COLLINS (Crawford County Now) — The Roughriders lived up to their nickname as Western Reserve used a tough, physical presence inside to knock off Wynford 77-72 in a boys Division VI sectional here Tuesday night.
Wynford got 21 points from Drew Stanek, 20 from Wes Prenger and 16 from Drew Johnson, but the hosts used a relentless offensive rebounding effort (11) to win the battle of the boards, 28-22.
“I thought this is the first game this year where I felt we lost our composure a little bit,” Royals head coach Adam Guinther said.
“We talk about compete, defend and keep our composure, the three principles we talk about a lot. The technical foul on two of my players tonight … that’s just uncharacteristic. There was a lot of frustration because of how physical they were kind of allowed to play.”
Wynford ends its season, the first under Guinther, at 4-18.
“We’d match them in scoring. We’d get a run. They’d get a run. Their whole team is back next year, but I got some young kids lying in wait that I’m waiting to cut loose too.”
Western Reserve, the No. 6 seed in the Ontario district, improved to 9-12 overall. Up next is a trip to No. 5 Mansfield Christian (11-10) at 7 p.m. Friday for a sectional championship.
The hosts jumped out to a 16-13 lead after one quarter as five players, led by Hayden Dobias’ 5 points, scored. Dobias drove to tie the game before Cooper Roe added a basket.
The Roughriders took a 39-31 halftime lead largely due to second-chance opportunities coming off the offensive glass.
“We answered them enough times to stay in front,” Western Reserve head coach Chris Sheldon said.
“We play three or four really good minutes of basketball, then we play two and a half minutes where I can’t recognize the game. Unfortunately, tonight that happened a number of times.”
Prenger had nine of his points in the second quarter as the Royals fought back but fell behind 31-20 at one point.
Two 3s from Prenger, one off a steal, combined with a Reed Johnson bucket, kept things close. Stanek knocked down a 3 in the final 30 seconds of the half.
Wynford found itself behind by 14 midway through the fourth quarter, but outscored WR 26-21.
The Royals cut it to a 56-50 deficit, but Chase Hipp drained a 3 and Dobias scored to push it back to a 62-52 lead with 6:12 remaining.
“We were attacking. We took a couple of 3s that I wasn’t real pleased with because we were in the bonus,” Guinther said.
“We had talked that if you caught in rhythm and somebody drove and you caught it clean, go ahead and let it fly. If not, I want to attack to the rim.”
The Royals were 10-of-31 from beyond the arc.
Hipp led Western Reserve with 19, a dozen of those coming in the final eight minutes.
“We would build a lead, and their kids did a nice job of coming back,” Sheldon said.
“They cut it to a one-possession game early after we had built a lead, and again in the second half they came back. Our guys forgot about what on-ball defense looks like. Enough of their guys made some shots and they were able to get back in it.”
The Roughriders are a young team.
“We play two sophomores, a freshman and a bunch of juniors,” Sheldon said. “I would expect that on the first night of tournament basketball. But we were good enough to survive and advance.”
Prenger’s steal and basket made it a 72-67 game. Wynford missed a pair of free throws and Hipp again answered with two points.
“This team needs to gain some toughness. We didn’t match that, playing to what the officials are allowing, and we don’t do that well enough yet,” Guinther said.
Stanek, a freshman, added six rebounds and a steal.
Wynford loses Prenger, Drew Johnson, Hunter Routson, Zane Smith, Jaxon Vance, Seth Pope, and Dawson Pelter.
“The senior class is a great group of kids. I’ve got two young boys, and I’ve got 27 kids in the high school playing and I’d let anyone of those watch my boys,” he said.
“I’m just disappointed that I couldn’t help deliver a few more wins for them. I do think we showed a lot of improvement down the stretch. We were in ball games. We beat Cardington and were in a battle with Northmor down the stretch. I think it started at Monroeville, starting to turn the corner.”
Guinther is high on his freshman and sophomore classes.
“We will be young again next year, but then we’ll be ready. We’re going to challenge some next year too, and we may surprise some people.”
Heading into the next round Sheldon also is optimistic about his squad.
“Our learning curve isn’t quite as fast as I’d hope it would be on a daily basis. But our spirit to show up and compete is.”
Box score
Wynford 13 18 15 26 — 72
Western Reserve 16 23 17 21 — 77
Wynford (4-18): Shots 25-55; 3-pt. shots 10-31 (Drew Stanek 3, Wes Prenger 3, Drew Johnson 2, Dawson Pelter, Gavin Koehler); Free throws 12-21; Rebounds 22 (Drew Stanek 6); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Drew Stanek 7 4 21, Dawson Pelter 1 3 6, Wes Prenger 8 1 20, Gavin Koehler 1 0 3, Jaxon Vance 1 0 2, Reed Johnson 1 0 2, Drew Johnson 5 4 16.
Western Reserve (9-12): Shots 26-55; 3-pt. shots 6-20 (Cooper Roe 2, Hayden Dobias 2, Chase Hipp 2); Free throws 19-24; Rebounds 28 (Tyler Wood 11); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Hayden Keith 3 0 6, Caleb Pausch 4 0 8, Cooper Roe 2 1 7, Hayden Dobias 4 0 10, Tyler Wood 2 2 6, Chase Hipp 3 11 19, Evan Goodwin 2 2 6, Tyler Cooper 6 3 15.