Hopkins, Wayland in ‘Border War V’ district hoops finale

Who’d a thunk it? Wayland vs. Hopkins in the Class B district basketball championship game at 6 p.m. Friday at Otsego High School, bringing back the “Border Wars.”

Hopkins shocked Plainwell by 20 points Monday night in the tourney opener and then cruised to a 73-25 romp over Allegan Wednesday in the semifinals. Wayland earlier that night pulled off perhaps the upset of the season in a 43-42 nailbiter over host Otsego, a team that finished the regular season with a 19-1 record and a lengthy winning streak.

So the two neighborhood rivals who had their season-opening football rivalry halted about two and a half years ago after four games for reasons unknown, will renew their competition on the hardcourt. Hopkins enters the ballgame with a 13-9 overall record and it is said by learned observers to be playing its very best basketball of the season in a five-game winning streak. Wayland now is 9-12, but it has pulled off two upsets in a row with a revamped look.

And don’t let the records fool you — It’s a lot like Michigan vs. Michigan State.

The Wildcats’ biggest victory of the season looked highly unlikely in the early going. The host Bulldogs used full-court pressure and a fast-break offensive attack to come out of the blocks with an 11-2 lead. After missing their first field goal attempt, they proceeded to sink five baskets in a row, one of them a three-pointer.

Wayland coach Mike Hudson called time to regroup and his team found a way to battle back, cutting the margin to three, 14-11 on a three-bomb by junior guard Ternor Hudson just before the first period buzzer.

Fueled by threes from sophomore guard Charles Woodhams and senior guard Jason Weber and Weber’s steal and layup at the 3:44 mark in the second quarter, Otsego went ahead by 11, 24-13, and it looked like this would be the Wildcats’ last ballgame for the season.

Timeout again, and this time it really seemed to make a difference. Coach Hudson decided to counter Otsego’s speed and fast break by leaning more heavily on his “Triple Towers,” 6-7 senior forward Carter Nyp, 6-5 junior Cory Ainsworth and 6-4 junior forward George Yanakiev.

The strategy worked wonders, as the heavily favored home quintet failed to score in those last three-and-three-quarters minutes of the first half while Wayland crept to within a much more manageable deficit of six points, 24-18, at intermission.

Otsego’s scoring drought continued in the third period, as it failed to score one basket in the entire eight minutes, managing just five free throws. Meanwhile, Ainsworth, getting nice feeds from Nyp, piled up points underneath the basket and finally Nyp hit a baseline jumper to hand his team a 28-26 lead. He tallied two more free throws and canned his only three of the night in the waning seconds of the quarter.

The Wildcats had outscored Otsego 16-5 in the third period to mount a 34-29 advantage. Nyp, after being held scoreless in the first half, started to find the range and the Bulldogs hadn’t found an answer to Ainsworth underneath the bucket.

Ternor Hudson really hurt the ‘Dogs early in the fourth period after they finally regained some offense by swishing a three to widen the gap to 37-31. Woodhams answered with a three, but time was starting to run out on Otsego.

The Bulldogs made a gallant run at the very end. Weber hit a pair of free throws and they closed the gap to two, 41-39, but Nyp’s two clutch free throws with just 18 seconds remaining sealed the victory.

Ainsworth led Wayland with 16 points and Nyp, despite his early struggles, had 11. Woodhams had 11 points and Weber nine.

The ballgame was entirely different in the nightcap, as Hopkins scored early and often against an outmanned Allegan team that finished the regular season with a 4-16 overall record.

The Tigers did not make a field goal in the first seven minutes and fell behind by a whopping 20 points, 24-4, at the close of the first quarter.

The Vikings demonstrated excellent ball movement and the scoring was spread around quite evenly with the exception of junior guard Hunter Lewellyn, who finished the night with a three-point play in the third quarter and was retired to the sidelines with 21 points.

Senior Mason Schaendorf and sophomore guard Kyle Pierce, up from the junior varsity, both counted eight points, senior Josh Sapp and sophomore Drew Weber had seven apiece, and Ezran Tehennepe and Dominick Ergang scored six points each.

Coach Jake Jewitt emptied his bench in the third quarter and the ballgame was operated under a running clock throughout the fourth quarter.

Junior forward Caleb DeKryger, listed at 6-6 on the program, led Allegan with nine points and senior center Landon Mielke, also listed at 6-6, had eight. The two combined for all of the Tigers’ first 16 points.

Pierce and Ergang both drilled a couple of threes.

So it will be a renewal of the once believed to be defunct Neighborhood Rivalry Friday evening. Maybe it should be called “Border War V.”