12/09/2023
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN - After picking up an important win over Christopher on Friday night that broke a four-game losing streak, Woodlawn was looking for a victory in their first Midland Trail Conference contest of the season on Saturday afternoon at home.

The inside-outside duo of seniors Wyatt Rollie and Josh Lewis led an offensive performance that took care of business in a 62-48 victory over Red Hill at home.

Rollie, a 6-3 senior, scored most of his 26-points on the inside while the senior guard Lewis canned five of the team's six 3-pointers and ended up with 19-points.

The Cardinals broke free from the Salukis in the second quarter and closed out the win from the foul line to improve to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the MTC.

Coach Luke Cooper also got nine-points from sophomore Baylor Rollie, who hit 6-of-6 free throws in the fourth quarter, as the Cardinals shook off the bad week (0-4) at the Carlyle Kaskaskian Classic and are now a game under .500 moving forward.

A strong defensive effort held Red Hill to just 31.5 percent from the field.

“We spend a lot of time on our defense and that is something this team is going to have to do if we want to win games,” said Coach Cooper. “We let their guys get loose a few more times than I like but we did a pretty good job on them. We spend long hours at practice on it. They don't love it in practice but it pays off in the game.”

Red Hill and head coach Bryan Havill had their three-game winning streak snapped and are now 4-6 on the season, 3-2 in the league.

The Salukis were paced by sophomore guard Ozzy Ash with 17-points and senior guard Hayden Arbuckle with 16.

Sophomore Avery Arbuckle and senior Colin Laakman added six-points each for Red Hill, now in their second season in the Midland Trail.

The key statistic to point to for the Woodlawn win was an overwhelming 38-17 rebounding edge, including 10 offensive rebounds.

“One of the major things we talked about coming into this game was rebounding and trying to stay even on the boards,” said Coach Havill. “You can talk about a lot of things but if you get out-rebounded by 20 it is hard to win a game.”

Lewis also added five assists to his totals, two of which occurred in the first quarter.

The 6-0 senior lefty canned a pair of 3-point bombs in the early going along with a baseline drive for a bucket.

Consecutive assists to Wyatt Rollie closed the quarter at 12-9 Woodlawn.

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Both Ash and Laakman scored points in the early going to keep Red Hill close as there were five lead changes in the opening eight minutes.

The Salukis' final advantage on the scoreboard came on a 7-3 run to open the second frame.

Sophomore guard Abram Clark hit a 3-pointer and Ash added a pair of free throws along with a steal and fast break lay in for a 16-15 lead with 5:03 left before the half.

Woodlawn responded with a 9-2 run to close the quarter.

Wyatt Rollie converted a transition bucket on another Lewis assist and senior Logan Palmer and freshman Tyson Frick each added a score for the Cardinals who went to the break up 24-18.

A fast break score by Lewis and consecutive conventional three-point plays by Wyatt Rollie gave Woodlawn its first double-digit lead.

Eight consecutive points from Lewis and Rollie closed the third quarter at 42-29.

“Josh does a great job finding the open man and he hit some 3's tonight for us. He does a really good job of sharing the ball, finding who's open,” said Coach Cooper. “When the ball goes in it makes it even better.”

One of the baskets by Rollie was on a lob pass from Lewis.

The Cardinals added five more points to start the fourth, turning the run into 13-2.

However the Salukis had one final run.

Hayden Arbuckle scored eight-straight points on a pair of 3-pointers and a drive in the paint for a score to close the gap to just 47-40 with 4:18 to go.

Lewis stopped the run with another 3-pointer and added another assist to Rollie.

The six-consecutive free throws by Baylor Rollie sealed the league triumph.

The Cardinals ended up 21-of-45 from the field, 6-of-18 from the arc and they won despite 18 turnovers.

Red Hill finished just 18-of-57 shooting, 7-of-24 from the arc with seven turnovers in the loss.

“We try not to talk about it too much but our offensive woes have been that we have missed a lot of open shots. We have kids that are capable of hitting shots but we have been in a slump,” said Coach Havill. “The kids will get out of it, I'm confident of that.”

Woodlawn will host undefeated Jefferson County rival Waltonville next Friday night while the Salukis will play at Martinsville in a Little Okaw Valley Conference matchup on Tuesday and then host Waltonville next Saturday.

“This is a huge conference win for us, one of the goals was to win the first league win and we did that,” said Coach Cooper. “Now we have to keep that going throughout the conference.”

Red Hill (48) – H. Arbuckle 2 4 0-0 16, A. Arbuckle 0 2 0-0 6, Ash 6 0 5-5 17, Moore 0 0 0-2 0, Stitt 0 0 0-0 0, Laakman 3 0 0-0 6, Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Clark 0 1 0-0 3. 2FG-11, 3FG-7, FT-5-7, PF-16.
Woodlawn (62) – Lee 1 0 0-0 2, Baylor Rollie 0 1 6-6 9, Lewis 2 5 0-0 19, Palmer 1 0 0-0 2, W. Rollie 10 0 6-8 26, Frick 1 0 2-3 4, Bowen Rollie 0 0 0-0 0, Heater 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-15, 3FG-6, FT-14-17, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.