12/11/2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - Head coach Brad Beaty was hoping his Webber Township Trojans would get out with to a good start in their early afternoon game against Grayville at the 67th annual Wayne City Holiday Tournament.

He got what he wanted.

Webber Township jumped out to an early lead and never let the Bison back into the contest.

The Trojans cruised to an easy 58-28 win as they stand at 1-0 in Pool B.

Six-seven junior center Hunter Danberry paced the club with 13-points and 10-rebounds.

Coach Beaty received some balance in the attack with 11-points coming in from sophomore Josh Lewis, 10-points from junior Wes Hails, nine-points from senior Seth Hamerski and eight-points from junior Elijah Marlow.

Two other Webber players; junior Aden Reed and sophomore Damion Fleener, added four and three-points respectively in the win.

“The 1:30 afternoon game is a tough game. Most schools play on a Friday night and we got canceled last night which I don't know if that was a good thing or not. We came in today rested and healthy. I thought the kids established themselves right at the get-go against their zone,” said Coach Beaty. “We haven't played well against a zone the last few years but it was something that we worked on in practice. I thought our guys moved the ball around well today.”

The Trojans are now 4-3 on the season while Grayville fell to 0-1 in Pool B and are now 1-4 overall for head coach Torin Lee.

The bright spot on the day for the Bison was 6-0 sophomore guard Ty'zae Rowland.

The swingman scored 19-points, including all 17 of the Bison's first half points.

However he only got nine-points of help from his teammates; sophomore Kanaan Worley (6) and freshman Canyon Neeley (3), in the loss.

“Defensively we were dialed in but that #5 for them (Rowland) is just a sophomore and he made some tough shots, especially in the first half,” said Coach Beaty. “But Seth (Hamerski) dug in and did a good job on him.”

Webber Township never trailed in the matchup and they broke the game open with their first scoring run.

Nine consecutive points; with Hails and Hamerski each scoring.

Hails hit a 3-pointer from the left wing and also a drive to the basket while Hamerski converted inside and added a transition score to push the Webber advantage to 16-4 with 1:38 left in the opening frame.

Driving to the basket and hitting shots from the baseline, Rowland hit four field goals in the quarter as the Bison trailed 17-8.

In the second quarter, Webber did a bit better job of attacking Grayville's '2-3 zone'.

Getting the ball inside to Danberry, the junior scored Webber's first eight-points, all of which came near the basket.

He also finished on a fast break after a Grayville turnover for a 25-11 lead, which force a Grayville timeout.

“They (Webber) had excellent ball movement today. Throwing it in to the big man they have (Danberry) kind of ruins our zone or any defense we would run because we don't have the size,” said Coach Lee.

The finishing touches of the half came on a 10-0 run.

Lewis scored five of the points on a 3-pointer from the left corner and then a baseline drive.

In between those two scores were a bucket by Hamerski and an offensive rebound by Marlow.

The second Lewis score made it 38-17 at the half.

Coach Beaty's club could've had a much larger lead had they more proficient from the foul line.

Webber Township hit just 1-of-6 in the second quarter, 2-of-7 for the half and 3-of-11 for the 32 minutes.

It really didn't matter much in the long run because Grayville never got closer than 18 the rest of the game.

Worley converted a three-point play to open the second half while being fouled Lewis.

The conversion closed the gap to 38-20.

A 9-1 move by the Trojans removed what was left of the doubt.

Marlow canned his only 3-point shot of the game which was quickly followed by another 3-pointer from junior reserve R.J. Hargrove.

Another basket from Hails and also 1-of-2 from the line by the junior guard pushed the lead out to 47-21 with 3:02 left in the third.

Aden Reed, a 6-0 junior, came off of the bench and his bucket just before the third quarter horn closed yet another scoring streak by Webber Township.

Marlow, Dansberry, Hails and Reed produced the run that finished the stanza at 55-23.

A continuous clock was in effect in the fourth quarter.

Five-eight freshman Canyon Neeley hit a late 3-pointer to close the scoring for Grayville.

Webber was much more successful from the field, connecting on 7-of-16 from the 3-pointer line and 24-of-53 (45.2 percent) in the triumph.

Behind Danberry's 10-rebounds, the Trojans won the board batte 31-23.

The Trojans were also a bit better handling the ball as committed just eight-turnovers (exactly two per quarter) compared to 12 by the Bison.

Grayville will head back to the tournament on Monday night as they will play North Clay at 5:30 pm.

Webber Township will play Crab Orchard on Tuesday night in the middle game of the three game session set for 7 pm.

“It's always good in a tournament like this to go out and get that first win,” said Coach Beaty. “I think you need to get off to a good start and then build on it.”

Webber Township (58) – Hamerski 3 1 0-2 9, Lewis 1 3 0-0 11, Danberry 6 0 1-5 13, Marlow 2 1 1-2 8, W. Hails 3 1 1-2 10, Reed 2 0 0-0 4, K. Hails 0 0 0-0 0, Hargrove 0 1 0-0 3, Fleener 0 0 0-0 0, Dalby 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-7, FT-3-11, PF-10.
Grayville (28) – Leavens 0 0 0-0 0, Rowland 5 3 0-0 19, Grimm 0 0 0-0 0, Collins 0 0 0-0 0, Worley 1 0 4-5 6, Neely 0 1 0-0 3, Lee 0 0 0-0 0, Funkhouser 0 0 0-0 0. Morris 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-6, 3FG-4, FT-4-5, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Gallatin County (43) – Knott 1 0 0-1 2, Henson 3 0 0-0 6, Richardson 5 0 2-6 12, Duvall 1 0 0-2 2, L. Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Fromm 0 0 0-0 0, Sandifer 4 2 7-8 21, Rushing 0 0 0-0 0, G. Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Flillington 0 0 0-1 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-2, FT-9-18, PF-17.
Wayne City (49) – McKinney 10, 4 3-5 35, J. Durham 2 0 6-9 10, Calderon 0 0 0-0 0, Nee 0 0 0-0 0, J. Durham 2 0 0-0 4, Diaz 1 0 0-0 2, Habermass 1 0 0-0 2, Hess 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0 0-0 0, McNeil 0 0 2-2 2, K. Ivey 0 0 0-1 0, Beehn 0 0 0-2 0, Kell 0 0 0-0 0, L. Ivey 0 0 0-1 0.
2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-13-22, PF-18.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.