By RICK SPRUNGER
WOODBURN — Anyone who did not see Southern Wells’ 79-56 loss at Woodlan Friday night might be surprised to learn that the Raiders not only led at halftime but for most of the third quarter.
In fact, Woodlan did not take the lead for good until the 2:10 mark of the third period.
But once it did, there was no stopping the Warriors, who outscored Southern Wells, 35-10, over the last 10-plus minutes of the contest.
“They’re really good,” said Southern Wells coach Joel Roush after watching Woodlan improve to 17-4 on the season and wrap up a share of the Allen County Athletic Conference championship with the win. “(Braden Smith) and (Drew Fleek) got hot in the second half, and we had no answer for (6-7 sophomore Trey Yoder).”
Those three were pivotal for Woodlan.
Smith scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the third quarter, nine of them on a trio of three-pointers.
Yoder put up 14 of his 18 points and nine of his 13 rebounds in the second half.
And Fleek came off the bench to score 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and six of seven free throws.
And once Woodlan got started, there was no stopping it.
Trailing 46-44 late in the third quarter, the Warriors used a 14-2 run to take control at 58-48 early in the fourth period and then another 19-2 spurt late in the game to win going away.
“The key difference was when we started going physically to the rim,” said Woodlan coach John Baker. “We started pounding it down inside, not with the idea of getting fouled and going to the free throw line but with the idea of scoring.”
But for much of the game, Southern Wells had the heavily favored Woodlan team on the run.
The Raiders spotted Woodlan an early 18-10 lead but fought back in the second quarter by forcing eight Warrior turnovers and holding the home team to 2-for-7 shooting in the period.
Southern Wells, meanwhile, connected on nine of 15 shots in the quarter while committing just two miscues.
The Raiders caught Woodlan at 31-31 on a three-pointer by Chandler Oswalt with 0:40 left in the period.
Then, with Woodlan playing for one shot, Kedrik Sonnigsen stole the ball with two ticks left and swished a half-court heave at the buzzer to put Southern Wells on top, 34-31.
And when Sonnigsen grabbed a rebound to start the third period, threaded his way coast to coast, and completed a three-point play, the Raiders had a 37-31 advantage.
None of this came as a huge surprise to Baker.
“I know what their record is, but this is a good ball club,” insisted the Woodlan skipper. “They’ve got some nice pieces, and they can be dangerous. They’ve got guys who can put it on the floor and guys who can shoot it. It’s not just Oswalt; they had other guys stepping up and hitting shots, too. Plus, we score a lot of our points off our defense. They were catching us in rotation and scoring points, and that made things difficult for us.”
But if there is one thing Southern Wells does not have a lot of, it’s size.
Woodlan used that edge to its full advantage, outrebounding the Raiders 11-6, in the third quarter and by an almost unbelievable 18-2 margin in the fourth on its way to absolute 42-18 dominance of the glass.
Even so, Roush was proud of his team’s effort.
“This was similar to our effort in the Jay County game,” smiled Southern Wells’ first-year mentor. “Our defensive focus, our intensity, and our communication were spot-on.”
Southern Wells spread the scoring around, getting 15 points from Jenson Nusbaumer, 11 from Sonnigsen, and 10 each from Oswalt and Evan Pennington.
Woodlan made it a clean sweep with a 54-37 win in the junior varsity game and a 26-23 triumph in the C-team scrap.
Southern Wells’ jayvees got 16 points from C.J. Reber, 10 from Bryar Gearheart, seven from Levi Woodward, and four from Caleb Johnson.
The Raider C-teamers got eight points from Eli Elmore, five from Brohdi Church, four each from Carson Smith and Trey Slusher, and two from Caleb Gates.
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WOODLAN 79,
SOUTHERN WELLS 56
At Woodlan High School
SOUTHERN WELLS (4-13, 1-5 ACAC): Kedrik Sonnigsen 4-9 1-1 11, Jenson Nusbaumer 5-10 3-3 15, Evan Pennington 4-7 2-4 10, Chandler Oswalt 4-11 0-0 10, Perrin Gates 1-4 2-2 4, Andrew Aker 1-3 0-0 2, Gage Roberts 1-1 2-2 4, Nick Lozoya 0-2 0-0 0, Bryar Gearheart 0-0 0-0 0, C.J. Reber 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 20-47 10-12 56.
WOODLAN (17-4, 1-5 ACAC): Dawson Lichty 0-1 2-2 2, Alex Miller 1-5 2-4 5, Dejay Gerig 5-6 4-6 14, Braden Smith 5-12 6-6 20, Trey Yoder 7-16 4-5 18, Lincoln Sparks 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Fleek 5-8 6-7 17, Ethan Klepper 1-1 0-0 3, Mason Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Halsey 0-0 0-0 0, Jayse Kuntz 0-2 0-0 0, Oliver Adams 0-1 0-0 0. TOTAL: 24-52 24-30 79.
So. Wells 10 24 14 8 — 56
Woodlan 16 15 26 22 — 79
Three-point shooting: Southern Wells 6-16 (Sonnigsen 2-3, Nusbaumer 2-6, Oswalt 2-5, Aker 0-2), Woodlan 7-12 (Miller 1-1, Smith 4-9, Fleek 1-1, Klepper 1-1). Rebounds: Southern Wells 18 (Oswalt 7, Sonnigsen 5), Woodlan 42 (Yoder 13, Miller 6, Gerig 5, Smith 5, Fleek 5). Turnovers: Southern Wells 16, Woodlan 16. Personal fouls: Southern Wells 23, Woodlan 9. Fouled out: Gates. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Woodlan 54, Southern Wells 37.
C-Team: Woodlan 26, Southern Wells 23.
