Late foul fuels Waelder’s aggressive win

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WAELDER — There were only 28 seconds of game clock where the Waelder Wildcats did not lead the game. After a hard hit to the head late in the third quarter against one of their teammates, the Wildcats stiffen their defensive efforts and made sure they sent a message to everyone that their team isn’t one to mess with. Waelder would win the game 75-61 against the visiting Weimar Wildcats.

“The team gathered around and just felt like we weren’t getting the calls,” Waelder’s head coach Brandon Howard said of the non-call. “They just wanted to take it into their own hands and not let the refs be able to dictate the ending of the game in the fourth quarter so they stepped it up on the defensive end and put a lot of pressure on [Weimar’s] offense, forced them to make plays.”

Up 49-40 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter, Waelder’s second group was out on the floor. Wildcat sophomore Alex Reyna was hit hard but officials on the court did not stop play until Waelder had possession. After attending to his player, Howard subbed in his starters and instructed the team press full court. The Wildcats would go on a 15-7 run as sophomore Justin Schilhab rained down jump shots and senior Tracy Moore had a hand in scoring with an assist and seven points in that run. Moore finished the night with a team-leading 20 points. Schilhab added 14 to the stat sheet.

Earlier in the game, the Wildcats began with a 12-1 run. Despite Weimar’s attempts at a full-court trap, the home Wildcats were able to beat it and score easy layups.

“We passed the ball really well,” Howard said. “If I’m not mistaken, I think we had like 18 assists. Anytime you get over 15 assists that’s pretty big.”

Even though Waelder led throughout the rest of the game, Weimar was able to cut it to three by the end of the quarter and were only down as little as two late in the second quarter.

“We just can’t let up,” Howard said. “We got to finish every quarter. We’d start off fast and get comfortable. We can’t get comfortable, we got to keep pushing until the clock reads 0:00.”

One thing the home Wildcats did do that Howard was pleased with was their effort for loose balls.

“I can’t even remember who all dove on the floor but I had several players dive on the floor today and that for me is huge because it’s pretty much giving up your body for the team.” Howard boasted. “I know at least five or six I can remember dove for loose balls or chase the ball that was going out of bounds, chased it down, dove for it, saved it, kept it in play…the hustle that they gave tonight was great for us as a team moving forward.”

After that hard hit late in the third, Reyna was able to get back on the court in the fourth quarter when Howard subbed in his second team to finish out the game. Sophomore Josh Jones-Miller found Reyna open outside the arc who converted the three-point shot to give Waelder a 72-49 lead. Weimar would finish out the quarter on a 12-3 run due to some miscues from the Wildcats’ bench players.

Despite the issues, Howard believes this experience is vital for his team.

“It’s real big for us, simply because they’ll be helping us later on the season,” Howard said, “so getting this playing time early in the season will help. I think it was just a cause of them speeding, just trying to go too fast. If we slow it down everything will be just fine and they’re used to playing really fast and turning the ball over, so if we just slow it down with that second group I think we will be just fine.”

Other top scorers for the Wildcats include freshman Colby Thorne with 14 and sophomore Carlos Reyes.

Waelder is on the road tonight as they take on Flatonia with tipoff set scheduled at 6:15 p.m.

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