NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: WYALUSING RALLIES, THEN HOLDS OFF MUNCY FOR 2ND STRAIGHT DISTRICT TITLE (2022-03-04)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportMANSFIELD — The way the game was going down the stretch, it looked like one play was going to win it. But it was probably one play nobody considered, until it was happening.
Wyalusing led Muncy 49-47 with 6.9 seconds to play, while the Indians had a side out of bounds. The Indians went for the alley-oop to Noah Confer on the far side. Wyalusing’s Isaiah Way was defending, and managed to get enough off the ball to keep Confer from laying it in. The ball bounced around for a little bit before Ram Grady Cobb picked it up, dribbled out the clock, and secured Wyalusing's second straight District IV, Class AA title Friday.
“I did not know that they were throwing it,” said Way, who had his back to the play as he was denying Confer. “I thought it was going to (Ross Eyer) for sure. But I got there, I made a sacrifice.”
Way injured his leg when he came down, and could miss the rest of the season, but he’s content to know his final play preserved his team’s district title.
“You know, making the sacrifice for my team - I couldn’t ask for a better outcome,” he remarked.
“He saved us a district title,” Wyalusing coach Brent Keyes said about the play.
It was a long journey to get to that point for Wyalusing, as they had one of their worst starts in recent memory, falling behind Muncy 12-4 after the first quarter.
They would get down by as many as 10 points in the second quarter, and cut it to 27-18 at the half, before opening an 8-0 run in the third to get back in the game. They would eventually take a 46-39 lead with 1:10 to play, only to watch the Indians claw their way back in, and tie it up at 47-all.
A costly foul by Muncy put Cobb on the line, though, and, with 25.9 seconds to play, he made both to put the Rams up two. The Indians’ couldn’t find a clean look on their ensuing possession, and nearly lost the ball as Way tipped it out of bounds, setting up the final play.
“It was interesting early, and it was interesting late,” said Keyes. “It wasn’t our best night, and it probably wasn’t Muncy’s best night either - sometimes these environments kind of produce that.”
Cobb led the way with 18 points, nine boards, four steals, three blocks, and two assists.
“Grady Cobb got us going,” said Keyes. “And in big games, he gets us going, like did in the last couple district finals. When we needed a bucket, he got a bucket. It happened in the third quarter, and it happened back to back in the fourth quarter.”
He carried their offense in the first half, scoring 10 of their 18 points, and then hit two 3-balls late in the fourth to give them the 4-point lead late.
“That was big, definitely built up a lot of confidence,” Cobb said about seeing those two 3-balls go in, the only two he made all game. “And once we got the lead the focus shifted more into just maintaining that lead, rather than trying to pull away.”
Way finished with 14 points, four boards, and a team high eight deflections.
“Isaiah Way played his butt off tonight,” remarked Keyes. “He had the lay-up late, a couple tough ones early in the game, and, then in the third quarter, and then the last play.”
Blake Morningstar added 12 points and six rebounds, while Kashawn Cameron finished with three points, Hunter Moss scored two, and Abram Bennett chipped in with three assists.
Ross Eyer led Muncy with 18 points, with Branon Eyer scoring 15. Lauren Boring netted five, Noah Confer and Gio Persun had four points each, with Eli Weikle adding one.
Despite having won the title game a year ago the Rams came out tentative.
They did go up 2-0 on a Cobb jumper, but Muncy scored the next two buckets to take a 4-2 lead. A Way bucket made it 4-4 with 4:02 on the clock, but the Indians rattled off an 8-0 run over the second half of the first quarter to go up 12-4.
“I thought their guys played well early,” Keyes said about the Indians. “They played really hard, they got out in transition, which is their game. We didn’t get out in transition at all, which we’ve been doing a good job at.”
Things got a little better for the Rams in the second quarter, at least offensively, as Cobb opened it with a put back.
Muncy then saw Confer and Branon Eyer get buckets to take a 16-6 lead a minute into the frame.
The Rams responded with two baskets of their own - a Cobb to Cameron jumper, followed by a bucket from Cobb - cut it to 16-10.
Branon Eyer came back with two free throws, bu ton the ensuing play Moss hit Morningstar for a lay-up, followed by another Cobb jumper to cut the deficit to 18-14 with 3:35 left in the half.
That’s when foul trouble hit. Way picked up his second and went to the bench, followed by Cobb getting whistled for his second, and he went to the bench, though he didn’t stay there long.
The Indians would get to the free throw line twice in their next two possessions, going 3-for-4 to extend their lead to 21-14.
Morningstar came back with a jump hook, but Ross Eyer took over, first getting a lay-up, then hitting a 3-ball to extend the lead back to 10.
Cobb answered that shot with a put back to make it 26-18 with 1:10 left in the second quarter. Down the stretch Muncy got to the free throw line twice for a pair of 1-and-1’s, but didn’t take advantage, going just 1-for-3 for the 9-point halftime lead.
“I just think everything that could go wrong in the first half went wrong,” Keyes remarked. “We went down, I got into them a little bit. I said listen, ‘What are we doing? Like, we’ve been here?’ We feel like we can win the game. We knew they could win the game, but we felt like, hey, if we can do what we do, we’ll have a chance to win the game.”
To open the third quarter the Rams went away from their base offense, and tried to get guys going to the basket more on curls off screens.
It worked.
After Morningstar opened things with a lay-up Way attacked the basket, and got to the free throw line, where he went 2-for-2. Way then drove again, and this time found Morningstar for the lay-up.
Way then kept attacking, getting a driving lay-up with 4:30 on the clock to cut it to 27-26, ending Wyalusing’s 8-0 run.
“I just found my openings,” Way said. “We run a set play for me, and I just delivered.”
Cobb liked that action, and it was a similar play that they used coming out of the half against Canton in the semifinal.
“We’ve got options on that play, and Abram’s real good about making that read,” said Cobb. “I knew that if I ran hard off the cut, and hard off the screen, something would be open.”
Boring would finally get Muncy on the scoreboard at the 4:14 mark of the third with an And-1, extending their lead back to four points.
But Way kept at it, this time hitting from deep with a 3-ball, making it a 1-point game again.
Ross Eyer came back with a lay-up, but Morningstar answered with a lay-up of his own. At the other end Branon Eyer got to the free throw line, making 1-of-2, to push the Indian lead to 33-31 with 1:41 left.
However, Moss scored on a driving lay-up to tie things up at 33-all to end the third.
Branon Eyer put Muncy ahead again with a driving lay-up to start the fourth, but Morningstar answered with a bucket of his own.
Then, with 5:30 left in the game, Wyalusing took their first lead since the opening minutes of the game on a Way jumper.
The Indians answered quickly, though, as Confer scored a lay-up five seconds later to make it 37-37 halfway through the fourth.
Two key defensive stops allowed the Rams to get out in front again midway through the fourth.
They would get a turnover, then Cobb hit a 3-ball with 3:30 left to play. Boring would get a lay-up, but Cobb added another 3-pointer at the 3:00 mark to put them up 43-39.
At the other end Wyalusing drew an offensive foul, followed by Way getting a contested lay-up to go with just over two minutes to play, pushing the Ram lead to 45-39.
After a third straight Indian turnover the Rams went in clock killing mode, eventually forcing the Indians to foul with just over a minute left.
They sent Cameron to the line for a 1-and-1, where he went 1-for-2 to extend the Wyalusing lead to 46-39.
Muncy wasn’t done yet, though, as Ross Eyer hit a 3-ball at the other end to cut it to 46-42 with 1:01 left on the clock.
They fouled Cameron again, and this time he missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
At the other end the Rams induced two Muncy misses, but they were able to get the offensive boards. Finally, on their third try, Ross Eyer was fouled, sent to the line, and made both make it a 2-point game with 38.6 seconds left.
They immediately fouled Way on the in bounds, and he went 1-of-2 to push the lead back to three points.
But Ross Eyer wasn’t done. He drive in off a hand off, was fouled, and made the lay-up. He added the free throw to knot the game up at 47-all with 30.1 seconds to play.
That’s when the Indians made a costly mental mistake, fouling Cobb on the inbound despite the game being tied.
They were in the double bonus, so Cobb was getting two free throws no matter what. He didn’t need it, though, as he sunk both to put them up 49-47 with 25.9 seconds left.
That set up the final seconds, and when Wyalusing’s defense held there was a party on the court.
“We’ve been working since day one,” Way said. “Losing a couple of games that we shouldn’t have earlier in the season, and we just got a lot better over the course of the season, and we came well prepared for this game.”
Keyes felt all his players stepped up in the roles that were asked of them, especially Cameron, who was tasked with guarding Ross Eyer, despite giving up a considering height advantage.
“Kashawn and Nolan (Oswald) have been doing a great job all year, and they don’t get enough credit for that,” said Keyes. “It’s not in the stat sheet. We need Abram Bennett to communicate, and then we need Grady to make shots, Blake, obviously, be Blake inside, and we need to have confidence, and all those guys at some points tonight had all of those intangibles. Hunter Moss with the big bucket again, it took all seven of our guys.”
Keyes notes that Cameron is their spark plug that gets the team going.
“When he has positive energy everyone feeds off it, and he’s kind of our energy guy,” Keyes said. “So we need that leadership.”
Keyes also credits their strong mental toughness, which they’ve honed over the last three years - this is their third straight district title game - for getting them through the ups-and-downs.
“We got really mentally tough kids,” said Keyes. “That’s something that we try to drill into our practices, that’s something we try to instill in them from the first day in our program. Credit Muncy for keep coming at us, and for our guys, we just did not refuse to lose. Relentless energy is what we keep saying in the postseason, and we just came with the energy. The crowd finally got into it during the second half, and we started feeding off them. It was a great district final in a great environment.”
Wyalusing will advance to the state tournament, where they will play the runner-up in District II either at home, or at a neutral site in District IV.
Either way, they don’t want to be done yet.
“We’re definitely focused on keeping the same energy,” said Cobb. “We don’t want guys getting lazy now that we won districts, we want everyone to know that the season’s not over.”
PHOTO CAPTION: Wyalusing players celebrate their win over Muncy…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
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