WILMINGTON – It was the tale of two halves for the Wilmington Hurricane in a 71-48 loss Saturday to Springfield, ranked 12th in the Associated Press Division I boys basketball poll released Jan. 30.
The Hurricane (10-8) led 24-13 at the 6:26 mark of the second quarter after a 10-0 run.
Then it was all Wildcats.
They scored 10 of the last 14 points in the first half to pull within 28-23 at the break and eight of the first nine of the second half to take the lead for good, 31-29.
Springfield (15-2) put the game away with 17 straight to start the final period.
“We know we’re good enough to play with anybody we play against, but we have to do it for four quarters,” WHS head coach Mike Noszka said. “We’re not to the point where we’re going to beat someone because we’re better than them. But we’re good enough, if we put all the pieces together, to compete with anyone.”
And compete with Springfield they did out of the gate. A pair of Chris Wolary threes helped the Hurricane to a 12-11 lead. Layne Griffith came off the bench to beat the first-quarter buzzer with a three and open the second quarter with another three to put Wilmington up 22-13.
Wolary led the Hurricane with 13 points.
“Our kids did a great job guarding their personnel. We got good stuff in transition. We did a good job boxing out,” Noszka said about the first half.
It was Springfield’s turn to heat up from behind the arc in the second half.
Bombs by Lazarus Toliver and Leonard Taylor knotted the game at 29. Taylor followed his bomb with a deuce to give Springfield the lead for good at 31-29. He had 10 of his game-high 17 points in the period.
Michael McKay and Danny Davis hit from long range in the fourth quarter as part of the Wildcats’ 17-0 run. Davis capped the run with a steal he converted for a hoop, the harm and a 54-33 Wildcat advantage.
Davis finished with 15 points, including four threes. McKay was the third Wildcat in double-figures with 11.
SUMMARY
February 4, 2017
@Fred Summers Court
Springfield 71 Wilmington 48
S 13.10.14.34…..71
W 19.09.05.15…..48
(71) SPRINGFIELD (fg-ft-tp) McKay 3-4-11, Toliver 1-0-3, Wallace 1-1-4, Davis 5-1-15, Taylor 7-2-17, Rodgers 0-0-0, Parks 0-0-0, Cole 0-0-0, Towns 1-0-2, Moss 4-6-14, Brown 2-0-5. TOTAL 24-14-71. 3-point goals: 9 (Davis 4, McKay, Tolliver, Wallace, Taylor, Brown). FTM-FTA 14-20, 70 percent.
(48) WILMINGTON (fg-ft-tp) Smith 2-0-5, Beaugard 5-2-12, Mansfield 4-1-9, Wolary, 5-0-13, Gauche 0-0-0, Griffith 2-0-6, Wright 1-0-3. TOTALS 19-3-48. 3-point goals: 7 (Wolary 3, Griffith 2, Wright, Smith). FTM-FTA 3-8, 38 percent.
