01-12-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - Sometimes pretty has nothing to do with it.

The North Clay Cardinals ventured to Wayne City on Saturday night and came away with a hard fought but less than glamorous 44-34 win over the Indians.

Although they never really put the host down for the count early like they wanted – the Cards picked up a good non-conference win.

Defensively North Clay kept Wayne City without a field goal for over 15 minutes of game time between the first and third quarters and scored just enough points to take home the victory.

Behind 10 points each from John Logan Zink and Andrew Grahn – head coach Brian Wattles saw his team improve to 6-10 on the season.

North Clay held off an Indian fourth quarter uprising by hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:03.

Wayne City was led by Trevor Shreve with eight points as no Indian player reached double-figures. The Tribe dropped to 4-12 on the season after the loss.

“We didn't play very good in the first half,” said Wayne City mentor Russ Gerlach. “We played Sesser last night and although we came out on the short end of the stick we got 'after it'. Tonight it didn't seem like we had the same intensity. It seems like we've been showing up every other game.”

Wayne City fell behind early in the contest and never got back the lead.

North Clay got key baskets in the first quarter from Zink, Levi Bailey and Aaron Cox to get an early lead.

Those three kids each hit a shot in a 6-0 run to make it 8-2 with 4:20 showing on the clock.

Cox got a nice pass from Bailey and canned a 15-footer from the right wing to close the scoring run.

Wayne City kept it close with three baskets to end the quarter with Jayce Smith getting a pair of them.

His rebound basket with 2:02 remaining in the opening stanza cut the North Clay lead to 10-8.

Unfortunately for the Indians they wouldn't find the mark from the field again until near the end of the third quarter.

Wayne City would miss its next eight field goal attempts and committed seven second quarter turnovers.

North Clay wasn't much better in the second quarter but the Cardinals managed to connect on 7-of-8 free throws to take a 17-10 lead to intermission.

Neither team hit from the field in the second quarter but when the third quarter began – North Clay took command of the game with an 8-0 run to balloon the lead to 25-10.

Levi Bailey scored six of those points on a variety of shots. He picked off a pair of Wayne City passes and raced the length of the court for scores each time.

Bailey took a pass from Zink and scored in the lane for his third basket in the scoring surge.

When his lay up fell through on his second steal – North Clay led by 15 with 3:03 left forcing Wayne City's second timeout of the quarter.

Apparently whatever Coach Gerlach said in the timeout woke up his Indians as they jumped back into the contest with a run of their own.

Six consecutive points from Cody Thomason, Tyler Porter and Cage Green got Wayne City back within single digits at 25-16.

North Clay responded – as they did each time Wayne City made a move – with four points from Joshua Yates and Zink. Zink got a back-door pass from Levi Bailey for his score to make it 29-16.

Wayne City's final run came a bit too late in the final quarter.

Taking advantage of a trio of North Clay turnovers Coach Gerlach's club scored seven straight points – which got the Tribe to within 39-32 with 1:25.

Kory Blank scored five of the points on a 3-pointer from the left corner and on a rebound put back.

But the Indians – at this point – were forced to put the Cardinals on the free throw line where North Clay was very comfortable on the night.

Coach Wattles team finished off the victory and were 10-of-16 from the line for the game.

“I don't think that we are good enough to press the whole game against most teams,” Gerlach explained about using a full court press in the second half. “It is nice to be able to do that at times and maybe next year we will be a bit deeper so we can do that more often.”

Wayne City was just 13-of-35 from the field overall (37 percent) but that stat and 17 turnovers were too much to overcome.

“We settled for a lot of jumpers and we didn't penetrate like we needed to,” added Gerlach. “We had some people open in the post but we didn't get the ball to them. We just came out a little flat tonight. I expected a little better effort. I thought that we would play better defense.”

The Cardinals shot a bit better (14-of-29) at 48 percent while surviving 18 turnovers of their own.

“The one thing that we have had success with this year is handling the press,” said Coach Wattles. “We have had a lot of struggles but that is one thing that we have had a positive after each game. But his kids (Coach Gerlach) played hard enough tonight to give us some fits. Our kids battled and played through it.”

Following Shreve for scoring honors for Wayne City was Blank with seven points and Smith with six.

Behind Zink and Grahn on the scoring chart for North Clay was Levi Bailey with eight points and Cox with six.

“I know he has a young group of kids and so do we and we are both building toward the future,” added Wattles. “Tonight we came out in the second half and executed some things that got us a run early to build us a cushion.”

Wayne City heads back to action on the road at Zeigler-Royalton next Tuesday while North Clay will play at Clay City in the opening round of the annual Midland Trail Conference Tournament on Tuesday night.

North Clay (44) - Zink 4 0 2-2 10, Cox 3 0 0-0 6, Colton Bailey 0 0 3-5 3, Levi Bailey 4 0 0-0 8, Cole Bailey 0 0 1-2 1, Grahn 2 0 6-6 10, Yates 0 0 2-2 2, Kemmerer 0 0 0-0 0, Hawks 1 0 2-2 4.
2FG-14, 3FG-0, FT-10-16, PF-16.
Wayne City (34) - Blank 2 1 0-2 7, Shreve 2 0 4-4 8, Smith 2 0 2-2 6, Green 2 0 0-0 4, Thomason 2 0 0-0 4, Porter 1 1 0-1 5, Deitz 0 0 0-2 0, Meritt 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-2, FT-6-11, PF-18.
Fouled Out - Zink - North Clay.
Technical Fouls - None.