By ANDREW FEEBACK
Big buckets and free throws down the stretch helped the Southern Wells Raiders hang on to defeat the visiting Union City Indians 66-59 Saturday night.
The Raiders (4-15) held a 16-point lead in the third quarter, only to see the Indians come all the way back to tie it with 2:20 to play.
By making their last seven foul shots, the Raiders maintained enough of a cushion to notch the win.
“We shot quite a few, and we made enough to extend the lead,” coach Kyle Penrod said. “Fouling out their big kid was pretty huge. That allowed us to get some separation when he fouled out. After that, we were able to go from up 2 to up 8, but they hit a lot of threes at the end to make us work for it.”
Southern Wells used a 13-2 run early in the second half to take a 43-27 lead.
Then, the Indians (6-14) tried to speed the game up by pressing and trapping. A faster pace probably wasn’t ideal for a Raider team playing its fourth game in six days, and it got them to do just what the Indians wanted them to do: take quick shots.
“I don’t think it was the legs; we struggle sometimes where we beat a press, and then we want to just keep going,” Penrod said. “When you have a lead, you want to beat the press, and then run your stuff. We were beating the press and not running our stuff. We kept attacking the basket when we didn’t have numbers or didn’t have a good opportunity.”
Union City scored the last 7 points of the third quarter to cut the Raider lead to 43-34.
Brandon Kirtley hit a 3-pointer to begin the final frame, but the Indians scored the next 5.
Dustin Woodward got a bucket to put the Raiders up 51-42 before Colton Emrick hit from deep.
When Emrick hit another one a minute later, Union City was suddenly within 53-50.
Camden LaFuze scored twice underneath, the second of which tied the game at 54 with 2:20 remaining.
Kedrik Sonnigsen put the Raiders back in front, then a key sequence swung the momentum heavily in Southern Wells’s favor.
Following a steal, Kirtley went in for a layup, but missed. Sonnigsen rebounded it, but also missed. He rebounded his own miss and drew a foul on LaFuze, his fifth.
That removed a key weapon from the Indians’ lineup. LaFuze finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Although Sonnigsen made just one of two from the line, the Raiders came up with another steal, and a layup plus a foul from freshman Cody Thomas put Southern Wells up 59-54 with 1:26 left.
The Indians weren’t quite done, with a 3-pointer from Emrick cutting it to 62-59. Union City then got a tie-up in the backcourt and had the possession arrow, giving them the ball with 20 seconds left and a chance to tie the game.
Conner Walser missed, then Rylan Mote missed as well, and Kirtley made four more free throws to end it.
“It took two timeouts of us yelling about it, but eventually, we finally broke the press, stopped, got people set and started moving again,” Penrod said. “They want you to run and shoot quick shots, because that’s the only way they can get back in it. We did that for awhile.”
Woodward led the Raiders with 18 points. Kirtley added 15, Sonnigsen had 14 and Austin Harris scored 11. Mote topped the Indians with 18, while LaFuze had 16 and Emrick had 12.
Southern Wells will travel to Wes-Del Tuesday night.
The Raider JV team defeated Union City 55-35. Nick Lozoya scored 16 points. Perrin Gates had 13, Gage Roberts added 11, Andrew Aker had 10 and CJ Reber scored 5.
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SOUTHERN WELLS 66, UNION CITY 59
At Southern Wells High School
UNION CITY (6-14): Angel Nieto 0-1 0-0 0, Rylan Mote 6-15 4-6 18, Antoni Velasquez 2-6 0-0 5, Luke Collins 0-1 0-0 0, Conner Walser 3-10 0-0 8, Colton Emrick 4-8 0-0 12, Camden LaFuze 6-11 4-7 16, Jace O’Connor 0-0 0-0 0, Donovan Shinaver 0-0 0-0 0, Brayden Huggins 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21-52 8-13 59.
SOUTHERN WELLS (4-15): Kedrik Sonnigsen 6-13 1-2 14, Nick Lozoya 0-0 0-0 0, Dustin Woodward 8-9 0-0 18, Jenson Nusbaumer 0-3 1-2 1, Austin Harris 3-6 5-6 11, Brandon Kirtley 4-10 5-6 15, Andrew Aker 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Pennington 1-5 1-2 3, Tristen Worster 0-0 0-0 0, Quinton Mullins 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Thomas 1-5 2-5 4. TOTALS: 23-51 15-23 66.
Union City 13 9 12 25 –– 59
Southern Wells 13 17 13 23 –– 66
Three-point Goals: Union City 9-21 (Emrick 4-7, Mote 2-7, Walser 2-5, Velasquez 1-2), Southern Wells 5-12 (Kirtley 2-4, Woodward 2-2, Sonnigsen 1-2, Harris 0-2, Nusbaumer 0-1, Pennington 0-1). Rebounds: Union City 25 (LaFuze 15, Velasquez 3, Walser 3, Mote 2, Emrick 2), Southern Wells 24 (Kirtley 8, Woodward 6, Harris 5, Sonnigsen 3, Thomas 1, Nusbaumer 1). Turnovers: Union City 17, Southern Wells 11. Fouls: Union City 18, Southern Wells 14. Fouled out: LaFuze. Technicals: None.
JV: Southern Wells 55, Union City 35.
