02-21-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN – At first glance of the final score of the Woodlawn Cardinals Senior Night win over Clay City it will appear that the hosts had no trouble with the Wolves.

But this wasn’t the case early in the game.

Coach Grant Keller’s club came out ready to play early in the game but they couldn’t sustain their good beginning and eventually fell by a lopsided score of 82-51.

Woodlawn, after a poor start, punished the visitors with 13 made 3-pointers as the Cardinals finished their regular season at 22-3 and an unbeaten mark of 9-0 in the Midland Trail Conference.

Getting everyone into the game was important for Woodlawn mentor Shane Witzel and got ten different players in the scoring column.

Four of the Cardinals went for double-figures in points with senior Chase Phelps notching 21-points in the win.

Senior Jayson Hapeman added 15-points while classmate Jake Robinson tossed in 14.

Hapeman and Phelps led the 3-point barrage with three each while Logan Wollerman added two additional 3-point shots and 10-points on the night.

Clay City saw its mark fall to 4-17 and 2-7 in the MTC despite 16-points from junior forward Cody Pittman and 14-points from Leo Lybarger.

“To their credit their kids came ready to play and we didn’t guard very well at the beginning of the game,” said Coach Witzel. “For the first part of the game we just let them run their offense and didn’t disrupt their flow and they made some shots. They were open shots and teams are going to make those. In our trap we were trying to create too much instead of just playing good solid defense.”

After a very good beginning, the Wolves faltered.

Clay City scored early in the game and led 10-6 after a pair of 3-pointers from Pittman and Lybarger.

Pittman scored 10 of his 16-points in the first quarter and hit drive to the basket with 2:26 left tied the game at 16-all.

From that moment on, the game belonged to the Cardinals.

Hapeman and reserve sophomore Brett Harris dialed up long distance for a pair of treys and a 22-16 lead.

Woodlawn pulled away in the second quarter, although it was more gradual than overwhelming.

Back to back 3-pointers by Phelps and Wollerman pushed the lead to 34-20.

Phelps scored 11-points in the frame and his lay in on an assist from Wollerman forced a Clay City timeout at 44-29.

A fast break score from Hapeman gave Woodlawn a 16-point advantage at intermission.

A 7-2 run to open the second half doomed Clay City’s comeback chances.

Another Hapeman trifecta, and rebound baskets by Robinson and Hapeman pushed the spread to 53-32.

By the time Harris hit his second 3-pointer of the game, Woodlawn led 61-41 heading into the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for Clay City the best Cardinal run came to open the final quarter with everyone getting in on the action for Woodlawn.

Three consecutive 3-pointers by Owens and Phelps (2) and a lay in by Wollerman was an 11-0 sprint for a 72-41 lead with 6:06 left.

Jake Robinson added two more basket, including a banked in 3-pointer.

Reserves finished the game out for Woodlawn as the Cardinals cruised home with the victory to cap an unbeaten conference season.

The Cardinals finished 34-of-62 overall but 12 of those missed shots came late in the fourth quarter. Nine of the misfires were from 3-point land.

Woodlawn held a 31-21 rebounding edge.

Clay City finished 19-of-52 overall after a slow start.

Woodlawn is the top seed at the Christopher 1A Regional while Clay City is in a wide open Edwards County Regional.

“We can take a lot of positives away from this game,” said Coach Keller. “I thought we executed on the offensive end probably as well as we have all year long. For the most part I was pleased with our overall effort.”