Boys basketball: Wellington starts fast, holds on to beat Firelands
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WELLINGTON — Like a championship contender in a prizefight, Wellington came out swinging in its non-conference game against Firelands on Tuesday night.
Instead of continuing that domination though, the Dukes found themselves on the ropes in the second and third quarters, as Firelands tied the game and took a lead in the fourth quarter. However, the Dukes used some clutch free throws, which had been a downfall of theirs in an overtime loss to New London on Saturday, to claim a 42-36 win over the Falcons.
“It was a great win for us,” said Wellington coach Nathan Morris, whose team evened its record at 2-2. “We came out with a lot of energy, which we talked about and wanted to do. Then, we lost some of that energy and enthusiasm. Really, it is always going to start with us at the defensive end of the floor. When we lose that intensity and enthusiasm, then we’re going to struggle a little bit.
“In that first quarter, we had 17 points and probably half of those were from our defense in the full-court situation, getting steals and getting out and going. We didn’t have that in the middle two quarters. Down the stretch, we played some good defense when we had to, hit some free throws and came out with a victory.”
The late free throws helped negate Firelands’ 45-36 rebounding edge, including a 20-10 lead for the Falcons (1-3) on the offensive end.
“We rebounded well,” Firelands coach Steve Lias said. “I just can’t figure it out. We missed some easy, point-blank shots that we couldn’t get to fall, especially come crunch time. Those are things that we’ll have to make sure that we can correct for the next game.”
Despite a 17-5 lead after the first quarter, the Dukes found themselves without the services of junior guard Devin Broadwater and senior captain Robert Shays due to foul trouble. Shays picked up two quick fouls in the game’s first three minutes and spent the rest of the half on the bench.
Shays, who came into the game as Wellington’s leading scorer, managed just seven points, five of which came at the free throw line. Broadwater scored twice on second-half drives and finished with six points.
With Shays and Broadwater on the bench, sophomore Nathan Starkey stepped in to run the offense and junior forward Josh West added some height down on the low blocks. West scored four points, but added four rebounds against much taller Firelands players Jacob Earl, Ryan Waldman and Brandon Proy.
Three of West’s four rebounds came in the second half.
“We talked down the stretch in the huddle about getting stops,” Morris said. “Getting stops means us getting rebounds and boxing out and only giving them one shot. Those were huge. We came down and hit two free throws on the one Shays grabbed, so it was big.”
Wellington sophomore Jason Perry finished with a game-high nine points, team-leading nine rebounds and added a critical assist when he passed up a look at a 3-pointer and found Justin Kidd in the corner for a long-range shot. It was the second of Kidd’s two 3-pointers of the game.
“We actually work on that drill in practice,” Perry said. “We call it rebound-extra pass. It was exactly where we were spaced out. I got the ball and saw Justin in the corner. He’s a better shooter than me, so I gave it up to him. He was able to hit the big shot.”
Wellington 42, Firelands 36
FIRELANDS (36): Preston Rathge 2-2-7, Kyle Smith 3-1-7, Jared O’Keefe 1-0-2, Nick Deichler 0-3-3, Ryan Waldman 3-0-6, Jacob Earl 3-1-7, Brandon Proy 2-0-4, Totals 14-7-36.
WELLINGTON (42): Nathan Starkey 1-0-2, Devin Broadwater 3-0-6, Justin Kidd 2-0-6, Robert Shays 1-5-7, Nick Norton 1-0-2, Zac Gilbert 2-2-6, Jason Perry 3-1-9, Josh West 2-0-4, Totals 15-8-42.
Firelands 5 13 13 5 — 36
Wellington 17 4 10 11 — 42
Three-point goals: Firelands 1-13 (7 percent), Wellington 4-18 (22.2 percent). Field goals: Firelands 13-47 (27.7 percent), Wellington 11-28 (39.3 percent). Free throws: Firelands 7-14 (50 percent), Wellington 8-13 (61.5 percent). Rebounds: Firelands 45, Wellington 36. Turnovers: Firelands 15, Wellington 16. Fouled out: None.
Junior varsity: Wellington won.
Contact Matt Florjancic at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
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