It’s been nothing short of a walk in the park for the Wayland High School boys’ basketball team in the Class B district tournament this week.
The Wildcats, enjoying home-court advantage throughout the tourney, waltzed to their second straight runaway victory, 88-24, over Allegan to run their overall season record to 19-3 and earn them a date with Fennville in the district finals at 7 p.m. Friday.
What a change from the last two tourneys when they had to face the state’s No. 1 team so early, a year ago in the very first round. If they keep winning, they won’t be scheduled to face Wyoming Godwin Heights until the state semifinals.
Wednesday night was a near repeat of Wayland’s merry 82-39 romp over Hopkins Monday. The ‘Cats came out scoring early and often. Just like Monday evening, they led 20-2 midway in the opening quarter and never looked back.
The key was Allegan’s inability to handle the full-court press coach Mike Hudson ordered.
And it was the usual suspects who did the damage. Senior point guard Avery Hudson, who a week and a half ago scored a school-record 53 points, had 14 in the first period, backed by junior forward Carter Nyp’s seven.
The Wildcats enjoyed a 31-6 cushion at the end of the first eight minutes of play.
Coach Hudson called off his big dogs early, sitting guard-forward Mitchell Dykstra with two fouls and finally retiring his son in the second quarter for the evening with 29 points, followed by 6-7 senior center Zack Nieuwkoop with 10. Neither saw any action in the second half, as Wayland’s margin was a whopping 55 points at intermission, 67-12.
The running clock was employed for the entire remainder of the ballgame. Hudson let all of his charges play and all but one broke into the scoring column. Jake Holtz was the only other Wildcat to reach double figures, however, as he added 10 to the cause.
Senior 6-2 forward Jack Sturman was the only member of the Tigers’ outfit to score in double figures, with 10 points.
So Wayland Friday evening will be looking for its first district title in three years. Because it had to face Godwin in the last two districts, it has suffered a brief drought. The ‘Cats in 2014 won the district crown and proceeded to in the regionals as well before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Milan.
Unless they play like Michigan State did a year ago against Middle Tennessee State, the Wildcats will be hoisting the hardware once again.
PHOTOS (All courtesy of Terry Ellis) Avery Hudson (right) blocks a shot attempt by Hopkins Brandon DeGroot (24) as teammates Zack Nieuwkoop (4) and Carter Nyp (35) observe.
Jack Donewald (22) scores inside against Hopkins in the district opener as teammate Travis Cutler (5) gets in rebound position.
Mike Velting (12), the leading blue collar player on the Wayland team gets a chance for two.
