Malby's energy lifts Waubonsie Valley
It's not like Waubonsie Valley coach Steve Weemer asks Brandon Malby to do much off the bench...
“My coach told me to play defense ... and crash the boards and score,” Malby said.
Six feet of energy, he did as he was asked. Malby's 9 points all came in the fourth quarter of a hotly contested game against Aurora Central Catholic.
Weemer wasn't ecstatic with the process but accepted the result of Tuesday's 63-53 victory in Day Two of the 27th annual Waubonsie Valley Matt Laurich Memorial Christmas Classic.
“I told our guys a win is a win is a win,” Weemer said. “That was an early Christmas present probably, because we didn't play very well. To (ACC's) credit their zone's a good zone and they really kind of lull you to sleep, so to speak, and kind of get you not cutting and playing like you're supposed to play.”
When Waubonsie Valley (8-3) needed a spark, though, it usually got one.
Aurora Central (5-6) threatened to end the first half on an 11-3 run for the lead when Bryan Jefferson swished a 30-footer for a 30-28 Warriors lead instead.
ACC's Kent Brauweiler closed the third quarter with a fastbreak basket for a 41-39 Chargers lead. Waubonsie opened the fourth with an 8-0 run, Malby twice scoring Weemer-style — cutting inside and converting Nick Lisauskas' crisp passes for a 47-41 lead the Warriors held on to.
“We're doing a lot better finishing games at the end,” said Waubonsie center Tyler Edmondson, who scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. “And our confidence has been a lot better, and building up.”
ACC hurt itself going 0 of 6 from the foul line in the third quarter — 14 of 28 for the game — then committing 6 fourth-quarter turnovers.
Regardless, the Chargers were within 49-46 and had the ball when 13-point scorer Ryan Harreld got whacked across the nose. The ACC bench thought it saw blood and yelled to stop play — but instead drew a technical foul. Waubonsie's Jared Brownridge made 2 free throws then a basket for a 53-46 lead with 2:46 to play.
Joey McEachern's putback had ACC within 53-51 with 1:43 left. The Chargers missed 2 free throws and Malby scored off an Edmondson feed and in transition to put Waubonsie back up 59-51.
ACC coach Nathan Drye didn't like the Harreld non-call. More so he didn't like what he termed “stagnant” offense and a couple other things.
“(We) lost because we turned the ball over and we didn't make foul shots,” he said. “You've got to control what we can control and we should have made foul shots and we had way too many stupid turnovers.”