If the Wayland boys’ varsity basketball team can pick up a win at the South Christian gym Tuesday night, it will clinch at least a share of the O-K Gold Conference championship.

The Wildcats took one more step toward that goal Friday with a 81-41 thrashing of visiting Hastings in a game that was virtually over in the first five and a half minutes.

Wayland, now with a 15-1 overall record and an 8-0 mark in the league, scored the first 21 points en route to a 23-3 advantage in the first quarter. Hastings, bothered terribly by the Wildcats’ full-court trapping pressure, didn’t even have a field goal attempt until the 4:51 mark and spent almost the entire period succumbing to a flurry of turnovers.

The main culprits once again were the 6-7 insider Zack Nieuwkoop and the outsider, point guard Avery Hudson, both juniors.

It wasn’t until Jackson Long swished a three-point field goal with 2:20 remaining that the Saxons first removed the zero from the scoreboard.

Things didn’t get much better for the visiting quintet for the rest of the half. Nieuwkoop was virtually unstoppable around the hoop when Hudson and Mike Kelly found him for open looks underneath. Nieuwkoop had 16 points by intermission and Wayland was cruising with a 40-15 lead.

Perhaps the highlight of the first 16 minutes of basketball was a desperation heave from beyond half court by Jake Holtz that bounced up and then inside the hoop for a three-point finish.

Coach Mike Hudson spent the second half of the contest giving his subs a chance to show what they can do. They responded pretty well, as no fewer than a dozen Wildcats broke into the scoring column for the night.

Nieuwkoop sat out much of the second half, but finished with 20 points and Hudson ended up with 18. Holtz added eight points.

For Hastings, Lee Stowe and Alex McMahon both had nine points and Long eight.

If the Wildcats can get by South Christian Tuesday night, they will be at Ottawa Hills next Friday night a change to win the league title outright.

PHOTOS: Zack Nieuwkoop   Avery Hudson (Photos courtesy of Kenny Ritz)