Clear Fork – Super teams are like hydras, cut one head off and another appears.
For the hydra that is Wyoming East, first team all-stater Talan Muscari was the absent head Friday following surgery to correct a broken nose suffered against Shady Spring on Dec. 30.
Ready to roll in his absence, fellow first team all-stater Keegan Davidson poured in a game-high 22 points as the Warriors rolled to a 58-44 victory over Westside in Clear Fork
With a capacity crowd in attendance the hosts fed off the energy early, jabbing East with a steady diet of sophomore guard Bradyn Waldron. But when the tide turned it hit like a tsunami.
A 27-16 deficit for the Warriors turned into a 28-27 advantage on the strength of a 12-0 run in the final two minutes of the half. The change came after Westside’s Hendrix Cook scored on a layup, prompting a timeout from East head coach Kent McBride.
“(The message was) really just to settle down,” McBride said. “If you look in the first quarter they were hot and we had six or seven turnovers. We were over-juiced and our conversation before the game was there’s going to be a time where we make a run and what we need is when you come to the huddle positivity to each other, play through that and they did.
“The guys had a really good head on their shoulders and I think what’s really encouraging as a coach is they stuck with defense and the defense would pull us out of the offensive slump and we kind of got going.”
The starts for both squads heavily contrasted each other.
Wyoming East turned the ball over five times in the opening frame and proved incapable of stopping Waldron who went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, routinely popping open en route to 15 points in the opening frame.
His efforts staked the hosts to a 21-14 lead after one, an advantage that eventually ballooned to 11 points following a pair of layups from freshman Cooper Hatfield and the aforementioned one by Cook.
In a hurry East quickly devoured that cushion.
Braxton Morgan, the elder statesman for East and veteran of the rivalry, turned a steal into a layup while Broc Johnson and Davidson nailed back-to-back treys. Konnor Fox added a layup off an assist from Davidson and Morgan did the final honors of the blitz, turning another pass from Davidson into points and a one-point halftime lead.
Westside went blow for blow early in the third quarter, taking a 32-30 lead on an Ethan Cline 3 but another unanswered East run, this one 10-0 and capped by a Morgan block, rebound and assist to Braedy Johnston for a 3, prompted a Renegade timeout.
“They’re a dang good team,” Westside head coach Michael Asbury said. “They’re a very talented team and Kent does a great job with them. They’re very well-coach and they’re a good group of kids. When you lose concentration and focus and make a couple mistakes they can capitalize on them pretty quick. It’s not always what we do wrong but what they do right. That’s part of it and the other part is we’ve got to keep plugging away.”
Westside snapped the skid with a Waldron free throw and layup but the lid that blocked East’s first half efforts opposed the hosts in the second half where they shot just 25 percent (6-of-24) from the field including 1-for-9 from downtown.”
“Bradyn and Cooper didn’t hit as many shots,” Asbury said when asked what changed. “They made some adjustments and we started off so hot Bradyn came out and hit a couple 3s there in the first quarter. Cooper came in and got some in the midrange there. I need to do a better job of getting us into position where we can finish and some easier shots.
“You’ve got Konnor Fox in there but Braxton Morgan might be their unsung hero. He’s such a tough matchup. He’s so daggone strong and athletic. We thought we snuck one in there on him and he comes from the opposite block and pins one on the backboard. They’re a really talented group.”
A pair of Davidson free throws at the end of the third quarter pushed East’s lead to double digits where it remained, ballooning to as many as 18 points in the final frame.
The fourth quarter proved to be the most successful of the final three for the Renegades from a shooting percentage and points standpoint. Their success was largely tied to that of Waldron who was held to four points 1-of-11 shooting across the final 24 minutes after a 5-for-7 showing in the opening frame. He finished with 19 points after scoring in the opening frame.
“We were going over ball screens in the first half and Bradyn, if you do that, will make you pay,” McBride said. “Bradyn, over the last week-and-a-half, has been an exceptional. I’m not going to say he started slow but he’s a substantially different player than when they went to Logan and those early games. We knew if you go under him he’s so confident he’ll make you pay. We put Braxton on him and he went over the top and ran him into – we’ve got a 6-foot-9 guy down there. Let’s see if you can make those shots and that worked out for us.”
East, which received 16 points from Fox, improves to 6-1 and will hosts Tug Valley on Tuesday.
Westside, which got 12 points from Hatfield, drops to 3-3 and will travel to Bluefield on Tuesday.
Wyoming East
Keegan Davidson 22, Broc Johnson 7, Braedy Johnston 3. Braxton Morgna 10, Konnor Fox 16
Westside
Bradyn Waldron 19, Ethan Cline 5, Braxton Waldron 2, Ethan Walls 1, Hendrix Cook 5, Cooper Hatfield 12
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