03-11-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA – The Woodlawn Cardinals' dream of winning a state championship came to an abrupt end on Friday afternoon in the Class 1A Semifinals.

Winchester (West Central) shot down and shut down the Cardinals with a strong defensive effort in the 48-27 rout that left Woodlawn wondering what happened.

The normally hot shooting Cardinals – winners of 29-games and the Salem Class 1A Supersectional – were a “frostbite-like” 10-of-41 from the field (24.4 percent) in dropping just their fourth game of the season which relegates them to the third place game on Saturday.

Coach Shane Witzel's club never got rolling on offense and they failed to capitalize on West Central mistakes in the second quarter.

The Cougars committed seven second quarter turnovers but Woodlawn never made a move.

Falling behind early to a team that used its quickness to its advantage – the Cardinals came up way short in its second trip to the Final Four in three years.

“We pride ourselves on our defense. That is what we do,” said West Central head coach Jeff Abell. “We're really structured on defense and on offense we have sets that we turn our guards loose because they are play-makers. We run patterns to get all five guys moving.”

Dawson Verhines – who averaged 16-points a game this season – never got on track and finished with just three points on 1-of-14 shooting from the floor.

The normally offensively gifted player – Verhines also missed all three of his free throws as Woodlawn faltered.

Josh Wiggs was the top scorer for Woodlawn with just 11-points while Gabe Owens finished with eight.

Woodlawn was just 3-of-17 from the 3-point arc and fell behind early.

Although defensively the Cardinals played well – the lack of scoring doomed them to a third place game.

“The fact was that we ran into a pretty good defensive team (West Central) and they were solid all the way around,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “I know what good man-to-man defense looks like because these guys (his team) guard well themselves. They (West Central) were always in the right position and the way they guarded Dawson and Josh was exactly the things you need to do to beat us. You have to give them credit. They had a good game plan and they executed it.”

West Central was much more efficient on offense – hitting 16-of-27 shots overall (59.3 percent) and were led by 6-foot-4 sophomore Corey Barnett with 13-points.

Teammate Wes Buhlig was next in scoring with nine points while West Central got eight points each from Parker Day and Dylan Guthrie.

West Central outrebounded the bigger Cardinals 29-24 and hit 13-of-24 free throws.

Even though they struggled at the foul line – none of it mattered because of Woodlawn inability to make any offensive runs.

Verhines' only made basket opened the game's scoring as he nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc for Woodlawn's only lead of the game at the 7:01 mark.

West Central's Jordan Boehs scored six points in the contest and his 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor evened the score and sent the Cougars on a 9-0 offensive excursion.

Those six points all came from Barnett – who got loose from the Cardinals defense on a pair of drives to the basket and an offensive stick back for a 9-3 lead.

The Cardinals' problems were quickly compounded by a pair of charging fouls on Verhines.

Woodlawn's Wiggs and Owens each scored to cut the West Central lead to just 11-8. Owens' 3-pointer from the right corner closed the brief run.

However West Central – as they did the whole game – answered right back with Buhlig scoring on a drive inside to close the frame at 13-8.

A normally good free throw shooting team – Woodlawn was just 4-of-12 from the line.

Wiggs – a 6-foot-8 lefty center who has been good at the free throw line this season (64 percent) – made just 1-of-4 to open the second quarter.

Woodlawn went the entire second period without a field goal.

West Central pushed the lead at halftime to ten points with both Barnett and Guthrie hitting from long range.

Holding the ball for a final shot of the half – West Central Parker Day got the ball to Barnett who connected from the right corner with :04 to send the squads off the court at 21-11 Cougars.

Owens hit his second and final 3-pointer to open the third quarter for Woodlawn.

But the Cardinals gave up another scoring run by West Central that pushed the game out of reach.

The run was 13-2 and it started on a drive to the basket by Buhlig which resulted in a conventional three-point play.

The made free throw made it 24-14.

Boehs, Day and Buhlig all scored again in the run and when Guthrie converted four consecutive free throws on two separate trips – Woodlawn was in trouble at 34-16 with 2:05 left.

“I thought that we came out kind of tight right off the bat in the second half and we wanted to ease back into the game,” added Coach Abell. “I told them to just get comfortable and I thought the kids did a good enough job of not letting the environment get to them.”

The Cardinals had opportunities but they missed too many shots and free throws to close the quarter.

Three more points by Barnett and a fast break score on a “football-like” long pass to Day pushed the lead to 41-22.

“When ever they switched to a zone to try and trap out of it we were able to get to the basket when we got them spread out,” Coach Abell added. “I felt like we could hold onto the ball without turning it over.”

Not even West Central missing four consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter helped Woodlawn quest as the Cardinals missed 11-shots of their own in the final eight minutes.

Both coaches cleared the benches in the final three minutes of the contest.

Woodlawn will now face Deer Creek-Mackinaw in the third place game on Saturday while West Central will tackle Newark in the title game.

“When we did get some good looks we missed them,” added Coach Witzel. “Things like that happen and it was a rough way to go today.”