MONROEVILLE — Genoa used a strong inside game from its 6-foot-7 freshman post and limited Wynford’s Sam McMillan, who got into foul trouble, to pull off a 54-47 victory in a Division III boys’ sectional here Tuesday night.
Head coach Mike Smith said his club fought back from a 28-21 halftime deficit, but three turnovers in the closing 1:30 resulted in the loss.
“We went to our spread offense, not looking to stall. I felt we could beat them off the dribble, cause fouls and get to the line,” Smith said. “We took a shot with Grant (McGuire), most of the time he makes that shot so I can’t fault him for that. That’s our offense. That’s how we play.”
In the closing minutes Wynford came within a whisker, tying the game at 40-40 when Austin Bindner hit a pair of field goals.
McGuire and sophomore Wes Prenger had 13 points each for Wynford.
“I think we were better than they were. We just had some moments in the first half. In the second half we came out and played good basketball,” Smith said.
The Royals led 11-10 after one quarter. Genoa held small leads throughout the game. McGuire’s put-back cut it to 51-47 with 29.8 seconds left. But three foul shots by Huston sealed the game.
Ashton Warren scored all 5 of his points in the first quarter. But the junior had a big rebound and forced a turnover in the fourth quarter to help the Royals tighten the game.
“This is the first game where we’ve had everybody healthy from sickness. Wes is finally starting to get back into it. Too bad we ran out of time.”
The Royals end their season at 13-10. The Comets go to 16-7 and advance to play Ashland Crestview on Friday at 6 p.m. for the sectional championship.
Walter Plantz, in his first year as varsity player at 14 years old, scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Genoa.
Genoa head coach Jon Sandwisch praised his young player and his older teammates.
“When he (McMillan) went off they got really small, and I was worried about matchups because Wynford has shooters everywhere. Everyone that steps on the court can shoot. Obviously, the size differential was huge for us getting those rebounds,” he said.
“They got 11 points in the first quarter and 8 of them were off the O-boards. Down the stretch that was huge for us. We have 5 seniors on this team, and you rely on senior leadership down the stretch.”
Sandwisch acknowledged his freshman’s talent.
“Walter is a special talent. He just turned 14 a couple months ago, so hopefully he still has room to grow. He wears a size 17 shoes. The kids trust him and empower him. He takes a lot of playing time from a senior. And that senior (Andrew Szepelia) could have easily been a cancer, but he’s been a great leader and mentor to him.”
Losing McMillan to fouls with 6:25 left in the game was a factor. The junior picked up two in the first quarter and his fourth with 4:01 in the third quarter. He had 2 points and 4 rebounds.
“It was tough, but I thought the other guys did a really good job on that kid (Plantz) in the end. He didn’t get as many on us in the second half. We gave up a lot of easy buckets in the first half and those were mostly on missed box-outs,” Smith said.
Plantz got 14 of his 24 points in that first half.
“He’s a big dude. He’s got some skills and he’s very patient in the post. A lot of kids that age get into too big of a hurry, but he looks like a veteran out there. I thought we did a good job on Number 3 (Wes Huston). He’s probably their best player.”
Huston added 9 points and 5 rebounds for the Comets.
“I thought Cainen (Allen) did a heck of a job on him. Some of their role players hit some shots that we had to be OK with. No. 24 (Robert Messenger) got some and No. 1 (Aiden Brunkorst) hit a 3. Tip your hats to them, they made them.”
Allen and Bindner are the only two graduation losses for the Royals.
“Watching Cainen as a freshman you never thought he’d make it. He was skinnier than he is now, but the kid stuck it out and worked on his game. He’s probably the best, if not one of the best, point guards in the N10 this year,” Smith said. “We’ll definitely miss his leadership next year.”
Allen averaged 12.6 points and 5 assists per game this season.
But Wynford should return a solid lineup, including 6 players who saw action in the finale. Prenger, McGuire, McMillan, Warren, James Rindfuss, and Drew Johnson will be back.
“I told them in the locker room, ‘You’re going to have the target on your backs next year,'” Smith said.
“A lot of people are going to think us and probably Carey are the teams to beat in the N10. So, it’s going to come down to how hard are you willing to work in the summer to improve your individual game which will help us as a team.”
Smith knows his team has come far this season.
“You don’t have time to reflect a lot of times. But 5-17 last year to 13-10 now. We had a bad stretch there at the end with 5 games we lost. I don’t want to make excuses. We battled in those 5 games. The Old Fort game is probably the only one that got out of hand,” he said.
“We’re probably the only team in the area that has as much adversity with Wes going down. We were playing with a lot of momentum right then and he breaks his wrist. Then we get guys sick and they’re spreading it back and forth,” Smith said.
“I can’t fault them. They stepped in and played as hard as they could. You eliminate that 5-game stretch, and we might 16 or 17 wins this year. I’m very proud of them and I think our program is headed in the right direction.
“We don’t hold anybody back. We give them the green light to shoot. We don’t create robots. We want basketball players and I think that’s what we’re developing.”
Box score
Wynford 11 10 15 11 — 47
Genoa 10 18 12 14 — 54
Stats
Wynford (13-10): Shots 18-49; 3-pt. shots 7-28 (Wes Prenger 3, Grant McGuire 2, Cainen Allen, Drew Johnson); Free throws 4-4; Rebounds 25 (Grant McGuire 7); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Ashton Warren 2 0 5, Drew Johnson 1 1 3, Austin Bindner 2 0 4, Wes Prenger 5 0 13, Cainen Allen 2 2 7, Grant McGuire 5 1 13, Sam McMillan 1 0 2.
Genoa (16-7): Shots 23-46; 3-pt. shots 3-8 (Aiden Brunkhorst, Jon Huston, Robert Messenger); Free throws 5-8; Rebounds 27 (Walter Plantz 10); Turnovers 4. Scoring: Griffen Meyer 2 0 4, Aiden Brunkhorst 3 0 7, Walter Plantz 12 0 24, Jon Huston 2 4 9, Skylar Ju 1 0 2, Andrew Szepiela 1 1 3, Robert Messenger 2 0 5.