By RYAN WALKER
WABASH — Southern Wells gave everything it could give in the sectional quarter-final against Canterbury Tuesday night in a 65-53 loss that was closer than the scoreboard would indicate.
The Cavaliers (7-16) came into the Southwood sectional with a deceiving record having one of the area’s tougher schedules and being favored by over 20 points over the Raiders (6-16), according to the johnharrell.net website.
Between many short-scoring runs and defensive adjustments, Southern Wells wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“I think what we wanted to do tonight is demonstrate the growth that we’ve undergone as a group, and I think defensively, we were maybe a little too spread out in the first quarter,” head coach Joel Roush said after the game. “We got that rectified. We just fought and scratched and clawed, and we were right there until the end.”
That score projection looked as if it would come to life after Reed Hayes threw a one-handed slam down to cap off a 6-0 Canterbury run and go up by eight, but a pair of threes from Nick Lozoya and Chandler Oswalt settled the Raider bunch back into it.
That momentum would carry into the second, as Oswalt hit two more triples and held the lead within one possession for most of the second quarter.
The Raiders also held the Cavaliers to just six points in the second — a much needed adjustment was made to solve some of the issues in the paint. The team gave up 23 in the first, all of which were either close to the basket or driving the lane and getting to the free-throw line.
“We made a conservative effort to squeeze the lane to try and cut off — we don’t like to allow straight drives in our program, and we weren’t necessarily straight line drives for layins, but they were getting into the lane with little floaters and little bank shots, and that’s not what we want,” Roush said.
The only issue for Southern Wells was foul trouble. By the 3:08 mark in the third quarter, three of its starters had four fouls and had to use up bench minutes more than it is used to.
Eight of the 15 third-quarter points for Canterbury were from the charity stripe and would grow bigger as the game got down to crunch time. The Raiders, however, stayed within striking distance with two more threes from Oswalt and getting junior guard Evan Pennington more involved.
With 5:25 left in the fourth quarter and a six-point lead for Canterbury, center Perrin Gates fouled out for Southern Wells, who didn’t have much playing time picking up fouls early in the game. Senior guard Jenson Nusbaumer would also foul out a few minutes later.
The Cavaliers would make the majority of their free throws down the stretch, and despite an effort from Pennington scoring six in a short run, it was the ultimate difference in the game.
Canterbury went 64 percent from the line, but when it shot as many as they did (29-45), it was more than enough to seal the deal.
With the final loss of the season, there are seniors wrapping up their last game. Southern Wells will lose Kedrik Sonnigsen, Lozoya, Nusbaumer, and Gage Roberts this season, and the four gave it all out on the line. Coach Roush couldn’t have been more proud.
“Those seniors, you can see it from the looks on their faces and their behavior,” he said. “This means something to them. It’s not just something that they do, and those are the guys I want. I want guys that love it, I want guys that care, I want guys that will fight for it, and these seniors have had kind of a rough go of it, but they really acquitted themselves well. They’ve just been good leaders, they’ve been good examples, and no matter how good of players they are, they’re better people.
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CANTERBURY 65, SOUTHERN WELLS 53,
At Southwood High School
CANDERBURY (7-16): William Russell 5-10 14-18 25, Devon Lewis 2-12 8-10 12, Taurean Brown 0-3 1-4 1, Ashton Dressler 4-6 0-0 8, Reed Hayes 6-10 4-9 17, Jack Cowan 0-5 0-0 0, Deacon Wardlow 0-2 0-0 0, Christian Urberh 0-0 2-2 2, Alden Greider 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-48 29-45 65.
SOUTHERN WELLS (6-16): Chandler Oswalt 10-20 0-2 23, Evan Pennington 5-8 5-6 15, Kedrik Sonnigsen 1-5 0-0 2, Jenson Nusbaumer 1-4 0-0 3, Perrin Gates 1-2 1-1 3, Andrew Aker 0-2 0-0 0, Gage Roberts 0-3 2-2 2, Nick Lozoya 1-3 0-0 3 Bryar Gearheart 0-0 0-0 0, CJ Reber 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-47 8-11 53
Canterbury 23 6 15 21 ––65
So. Wells 16 12 14 11 –– 53
Three-point FG: Canterbury 2-8 (Russell 1-2, Hayes 1-1, Cowan 0-1, Lewis 0-2, Brown 0-2), Southern Wells 7-19 (Oswalt 5-11, Nusbaumer 1-3, Lozoya 1-2, Sonnigsen 0-2, Aker 0-1). Rebounds: Canterbury 35 (Russell 11, Hayes 8, Cowan 3, Dressler 1, Wardlow 1, Greider 1, Brown 1), Southern Wells 19 (Sonnigsen 6, Nusbaumer 3, Oswalt 3, Roberts 3, Pennington 1, Gates 1, Aker 1, Lozoya 1). Turnovers: Canterbury 11, Southern Wells 8. Fouls: Canterbury 13, Southern Wells 26. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
