Blue Streaks tamed by Huskies, season ends

 

By ANDREW DREISCHARF
The Independent

 

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The Woodstock High School boys basketball team saw its season come to an end Thursday night at the Hononegah High School Regional 69-66 in a hard-fought loss to second-seeded Harlem High School.
“Harlem came out really strong and tried to take away our offensive options,” said Woodstock head coach Joe Conroy. “When we finally settled down and got into our rhythm in the second half, our defense sparked our offense and we were able to try a few more things.”
In the first quarter, the Blue Streaks attacked the basket. Junior Casey Sewall scored six points and senior Cameron Sanchez scored three.
The Huskies used the tandem of junior Chaz Winters with eight points and Ryan Shelton with six points, taking a 16-13 lead at the end of the first.
In the second quarter, it was more of the same as Winters dominated inside the paint, scoring 12 points and pulling down three rebounds. Jon Correa added four points in the quarter for the Huskies.
The Streaks hung around, getting four points from senior Arthur Johnson inside and a 3-pointer from junior Derek Brown. The inside game for the Huskies had taken its toll and Harlem led 35-24.
“I don’t think we were ready for their defensive intensity at the start of the game based on our scouting report and film sessions,” said Conroy. “They were a much better team than what we saw on film.”
The Streaks made their first second-half scoring comeback, starting the third quarter on an 11-4 run. The defense buckled down, holding Winters to two points while the offense turned it around with 3-pointers from seniors Jeff Varughese and Matt Hackbart and junior Nate Burns.
Shelton became the “go-to guy” with Winters swarmed, but only managed four points. No other Husky scored more than two points in the quarter, allowing the Streaks to claw back into the game trailing 49-45 at the end of three.
Brown hit a jumper for the Streaks to start the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to 49-47. However, the Huskies responded by going on an 8-0 run led by six points from Casey Beck.
WHS again rallied, forcing nine turnovers by Harlem and cutting the lead to 67-66 with 34 seconds left in the game. The charge was led by Brown’s 10 points, which included two 3-pointers.
The Huskies got more inside scoring in the final quarter from Winters, who added eight points to his total. With three seconds left, Jordan Johnson hit two freethrows to make it a 69-66 lead for Harlem.
The Streaks couldn’t get their final attempt to fall, losing a heart-breaker.
Johnson led the Streaks in scoring with 16 points. Brown added 13, Burns and Hackbart each finished with nine points, Sewall scored eight, and Sanchez tallied five.
Winters scored a game-high 32 points in the win. Shelton added 10 while Beck and Correa both scored eight points.
“I thought each player gave us good minutes when they were on the floor,” said Conroy. “Brown came up big in the fourth quarter with 10 points.”
The Streaks finish the season with a record of 10-18.
“I thought our pressure was great in the second half. We had a hard time finishing offensively,” said Conroy. “You work hard to get back into the game, and when you don’t finish it becomes so hard to get back on defense and play really hard for another segment.”
It was the final game for seniors Salvador Carbajal, Dean Griffith, Hackbart, Caleb Headley, Johnson, Sanchez and Varughese. Senior Ben Wetherbee played his final game in January.
“The seniors are a group I wish I had more time with,” said Conroy. “They were great to work with and fought to the very end.”

 

This article was published in the March 5, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.