02-26-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
FARINA - On Friday with his team struggling early in the title game of the Farina South Central Regional – Dawson Verhines stepped like a leader should.

This 6-foot-3 junior point guard took over – leading his Woodlawn Cardinals to a 51-36 win and a second consecutive regional title.

Verhines scored a game-best 22-points, grabbed nine rebounds and hit 7-of-10 shots from inside the 3-point arc to lead his team into the Red Hill Class 1A Sectional for the second-consecutive season.

Coach Shane Witzel saw his club spot the North Clay Cardinals an 18-6 lead in the early part of the second quarter before waking up with a 23-7 second quarter run to take a 29-25 lead at the half.

Using the clock and working for good shots in the second half – Woodlawn pulled away to advance to play Altamont on Wednesday night after the Indians dispatched Brownstown, 68-49 to win its own regional.

Verhines scored nine of his teams’ 12 fourth quarter points and converted 8-of-11 free throws in the contest.

His performance overshadowed the final game of Colton Bailey’s prep career.

Bailey – a 5-foot-9 senior guard and team leader for North Clay – led his squad with 17-points.

Bailey scored nine of his points in the opening quarter when he and his teammates were thinking upset.

North Clay jumped out to a 15-6 first quarter lead – hitting 5-of-6 first stanza shots and shocking the Woodlawn squad.

“We played some really good defense in the first quarter but they (North Clay) made some really tough shots,” said Coach Witzel. “Once we got some misses and were able to get some rebounds and transition scores that got us going offensively. The most important thing was that we kept our composure. That was one of the things that we talked about heading into the game. It is always emotional, it is always physical and you have to keep your head. You know it is going to be a battle.”

Bailey canned a pair of 3-pointers early – his second one put his Cards up 10-6 at the 2:12 mark.

Casey Hammond’s part of the Woodlawn storyline on the night was his foul trouble which kept this 5-foot-11 senior on the bench for half of the game.

He picked up his second foul and headed to the pine for the first time with 1:35 to go in the opening quarter.

But in his absence – the other’s stepped forward.

Bench players A.J. Webb and Bryan Johnson came in and provided solid minutes.

Six-foot-seven junior Josh Wiggs finally got going – scoring 10-points and matching Verhines with nine boards.

Wiggs and Hammond both played a role in the second quarter run.

Hammond scored on a fast break lay up on an assist from Verhines and Wiggs hit a shot under the basket on a spin move to even the score at 25-all at 2:31 of the second quarter.

Hammond connected on a baseline shot to give Woodlawn its first lead and Verhines scored again with :27 left to give the Cardinals a 29-25 lead at intermission.

Woodlawn had a shaky moment in the third quarter.

On back-to-back possessions – Hammond picked up his fourth foul (offensive) and went to the bench and then North Clay’s Dalton Zimmerman hit a fall-away 3-pointer from the top of the arc while being fouled by Wiggs with 5:47 to go.

His made free throw made it a four-point play that cut the lead to 33-29.

“They (North Clay) are a quality team and they fought hard,” added Witzel. “I was really impressed with the way that they played last night (win over Odin) and we knew coming into this game that it was going to be a battle. We are pleased with our effort.”

That was as close as the North Clay club would get the rest of the way.

Woodlawn scored six of the last seven points in the quarter with Verhines netting four of the points on a pair of free throws and a score underneath the basket on an assist from Christian McNeil.

Verhines returned the favor to McNeil for a score and Woodlawn had its first double-digit lead at 39-29.

The Cardinals put the game on “ice” in the fourth quarter by spreading the floor and making North Clay come out of its gimmick defense (triangle-and-two) and play man-to-man.

North Clay could only come up with a pair of 3-pointers by Zimmerman and Bailey in the final eight minutes.

A Verhines three-point play in conventional style on a drive to the basket sealed the victory at 48-36 with 1:45 to go as both coaches soon sent in the reserves.

North Clay – after a hot start – cooled off quickly.

Cards’ head coach Brian Wattles saw his club go 12-of-32 from the floor – 7-of-9 from behind the arc.

But when they weren’t getting open looks from outside – taking it inside didn’t work.

North Clay was just 5-of-23 from 2-point range and picked up just two offensive rebounds on the night.

Woodlawn only committed eight turnovers and out rebounded the other Cards, 32-12.

Following Verhines and Wiggs in scoring was Kirk Dunbar with nine points.

Dunbar – a 6-foot-1 senior forward – hit some big shots for Woodlawn as he found himself open with North Clay concentrating on Hammond and Verhines.

“You can discount what Kirk Dunbar did for us tonight, taking advantage of the “triangle-and-two” hit some big shots for us,” Witzel added. “He guarded very well and it allow us to get Dawson (Verhines) off of Bailey and he did a great job on him. I felt like we guarded well the whole game and we rebounded well. And that is what we have always talked about and that is what you need. We ran our offense and kept our turnovers low.”

Woodlawn won all three of the meetings with their Midland Trail Conference foe but this game was much closer than either of the other two.

Woodlawn improved its mark to 24-5 while North Clay’s fine season ends at 18-6.

“Every game gets a little bit tougher and you just try and stay focused and do the things that you do well,” finalized Coach Witzel. “We want to continue to defend and rebound, run our offense and keep from turning it over. If we do those things then we have a chance.”

North Clay (36) – Bailey 3 3 2-4 17, Zimmerman 0 3 1-1 10, Harrington 0 0 1-2 1, Zink 0 0 0-0 0, Schnautz 2 1 1-2 8, Pearson 0 0 0-0 0, Quinn 0 0 0-0 0, McNelly 0 0 0-0 0, coble 0 0 0-0 0, Bible 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-5, 3FG-7, FT-5-9, PF-18.
Woodlawn (51) – Vehines 7 0 8-11 22, Hammond 3 0 0-0 6, Wiggs 5 0 0-2 10, Dunbar 3 0 3-4 9, McNeil 2 0 0-1 4, Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Hollenkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Webb 0 0 0-0 0, Owens 0 0 0-0 0, Hill 0 0 0-0 0, Cripps 0 0 0-0 0, Isaac 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-31, 3FG-1, FT-4-8, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.