02/19/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - Wayne City head coach Jake Talbert was needing something special to happen for his team in second half of their quarterfinal game against Woodlawn on Saturday night at home.

The Indians were struggling against a team that they had handled easily in two previous encounters in 2021-22.

Wayne City was ahead just 26-23 at intermission and had trailed briefly towards the end of the second quarter.

What he was needing was a strong third quarter and that is exactly what his club delivered.

The Indians hit their first 10 field goal attempts in the frame on the way to a 51-33 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

In this same stanza, the Wayne City defense forced the Cardinals into a 3-of-14 offensive performance.

This catapulted the Indians into the Woodlawn 1A Regional semifinals with a 76-60 victory that ended Woodlawn's season at 4-22.

“Defensively we kept them out of the paint better in the second half. In the first half they (Woodlawn) were just driving down the middle and getting whatever they wanted,” said Coach Talbert. “I knew that Coach Verhines would have them ready to play. Woodlawn's not going to just lay down for anybody. It wasn't a hard halftime speech but I told them 'let's get out, get a lead, get a win and move on to the second round.”

Coach Talbert got his usual offensive onslaught from his top guns.

Senior guard Taj McKinney and junior forward Justin Durham combined for 56 of the points as WC improved to 20-11 on the season.

Coach Talbert also got some fine play from the crew's 'role players'.

Senior guard Risten Kell added nine-points for the Tribe while senior Cesar Calderon added four-points.

Senior Lucas Noe added one basket, a key 3-pointer, in the third quarter run.

For Woodlawn and second year head coach Dawson Verhines the season ended on the first night of the regional.

However there was a bright spot for the Cardinals and Saturday night was a big glimpse of what the next two seasons could look like for the Woodlawn program.

Six-four sophomore Chance Phelps continues to prove he can score from all over the court.

Phelps lit up the scoreboard and scorebook on Saturday, netting a career-best 40-points in the Woodlawn loss.

Phelps canned three 3-pointers to go with 10 2-point field goals, 8-of-9 from the foul line and he pulled down six-rebounds.

Unfortunately for Coach Verhines the rest of the Cardinals managed a total of 20-points, which on this night wasn't enough to overshadow giving up 76.

Phelps, who has missed some games this season due to health issues, kept his team in the game in the first half with 16 of the Cardinals 23.

However his 10 third quarter points were the only ones Woodlawn scored in the pivotal eight minute stretch.

“And he's got two more years, that's the scary part,” said Coach Talbert talking about Phelps. “We worked hard on the rest of their team. He (Phelps) is going to get his points but we were able to shut down the rest of them tonight.”

Durham, a 6-6 forward, scored 29-points in the game to go with five-rebounds, mostly by dominating inside against the Cardinals.

McKinney knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 27-points and a rebound away from a double-double with nine.

He added three assists and three steals to the game resume and the Indians victory.

Sophomore guard Talen Lee added nine-points for Woodlawn but seven of them came in the fourth quarter with the game pretty much decided.

Phelps scored Woodlawn's first nine-points before sophomore Logan Palmer made two free throws for his only points of the game.

Durham got a pair of nice assists from McKinney on his first two scores in the paint before adding three additional inside buckets.

McKinney closed out the first quarter with a steal and fast break lay in for a 16-11 first quarter advantage for the Indians.

The Cardinals only lead came from consecutive 3-pointers from Phelps and back-to-back scores on drives to the basket by Lee and junior Lowell Moore.

The Moore basket with 3:25 left in the second quarter made it 21-20 Woodlawn.

But Durham scored inside and a couple of buckets from McKinney gave the Indians back the lead.

Phelps rebounded a shot with a put back score to close the half with Woodlawn down just three.

Wayne City opened the floodgates offensively in the third quarter with Durham and McKinney continuing to score at will.

Noe nailed his 3-pointer from the left corner before McKinney nailed a long range shot from the right wing.

That 3-pointer by McKinney started a 17-2 game-changing run for Wayne City.

Durham added two more inside baskets and McKinney hit his second 3-point shot.

Kell and McKinney each scored in transition.

Kell picked up a steal and a lay in and then Durham's shot rejection went to McKinney, who took the rebound the length of the floor for a lay in and a 43-30 lead.

Two more buckets closed the run with Durham again getting points in the paint and Calderon scoring on a pass from junior guard Jonny Durham.

McKinney tacked on two more baskets to end the quarter, although his late 3-pointer that missed the mark was the only misfire of the frame (10-of-11).

Woodlawn would get no closer than 14-points in the final eight minutes.

Wayne City took care of the victory by hitting nine fourth quarter free throws, although they also missed nine (9-of-19 for the game).

While that stat could have been costly, the WC defense allowed only one offensive rebound in the fourth quarter as they held the Cardinals to just 7-of-19 from the floor.

When the numbers are added up the Indians were dominant in nearly every category.

WC connected on 32-of-48 shots overall (66.7 percent) with 3-of-8 coming from the arc.

The Indians won the battle of the glass, 27-25, and committed 10 turnovers to the Cardinals' 11.

Woodlawn hit just 20-of-54 overall (37 percent) and 5-of-16 from long range.

The Indians will see a familiar team on Wednesday night at the Woodlawn 1A Regional.

Edwards County and Wayne City have split their two contests this season.

The Indians won at home in the Wayne City Holiday Tournament, 67-58.

Edwards County won the rematch at Wayne City, 59-57 on January 28th.

The regional semifinal is slated for 7:30 pm, immediately following the Webber/Steeleville match up.

“We're going to have to play better against them (Edwards County) this time,” said Coach Talbert.

Woodlawn (60) – Lee 4 0 1-1 9, Lamke 0 0 0-0 0, Rollie 0 0 1-2 1, Metcalf 0 0 0-0 0, Burkett 0 0 2-2 2, Palmer 0 0 2-2 2, Malcolm 0 0 1-2 1, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Rynski 0 0 0-0 0, Phelps 10 4 8-9 40, Moore 1 1 0-0 5.
2FG-15, 3FG-5, FT-15-18, PF-21.
Wayne City (76) – McKinney 10 2 1-6 27, Ju. Durham 13 0 3-4 29, Jo. Durham 0 0 0-0 0, Kell 2 0 5-6 9, Noe 0 1 0-0 3, Calderon 2 0 0-3 4, Thomason 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-29, 3FG-3, FT-9-19, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Rollie - Woodlawn; McKinney - Wayne City.
Technical Fouls – None.

Waltonville (44) – Reynolds 5 1 1-2 14, Riddle 1 0 0-0 2, Fassett 0 0 0-0 0, Lynch 0 0 0-0 0, Kretz 0 0 0-0 0, Devor 1 1 0-0 5, Ragland 4 1 2-2 13, Dressler 0 0 0-0 0, Elliston 0 0 0-0 0, Karnes 0 3 1-1 10..
2FG-11, 3FG-6, FT-4-5, PF-11.
Edwards County (73) – Calverley 2 1 0-0 2, Bell 5 1 3-4 16, D. Rhodes 6 0 0-0 12, Cowling 6 0 1-4 13, McFall 2 0 0-0 4, A. Rhodes 0 0 0-0 0, Correll 0 5 0-0 15, Oxford 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Gillard 0 0 0-0 0, Reineke 2 0 2-2 6.
2FG-23, 3FG-7, FT-6-10, PF-8.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.