Wayland boys scored the first seven points and took an 11-4 lead in the first eight minutes of its Cornerstone University Holiday Basketball Tournament contest Tuesday night. You may not want to read or hear the rest of the story.
The Wildcats fell on hard times in the second period and watched Forest Hills Northern tie the count at 15-all halfway into a horrible slumbering second stanza and even worse after that en route to a 55-49 defeat. The game wasn’t as close as the score might indicate.
Junior guard Ternor Hudson drilled a three-pointer, Cory Ainsworth scored inside and Carter Nyp hit a pair of free throws to stake Wayland to a 7-0 advantage. It looked like the ‘Cats were going to enjoy a cakewalk, but their number 11 on the scoreboard did not change for too long a time.
The Huskies, led by junior wing Trent Summerfield, took it to Wayland big time on the run and ran to a 26-17 lead at the half. It didn’t help that the Wildcats were guilty of twice as many fouls by intermission and Nyp and point guard Travis Cutler were hampered by foul trouble.
Forest Hills Northern was outsized, especially by 6-8 Nyp and 6-6 junior pivot Ainsworth, but the two were unable to get much going on the offensive side of the court. The Huskies put together a 20-4 run and Wayland never really recovered.
Northern had a reasonably effective full-court press in the second and third quarters, twice forcing Wayland coach Mike Hudson to call emergency timeouts to avoid 10-second violation calls. That, and too many turnovers.
Cutler appeared to suffer an ankle injury at one point and had to sit a spell, thereby depleting the ranks of those bringing the ball up the court. Meanwhile, his teammates didn’t seem to be able to hit the broad side of a barn from three-point range and too many of the misses resulted in fast-break hoops on the other end of the court.
By the end of the third quarter, Forest Hills was enjoying a 12-point cushion at 41-29, and the Wildcats did manage a heroic and hectic 20-14 burst in the last eight minutes, but they only got as close as the final score. Aiding their cause was a dismal performance by the Huskies at the free throw line, which was a factor in closing the gap from a high of 14 points to six at the final buzzer.
Nyp, despite his foul trouble, finished with 13 points. Junior forward Jack Donewald collected 11 points and Ainsworth ended up with 10. Summerfield, with his combination of threes and some fast-break layups, had a game-high 24 points.
Wayland now is 2-2 for the season overall and will face Spring Lake at 6 p.m. Friday in the second round of play in the tourney.
COVER PHOTO: Jack Donewald
(Photos courtesy of Kenny Ritz)
