game at 39 early in the fourth, Mansfield (six rebounds, four assists) scored his first field goal of the night at the 7:00 mark. That started the Hurricane on a mini-run of 8-2 and in this low-scoring, defensive affair, that was enough.
Down the stretch, Beaugard hit two free throws with 41 seconds left and then two more with 17 seconds to go for the final margin.
“We make things difficult for ourselves,”Noszka admitted. “Some of that is because we don’t score but our defense still makes up for it.”
SUMMARY
February 10, 2017
@Washington Senior High School
Wilmington 51 Washington 45
WI 05.15.19.12…..51
WA 07.18.12.08….45
(45) WASHINGTON (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Dillon Steward 1 (1)-0-5; Jarett Patton 1 (3)-0-11; Evan Upthegrove 2-0-4; Kory Proby 4-1-9; Kenny Upthegrove 1-0-2; Blaise Tayese 0-0-0; Richard Burns Jr. 6-2-14. TOTALS — 15 (4)-3-45. Free throw shooting: 3 of 4 for 75. Three-point field goals: Patton, 3; Steward. Combined field goal shooting: 19 of 42 for 45 percent. Turnovers: 12.
(51) WILMINGTON (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Curtis Gauche 1-0-2; Layne Griffith 0 (1)-0-3; Alex Wright 0-0-0; Matthew Smith 2 (3)-1-14; Dylan Beaugard 4 (2)-7-21; Jeffery Mansfield 2-1-5; Chris Wolary 3-0-6. TOTALS — 12 (6)-9-51. Free throw shooting: 9 of 16 for 56 percent. Combined field goal shooting: 18 of 47 for 38 percent. Turnovers: 11.
