“I hope you don’t take this wrong, but you guys had play better than this Friday night, or Godwin will beat you by at least 10 points,” a perceptive Lowell fan warned about Wayland Wednesday night.
Indeed, though the Wildcats were never really in trouble in the opening round at the Cornerstone Holiday Basketball Tournament, they looked sloppy and ragged at times during a 76-60 romp over Lowell to advance to the final round in their division at 7:30 Friday night in Round III of the annual Wayland-Godwin hoops showdown.
Wyoming Godwin Heights has eliminated the Wildcats in both of the last two seasons in the district tournament, and sources in the know say the Wolverines are every bit as good if not better than they were two years ago when they won the Class B state championship.
Wayland and Godwin will arrive at the Cornerstone Corral both undefeated thus far this season, and both easily can lay claim to being among the top 10 Class B teams in the state.
But back to the Lowell fan’s warning:
The Wildcats were guilty of lapses Wednesday night that might be fatal against Godwin. They did not score a point in the first four minutes if the last quarter and enabled the Red Arrows to creep to within seven points, 51-44, in the third period and to within eight, 61-53 with only about 4:20 left in the ballgame. Even worse, star 6-7 center Zack Nieuwkoop and point guard Avery Hudson both picked up their fourth fouls and were risking disqualification.
Senior Auston Whitley finally ended the scoring drought with a clutch three-pointer and Hudson flipped a nifty pass inside to Carter Nyp for a layup to put the Wildcats up 66-53 and they were able to pull away with free throws the rest of the evening.
Hudson was an offensive wizard in the early going, scoring 11 points, including three three-pointers, in the first four minutes to stake Wayland to a 24-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The ‘Cats threatened to turn the contest into a rout in the first couple of minutes of the second period when Travis Cutler scored on a fast break layup to make it 29-15.
Lowell was able to retrench on the strength of scoring from 6-5 point guard Matt Beachler, who tried to be Superman by doing it all, netting 13 points in the first half.
Nieuwkoop was quiet in the first eight minutes but heated up in the second quarter and by intermission he had 10 points, Hudson had 19 and Wayland was enjoying a 44-31 cushion
Hudson nailed a three to open the third period and Cutler followed suit to widen the gap to 52-33, which would be Wayland’s largest advantage of the night.
Coach Mike Hudson had his Wildcats changing up defenses between a zone, a full-court man-to-man and a three-quarters zone press to keep the Red Arrows off balance.
But offensive lapses and some cold shooting permitted Lowell to creep to within eight points midway in the final period before Whitley came up with the clutch three and the ‘Cats dropped in free throws to ice it all.
Hudson cooled off in the scoring department to finish with a game 28 points and Nieuwkoop added 20. Mitchell Dykstra scored seven points and Whitley and Cutler both added six in support roles. Nieuwkoop and Hudson both had double doubles, as both also had 11 rebounds. Hudson dished out six assists and came up with nine steals and Nieuwkoop had three blocked shots.
Beachler, who is scheduled to play basketball next year at Central Michigan University, led Lowell with 24 points, Andrew Poulton had 13 and 6-7 center Austin Barnagan chipped in a dozen.
PHOTO: The Wayland varsity basketball team (back, from left) Depress Holloway, Mike Velting, Jack Donewald, (second row, from left) Zack Niewkoop, coach Chris Jasinski, head coach Mike Hudson, team trainer, Carter Nyp, (third row) Gage Stencell, Auston Whitley, Mitchell Dykstra, Travis Cutler, (front row) Jake Holtz, Avery Hudson and Jake Omness.
