Boys basketball: Marist ends Waubonsie Valley’s perfect season
The When Sides Collide event at Benet that Waubonsie Valley participated in Saturday featured enough young talent from around the area that it attracted college recruiters.
Going in, the Warriors knew their perfect record would be on a collision with Marist. What they didn’t know was the perfect record would be gone after the RedHawks beat them, 65-56.
“That's exactly what we need,” said Warriors coach Andrew Schweitzer. “Not necessarily the loss, but that type of game, that type of environment, that type of opponent. I told the guys, ‘This is gonna be the best film we look at all year.’ ”
The Warriors (22-1) saw their 16-11 lead after the first quarter turn into a 29-27 halftime deficit. That set the stage for a second half in which they and the RedHawks (21-2) frequently swapped control of the game. This went on until a Josh Tinney free throw for Waubonsie Valley tied the game at 53 with less than three minutes left.
Stephen Brown and Rokas Zilys hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Marist a six-point lead. Although sophomore Kris Mporokoso responded with his own 3, Brown hit a two-point field goal to put the RedHawks back up five.
The Warriors were forced to foul in the final minute, and they still had a manageable 62-56 deficit to try and overcome. Any hopes of doing that successfully were dashed when Marquis Vance stole the ball near the sideline and threw it off Moses Wilson to force it out of bounds and give the RedHawks possession.
Vance’s heroics were a welcome sight for Marist after he landed hard on his tailbone early in the first quarter while trying to defend Illinois State-bound Tyreek Coleman at the rim and briefly had to come out of the game.
“I know it's kind of cliché, but I'm encouraged,” Schweitzer said. “We were right there, tied with three minutes left, had a couple defensive breakdowns, couldn't get anything going offensively. That's a great opponent.”
The late long-ball heroics from Brown and Zilys were appropriate as Zilys scored a game-high 25 points and Brown was right behind with 13 points along with Karson Thomas, who came off the bench.
Coleman scored 24 points, but he wasn’t the only Warrior to turn heads. Wilson had 15 points, eight of which came on four dunks, two on alley-oop passes from Coleman.
“That's my right-hand man, man,” Coleman said of Wilson. “We play on the same wavelength. When I make plays sometimes, it may not look like it to the crowd, but I get downhill, and I might be stuck, and he cuts. He just knows where to be at the right moment.”
Mporokoso got nine of his 10 points on three 3s. Tinney rounded out the Waubonsie Valley scoring with eight points.