By JOSH BURRIS
After a 10-day break since its last game, the Southern Wells Raiders returned to action on Tuesday to defeat the visiting Elwood Panthers 55-48 at the Raiderdome.
The Raiders (3-11) missed a game and three days of practice last week due to the snowfall, and the rust showed up early on and in the box score. They shot 20-of-61 from the field (32.8 percent) and 10-of-22 from the free-throw line (45.5 percent). They shot just 2-of-16 from the field in the first quarter.
Elwood did not do much better, connecting on just 20 of its 52 attempts (38.5 percent).
Despite that cold start, the Raiders trailed the Panthers just 11-7 by the end of the first quarter.
“We didn’t get a practice on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday last week when all that snow happened. We didn’t practice,” Southern Wells coach Kyle Penrod said after the game. “We came in and practiced Monday, but you could see the rust – especially on the shots. I felt like we missed enough shots to win that game by over 20.”
The Raiders bounced back in the second quarter to score 18 points – their highest scoring quarter of the night.
Trailing 16-12, the Raiders got 6 straight points – a layup by Austin Harris, and a pair of free throws and a fastbreak layup off a steal from Kedrik Sonnigsen – to take an 18-16 lead.
Elwood’s Jayden Reese and Zane Henry sandwiched layups around a layup by Evan Pennington to make the score 20-20 with two minutes left in the half.
Pennington made another layup, and Harris drained a three to give the Raiders a 25-20 halftime lead. Elwood never led again the rest of the game.
“I think just rust and not finishing some of those shots early on is what made us get off to a slow start,” Penrod said, “but we amped up the pressure. Kedrik Sonnigsen turned the game around with his defensive pressure. He started tipping balls, started pressuring, people were getting out and running, we were scoring in transition. That really got us going, because then you get easy ones in transition. His defensive effort was really the key to turning things around.”
The Panthers turned the ball over 13 times in the first half and 21 times overall, while the Raiders had just eight turnovers in the entire game.
A layup by Reese with 4:20 left in the third brought the Panthers within 1 points of the Raiders at 32-31. The Raiders responded with 10 straight points, which were scored by Dustin Woodward, Brandon Kirtley, and Jenson Nusbaumer, to give the Raiders an 11-point lead at 42-31.
Reese made one more layup before the buzzer sounded though, cutting the Raiders’ lead to 42-33.
Southern Wells hung on to that lead for the first part of the fourth quarter, getting a layup from Nusbaumer and jumper from Harris to lead 48-37 with 4:18 to go.
Elwood responded with a jumper from Reese and layup from Hunter Sallee to make it a 7-point game with 2:12 remaining. And with 1:22 remaining, the Panthers committed their seventh foul to put the Raiders in the bonus.
The hosts did not do too much with their free opportunities though – missing the front end of their first trip, the second attempt on their second trip, and the front end again on a third trip.
Even while scoring just 1 out of 6 potential points, the Panthers were not able to do anything at the other end, ad the Raiders still led 49-41 with 1:03 to go.
Finally, Harris went to the line after Elwood’s 10th foul to put the Raiders in the double bonus. He made both shots to give his team a 10-point lead with 44.5 seconds to go.
Will Retherford knocked down a three on the other end, and Harris responded with a layup to keep the lead at 9 with 30 seconds left.
Then the Panthers made things interesting for a bit. Reese knocked down a three five seconds later while drawing a foul for a chacne at a 4-point play. He knocked down the free throw to make the score 53-48 with 25 seconds remaining.
The Raiders went to the free-throw line two more times in that span and made two of their four shots. Meanwhile, the Panthers could not manage another point.
Penrod said it was not a situation they had been in many times this season, so it was a great opportunity to learn how to close out a game.
“That was an excellent way to have a learning moment,” Penrod said. “We won, but there is definitely some teachable stuff. In the last four minutes, we took some questionable shots, and we didn’t knock down free throws. If you let a team hang around, and you don’t (make shots), they are going to make it interesting. It’s always easier to learn those lessons when you win though. I think we are going to learn a lot from that, and the next time we are up 8 with a couple minutes to go, I think you will see some better decision making.”
Harris led the Raiders with 18 points, and Sonnigsen followed with 15. Kirtley also joined them in double figures with 10 points.
Harris also Southern Wells in rebounds, pulling down 11 of the team’s 37.
Reese led the Panthers with 21 points, followed by 17 from Sallee. Sallee also was the leading rebounder with 12 of the team’s 38.
The Raiders will return to action on Friday for a home game against the Woodlan Warriors.
Penrod was happy to see his team hang with Elwood in the rebounding battle, but said Woodlan – led by 6-foot-7 forward Joe Reidy – could be tougher to hang with in that column.
“We play Woodlan on Friday. That’s going to be a tough one to win the rebound battle with (Joe) Reidy. I think last time we played them he had 17 or 18 on his own. So we’ve got to find ways taking care of the basketball, timely rebounds, that type of stuff, so that we can come out even on the shots,” Penrod said.
Southern Wells defeated Elwood in the JV game 49-32.
The Raiders were led by Nick Lozoya’s 11 points, and Andrew Aker and Perrin Gates each added 10.
sports@news-banner.com
SOUTHERN WELLS 55, ELWOOD 48
At Southern Wells High School
ELWOOD (1-15): Will Retherford 1-2 0-0 3, Jayden Reese 8-25 3-3 21, Isaac Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Zane Henry 1-4 0-0 2, Beau Brandon 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson Blackford 2-5 1-1 5, Hunter Sallee 8-15 0-0 17. TOTALS: 20-52 4-4 48.
SOUTHERN WELLS (3-11): Kedrik Sonnigsen 4-9 7-12 15, Dustin Woodward 1-12 0-0 2, Jenson Nusbaumer 2-6 1-3 6, Austin Harris 7-18 2-4 18, Brandon Kirtley 4-10 0-0 10, Evan Pennington 2-2 0-0 4, Quinton Mullins 0-4 0-3 0, Cody Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-61 10-22 55.
Elwood 11 9 13 15 –– 48
Southern Wells 7 18 17 13 –– 55
Three-point Goals: Elwood 4-15 (Reese 2-9, Sallee 1-1, Retherford 1-2, Henry 0-1, J. Blackford 0-2), Southern Wells 5-21 (Harris 2-6, Kirtley 2-8, Nusbaumer 1-5, Sonnigsen 0-2). Rebounds: Elwood 38 (Sallee 12, Reese 8, Henry 7, Blackford 5, Retherford 4), Southern Wells 37 (Harris 11, Kirtley 6, Sonnigsen 5, Woodward 5, Mullins 3, Pennington 2, Nusbaumer 2). Turnovers: Elwood 21, Southern Wells 8. Fouls: Elwood 18, Southern Wells 8. Fouled Out: Retherford. Technicals: None.
JV: Southern Wells 49, Elwood 32
