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NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: WYALUSING'S LATE RALLY COMES UP SHORT IN LOSS TO WELLSBORO (2022-01-27)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
WYALUSING — Wyalusing came into Thursday’s game with Wellsboro as possibly the hottest team in the NTL, but it was the Hornets who couldn’t miss through three quarters, putting the Rams in a hole. Wyalusing dug out to threaten Wellsboro down the stretch, but couldn’t quite get over the hump, as they fell 64-57 in NTL boys’ basketball action.

“Coach (Steve) Adams said that’s about as well as they’ve played, and, I would agree, they were awesome tonight,” Wyalusing coach Brent Keyes remarked. “They got contributions all over the place. I mean, for us, the message at halftime was I just didn’t think we were tough enough defensively, but give them credit, they were making some tough shots. We were working, but not quite as tough as we want to be defensively.”


They turned up the pressure in the fourth quarter, and were able to rally, cutting a 15-point lead to four with just over two minutes to play, but were out scored 7-4 down the stretch as they struggled to get quality looks.


“It’s hard to play like that the whole game,” Keyes said about his team’s defensive effort. “We guard a certain way, no matter what were in, and we kind of had to change that based on the game script. Our guys responded, they did a good job, I thought the kids played really hard. I was really proud of our effort; didn’t execute as well as we have the last (games) down the stretch, but I thought we played really hard, really proud of them.”


Blake Morningstar had 18 points and three boards for the Rams - including a 14-point third quarter - while Grady Cobb finished with 15 points - including three 3-pointers - while adding four rebounds, and two assists


Kashawn Cameron finished with seven points, Abram Bennett had four points and two assists, and Hunter Moss added two points, and two steals.


Peyton McClure led Wellsboro with 21 points, including five 3-balls, while Darryn Callahan added 14 points. Liam Manning finished with 12, Hays Campbell added nine, Cameron Brought scored six off the bench, and Conner Adams netted two.


Both teams came out of the gate firing, but it was Wyalusing who saw four different players find the basket to give them an 11-6 lead, forcing the Hornets to go from man-to-man to zone.


A Morningstar jump hook would give the Rams a 13-8 advantage, but that’s when Wellsboro began their comeback. They would get back to back lay-ups from Campbell to cut it to 13-12.


A Way jumper put Wyalusing back up 15-12, but a Hornet 5-0 run to the end quarter, punctuated by a McClure 3-ball, saw them take a 17-15 lead.


McClure opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer to make it 20-15, and the teams began trading buckets after that, with Cameron later hitting a 3-pointer to cut it to 22-20.


A Callahan jumper followed, to give Wellsboro a 24-20 lead, but Cobb knocked in a 3-ball to cut it to a 1-point game again.


That’s when Wyalusing’s offense left them as Wellsboro went on a 9-2 run to end the first half, powered by two McClure 3-balls, while Callahan added the exclamation point with a late lay-up, to give the Hornets a 34-25 lead at the break.


The Rams were able to get four shots at the rim - contested shots - but none of them went down.


The Hornets continued to pull away in the third, starting the quarter on an 8-2 run to take their biggest lead yet, 42-27.


The Rams, though, fought back, and leading the charge was Morningstar. The Junior forward went on a 6-0 run by himself to get it to 42-33.


After a Hornet free throw, Morningstar hit his fourth shot in a row to cut it to 43-35.


Wellsboro answered with six straight points of their own, four of them by Brought, to push their advantage to 49-37.


The Rams, though, would cut it to single digits, thanks to back to back buckets from Morningstar, making it 49-41. Callahan had the last say of the quarter, however, hitting a buzzer beating lay-up to give them a 51-41 lead going into the final frame.


In the fourth Wellsboro would grow their lead to 12 points when McClure had an old fashion 3-point play, giving them a 55-43 lead with 6:41 left.


That’s when the Rams began cut away at the lead, beginning with back to back 3-balls from Way and Cobb, making it a six point game.


Manning would bag a jumper to extend their advantage to 57-49, but another Cobb 3-pointers cut it to 57-52 with just over four minutes to play.


That’s when the offense left the building - Wyalusing had a chance to cut into the lead even more, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Wellsboro followed by missing two free throws of their own, then both teams turned it over on the ensuing possessions.


Way would get to the line, and make 1-of-2 with 2:19 left, to make it a 4-point game, but on Wellsboro’s next possession they got a driving lay-up from Adams - his only points of the game - to push their lead back to 59-53 with just under two minutes to go.


Bennett would keep the Ram hopes alive by getting to the free throw line with 1:46 on the clock, making both to cut the deficit back to 4-points.


Wellsboro kept the window open with a missed lay-up at the other end, but a Wyalusing shot with just over a minute to play was off. Campbell secured the rebound, got fouled, and made both with 1:05 on the clock.


Wyalusing followed with another miss, Wellsboro got the rebound, McClure went to the line, made his free throws, and that pretty much sealed the game for the Hornets.


The Rams had a 2-game cushion on Canton for the NTL Division-II title, and now it’s down to one. Their wins over Athens and NP-Mansfield recently - two teams Canton lost to - negated their earlier loss to the Warriors. 


So, while they’re still in the lead, they don’t have a very big margin of error left, especially with Canton and NP-Liberty both coming to town as they start divisional play up again.


“Liberty is quite outstanding, Canton got us over there, so, you know, that’s obviously big for us,” said Keyes. “Both of those games, and, really, Northeast, we have a little rivalry there, at Sayre, they’ve been playing teams close - you know how it is, every night we’ll be ready. We have our backs against the wall again. We lost some of them we shouldn’t have early, and now we’re playing better, I believe that, but, we just have no margin for error in the league or district standings. Like I said, we’re getting better, we keep this little edge that we’ve got, we’ll be fine.”


PHOTO CAPTION: Wyalusing’s Blake Morningstar shoots over Wellsboro’s Liam Manning…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING




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