Vikes win shootout
By DREW STAMBAUGH
Expositor Sports Editor
TOLEDO - Evergreen used a late third quarter surge to pull away and defeat Genoa in an offensive shootout 92-79 at the Division III sectional at Whitmer on Friday.
The game was tied at third quarter it looked like Genoa really got tired from the pace of the game," said Evergreen Coach Jerry Keifer. "We got out and had three or four transition baskets to open the lead to eight and never looked back."
Lucas Pennington started the run and gave Evergreen the lead for good when he scored off an inbound play with 2:56 left in the quarter.
Chad Mossing then scored six straight points to push the lead to eight. He buried a three-pointer then scored three the old fashioned way for a 62-54 cushion.
Matt Bassitt scored for the Comets to cut the lead to six but a Ryan Salsbury bucket made it 64-56 Vikings with one quarter to play.
Evergreen scored the first seven points of the fourth to extend the lead further. Clayton Wielinski connected from long distance and Mossing added a pair of baskets to make it 71-56. Again Bassitt tried to stop the bleeding, as he hit a trey, but Genoa could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the night.
They cut it to 10 for the last time on a pair of Bassitt free throws with 4:55 to play but Mossing quickly answered with another three-point play.
Bassitt and Stephen Clark tried to get the Comets back in the game, but whether it was from Mossing, Wielinski or Jackson Langenderger, the Vikings always had an answer in the fourth.
Mossing and Bassitt had their own personal dual to see who would lead the game in scoring. Bassitt won the battle with 36 points to Mossing's 31 points and 11 rebounds, but the Vikings offered more help. Clayton Wielinski poured in a career-high 24 points, Tyler Good 12 and Lucas Pennington 11.
"I was very pleased with our effort on Friday night,' said Keifer. "I thought we executed the game plan to a T. We wanted to get into a track meet with Genoa because of their size and we did just that. Genoa is a very good basketball team; this was a very big win for us."
With the victory, Evergreen moves on to the district semifinal at Napoleon High School. They will face Archbold at 6:15 p.m. On Thursday. The Vikings won the first meeting between the teams 76-64 on Dec. 17.
Evergreen started the sectional contest with an 11-4 lead. Pennington hit a pair of three pointers and Wielinski had five points to build the cushion. They pushed the lead to 17-8 with 49 seconds left in the opening period on a pair of Mossing baskets.
But a surge by the Comets in the final 33 seconds got them right back into the game. Clark hit from long distance before Jon Lester stole the ball and scored. Bassitt finished the quarter by sinking a three-pointer from the corner with four seconds left to make it 17-16 Evergreen after one.
Genoa took a three point lead on a pair of Cole Welsch treys early in the period. They kept the lead until Mossing hit a trey with 5:40 left in the half.
The lead changed hands multiple times until Salsbury scored from beyond the arc to break a 36-36 tie. A Mossing basket allowed the Vikings to enter halftime with a 41-38 lead.
Genoa kept it close until the Evergreen run late in the third quarter.
|
