Wayland refocuses, survives scare from Caledonia

Caledonia's Luke Wiest steals the ball in the fourth | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

High quality, professional action prints from the game available from David Chandler Photography.

In the process of winning 20-consecutive ballgames, some funny things can tend to happen to a team’s sense of itself.  Whether you describe it as ego, confidence, swagger or anything else, the team can often view itself through a lens of invincibility.  This lens is almost never accurate.  An unfortunate byproduct of a team winning 20-consecutive contests can at times be a letdown in intensity — a waning of the fire that brought them to that pinnacle.

Ask Wayland.  That momentary lapse in focus almost cost them their season.

Up as much as 14-points near the end of the third quarter, the undefeated Wildcats allowed Caledonia to claw back with an 11-0 run to tie the game with less than 2:00 left.  After a heated timeout, Wayland refocused on defense and hit their free throws, willing themselves to a narrow 61-57 victory in the district semifinals at East Kentwood.

Wayland's Ben Lenard shoots a fadeaway | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

“That was probably a little bit more frantic than it’s been all season,” said Wayland coach Mike Hudson, describing the atmosphere in Wayland’s timeout.  ”Most of the kids were talking with each other, calming each other down.  They knew we needed a bucket here, and we needed a stop there, and they really just settled down and executed.”

The Wildcats leaned on the veteran leadership of senior guard Wes Hudson on Monday night.  Hudson had 15-points in the game, junior guard Zach Kasper scored 16-points and center Justin Pepper lead the team with 17-points (many of which were the result of nifty no-look Hudson passes).  Wayland drew on their veteran leadership and experience to survive a heck of a scare on Monday night, against a team they’d beaten soundly twice before.  But when it’s all said and done, a scare like that might be just what the veterinarian ordered.

“It’s sometimes helpful to have a tough game right out of the gate,” said coach Hudson.  ”It puts your kids in situations that they haven’t experienced in a while, and I think it heightens their focus just a bit.  Was that our best game of the year?  No.  But it advances us one game farther in the tournament, and that’s what we wanted.”

It wasn’t easy.  Caledonia put forth a heroic effort against their opponent.  Senior guard Luke Wiest lead the way for the Fighting Scots with 17-points, and junior big man Anthony Cooley added 16-points of his own.  But in the end, as well as Caledonia played, it wasn’t enough to stop the seemingly unstoppable Wayland Wildcats.

If you’re Wayland, just be careful you don’t buy into the hype.  There’s a lot of focusing to be done between now and a championship.

Let’s talk about free throws.  Again

Regular readers know how much I loathe harping again and again on free throws.  On how a team’s performance at the line decides the outcome of the entire game as often as not.  Because of this, I won’t go into it again as it relates to Monday’s game.  I’ll just bring up two sets of numbers, and leave it at that.

Wayland FT: 19-24

Caledonia FT: 6-18

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