HOLMES TOWNSHIP — There was emotional energy in the gymnasium at Wynford, which had christened its new facility Dr. Michael A. Johnson Gymnasium.
The emotion was not enough to overcome the size of the opponent — Old Fort. The Stockaders outrebounded the Royals, 45-25 — including 18 offensive rebounds — to pull away to a 71-38 victory in the season opener for both teams.
“We were overly matched tonight, obviously just size-wise,” first year Wynford coach Mike Smith said. “But I thought our kids fought. We did the best we could. They’re probably as good a team as we’re going to play this year.”
Old Fort is led by 6-foot-7 senior Colin Nutter, who grabbed 18 rebounds, seven on the offensive glass, and altered shots on defense.
Size notwithstanding, the Stockaders are far from a half-court style offense.
“I’m fortunate enough to have big guys who can handle the ball as well and they can take off,” Old Fort coach Eric Hoover said. “We got a lot of good looks because of that to build the lead early.”
The Stockaders hit 11 of 23 shots in the first quarter fueled by a 17-4 rebounding edge in the frame. Old Fort built a 25-10 lead as a result and Wynford played catchup the rest of the game.
By halftime, the Royals had hit 10 of only 26 shots, while the visitors were 19 of 35.
“I think that was a lot due to their size too,” Smith said. “We hesitated a little bit when we were open. I don’t think we took some open shots we should have. We had trouble boxing out, but again, I think you can attribute that to their size.”
Old Fort stretched the lead to 44-24 by intermission. Nutter had scored 12 of his 14 points by that time.
“We have good size, good athleticism. We wanted to make everything tough for them with our defense,” Hoover said. “We made it tough for them to get good shots and we were able to get a lot of run-outs in transition.”
The Royals got 18 shots in the third quarter but only connected on four. By period’s end, the Stockaders had built a 61-33 advantage.
Myles Miller led Old Fort with a game-high 20 points, Nutter and Casey Clouse had 14 each.
“I don’t think we’ll play anybody better than (Nutter),” Smith said. “That’s basically a college player playing high school basketball. To be honest with you, he ended up with 14. I was pretty happy with that. It was the other guys that hurt us.
“Tip your hat to them,” Smith added. “Eric runs a good program.”
Jaron Filliater topped Wynford with 12 points — 10 coming in the first half. Avery Langenderfer added seven. Cainen Allen, Grant McGuire, and Same McMillan had five rebounds each.
Hoover noted there were more turnovers than he would like — the teams combined for 35 — but recognized it as a by-product of up-tempo play.
“We like to play fast but under control,” Hoover said. “I knew (Wynford) wanted to push the pace a little more as well. That did lead to sloppy play at times. But we’re used to that. We try not to get too upset about the risks we take pushing the ball ahead.”
“It’s a long season,” Smith said. “I told them half the teams in the state start 0-1. There’s no shame in losing to these guys.”
Box score
Old Fort 25 19 17 10 — 71
Wynford 10 14 9 5 — 38
Old Fort (1-0): Shots 29-57; 3-pt. shots 2-10 (Casey Clouse, Adam Magers); Free throws 11-20; Rebounds 45 (Colin Nutter 18); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Isaac Snyder 0 1 1, Casey Clouse 5 3 14, Garrett Havens 1 1 3, Myles Miller 8 4 20, Pierson Steyer 1 0 2, Adam Magers 4 0 9, Blake Bender 4 0 8, Colin Nutter 6 2 14.
Wynford (0-1): Shots 15-50; 3-pt shots 5-18 (Grant McGuire 2, Jaron Filliater 2, Avery Langenderfer); Free throws 3-6; Rebounds 24 (Cainen Allen 5, Grant McGuire 5, Sam McMillan 5); Turnovers 19. Scoring: Cainen Allen 2 0 4, Grant McGuire 2 0 6, Dylon Robinson 0 1 1, Avery Langenderfer 3 0 7, James Schiefer 3 0 6, Sam McMillan 1 0 2, Jaron Filliater 4 2 12.
JV: Old Fort 51-39.