By ANDREW FEEBACK
MONROEVILLE – A 12-point halftime deficit was too much for the Southern Wells Raiders to overcome as they fell to the host Heritage Patriots 59-50 Saturday night.
The Raiders fell behind 32-20 after a poor first half that saw a handful of breakdowns on the defensive end of the court leading to open looks for the Patriots.
But the Raiders (1-7, 0-2) pulled within 6 points on multiple occasions in the second half, and had chances to get even closer. They took better care of the ball and turned the Patriots over nine times.
“We’ve been stressing decision-making, and even in the first half, I thought we were making better decisions than we were in previous games,” coach Kyle Penrod said. “Then the second half was even better. We had five turnovers, which is good for us, and we got good shots. We did things we needed to do to win, if we had made more shots.”
Heritage (2-6, 1-1) took an early 16-7 lead after consecutive 3-pointers from its top scorer, Luke Saylor. The Raiders appeared to struggle communicating on screens, which helped him get open.
“We lost the Saylor kid two or three times, and if you give him a wide open three, he’s going to make it,” Penrod said. “When we were able to get back and get set, we did a pretty good job, but if something happened, a turnover or an offensive rebound, they’d kick it out to him, and we lost him.”
After Nyles Knapke opened the second half with a triple, Heritage took its biggest lead at 35-20.
The Raiders held them scoreless for the next three minutes and scored 9 straight, prompting a timeout.
They got it down to 6 again when Dustin Woodward scored 4 of his team-leading 20 points.
They scored 6 straight to pull within 48-39 with five minutes remaining,
Kobe Meyer, who came off the bench, knocked down a pair of treys on his way to leading the Patriots with 18 points.
The Raiders cut it to 8 with under a minute left and had two chances to draw closer, but came up empty both times.
Southern Wells drew the bye in this week’s conference tournament and will play Friday night against either Jay County or Adams Central.
The JV game went to Heritage, 59-28. Nick Lozoya topped the Raiders with 10 points and Andrew Aker added 6.
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HERITAGE 59, SOUTHERN WELLS 50
At Heritage High School
SOUTHERN WELLS (1-7, 0-2): Kedrik Sonnigen 3-8 1-2 9, Nick Lozoya 0-0 0-0 0, Dustin Woodward 8-14 2-2 20, Jenson Nusbaumer 2-5 2-1 6, Austin Harris 2-6 0-0 4, Brandon Kirtley 1-6 1-1 3, Andrew Aker 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Pennington 1-2 0-0 2, Tristen Worster 0-0 0-0 0, Quinton Mullins 2-5 2-4 6, Cody Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-46 7-11 50.
HERITAGE (2-6, 1-1): Nyles Knapke 2-5 0-0 5, Kobe Meyer 7-11 0-0 18, Tanner Whitman 2-6 0-0 5, Dylan Hale 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Saylor 6-16 2-6 16, Dalton Wasson 3-10 0-1 6, Austin Buuck 0-0 0-0 0, Leroy Lepper 1-2 0-2 2, Adam Whitman 0-0 0-0 0, Trevor Prince 0-0 0-0 0, Trevin Schaffner 0-0 0-0 0, Howard Kaiser 3-4 1-2 7. TOTALS: 24-54 3-11 59.
Southern Wells 11 9 13 17 –– 50
Heritage 18 14 12 15 –– 59
Three-point Goals: Southern Wells 5-15 (Sonnigsen 2-2, Woodward 2-3, Nusbaumer 1-4, Harris 0-2, Kirtley 0-3, Mullins 0-1), Heritage 8-25 (Meyer 4-6, Saylor 2-6, Knapke 1-4, Tanner Whitman 1-3, Wasson 0-6). Rebounds: Southern Wells 24 (Kirtley 8, Woodward 5, Mullins 4, Sonnigsen 4, Harris 2, Nusbaumer 1), Heritage 25 (Saylor 6, Kaiser 6, Lepper 6, Wasson 4, Tanner Whitman 3). Turnovers: Southern Wells 17, Heritage 15. Fouls: Southern Wells 13, Heritage 13. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Heritage 59, Southern Wells 28.
