Penny’s late 3 sinks Wayland in WMA’s Game of the Night.

Wayland Union played host to essentially the OK Gold Championship game against Catholic Central on Friday night. You the fans voted often and chose that match-up as our Game of the Night, good job! Both teams have 4 league games left following this affair and Catholic now holds a decided advantage over Wayland when you include an early season home win over the Wildcats to their resume.

Wayland started off hot, with a load of energy and a trio of long bombs to jump out to an 18-13 1^st quarter lead. Senior Zach Kasper led the way all night for the ‘Cats with his outside shot to go along with his ability to find fellow seniors Justin Pepper and Travis Rader in the paint for easy buckets. The early streaks of buckets for Wayland gave this game a different feel from the last time these two met as it was Catholic’s Conor Hogan hitting 4 1^st quarter 3’s to blow that game open early.

Catholic came to life in the 2^nd quarter however using an 8-2 run as a catalyst to jump back into the game. The penetration of senior Zeke Mojica-Skinner opened up the outside shooters for the Cougars. A late technical call on Rader gave Hogan 4 free throws to pretty much end the half and Catholic had a 36-33 lead at the half.

Penny hit clutch threes the entire second half.

The momentum continued in the 3^rd for the Cougars as Brendan Penny got hot from outside knocking down a pair of early triples as Catholic rode a 14-6 run into the 4:00 minute mark of the quarter. The Wayland timeout worked as the ‘Cats make an 11-4 run of their own while holding CC to no points for a consecutive 3:10. Catholic found a way to win the quarter by a point and led by 4 entering the final stanza.

The 11-4 run by Wayland to end the 3^rd turned into a 21-9 run into the 4^th as the Wildcats had their first lead since 22-20. Pepper found 15 points down low while senior Tyler Flier had 11 hustle points to go along with his 6 boards. Kasper continued to knock down shots and the team defense was suffocating. After tough back and forth play we had a tie game at 66 apiece with 1:30 to play.

Catholic’s John Haley was called for a block down low on Kasper and compounded the problem by slamming the floor in disgust and being called for a technical foul. Kasper went to the line for 4 total free throws as the crowd was buzzing with the taste of victory in their mouths. None of the shots fell and we were still knotted at 66. Flier recorded a nice tip in basket to give Wayland a two point lead as CC called a timeout with :58 left to play.

Out of the timeout coach Dan Farrell had his play drawn up and Hogan executed that play to perfection. Hogan made a great pivoting pass to Penny who was able to connect on a corner three, his 4^th triple of the second half and his 14^th points of the night. Fouls to preserve clock backfired for Wayland as the Cougars hit every free throw down the stretch and avoided giving the Wildcats a good look at a three and held on for a 73-70 road victory.

Hogan finished with 21 while Mojica-Skinner had 14, Haley chipped in 13 for the Cougars who improve to 13-1 overall. Kasper led the way with 18 for the ‘Cats who were also aided by Rader’s 13 points and 5 boards. The Wildcats move to 12-3 overall.

All Photos provided by David Chandler Photography. For more action shots of tonight’s game check out his slide show.