By CHARLIE HUST
The WCHS Trojan basketball team watched a 13-point halftime lead evaporate in the second half and fell 48-46 in overtime to visiting Evansville Day School last Tuesday night in both team’s season-opener.
J-E photos by Charlie Hust.
Webster led 25-12 at intermission but then allowed Day School a 12-5 scoring advantage in the third quarter and a 17-11 edge in the fourth quarter behind the hot shooting of senior forward Will Stevens. After picking up his second foul early in the first quarter and sitting the bench most of the first half with just three points, Stevens erupted for a game-high 21 points to lead EDS.
The Trojans looked in total control of the contest in the first half, especially with Stevens on the bench. Junior guard Mason Roland led the way with several drives to the hoop. He paced the WCHS scoring attack with 15 points as the Trojans gained a 13-4 lead at the first break.
A pair of 3-pointers from senior J. D. Newton and two nifty drives for the hoop by Jon Stubblefield sparked a 12-8 scoring edge for Webster in the second period. Newton finished with 11 points while Stubblefield added seven.
But the Trojans went ice-cold from the field in the second half and finished the game with 17-of-46 (36%), including only 4-of-15 attempts from behind the 3-point arc.
“Tale of two difference halves for us. We did a tremendous job at the start of the game of establishing our style of play by being aggressive and getting out in transition,” noted WCHS head coach Jon Newton. “We built the 12 point lead and I think our guys thought we were good enough to just coast to the victory in the second half instead of continuing to do the things we did to build the lead. We became very passive and back-on-our-heels while Day School became the aggressive team.”
Day School cut the advantage to 30-24 at the end of the third quarter and then got a 3-pointer from Derek Hammelman at the end of regulation to force the overtime. Stevens scored five of the Eagles seven points in the extra period to lead Day School to the win.
Webster also struggled at the free throw line, connecting on just 8-of-15 attempts (53%) and had just nine assists two steals.
Zac Shoulders added eight points in the loss while Jake Fritz finished with five points and two assists. Newton, Stubblefield and Fritz pulled down four rebounds each while Colten Durrance added three boards.
“It’s early in the season and we have a long way to go, but I did see some good things. Hopefully our guys realize that when we play our style we can be a pretty good team. But when we don’t, then we are pretty easy to beat,” Newton added. “We will get there, this team works too hard not to get it.”
Webster County travels to Fort Campbell on Thursday and then will host the annual Messenger Tip-Off Classic on Saturday with the Trojans taking on Crittenden County at 7:30 p.m.