Bartlett holds off Waubonsie Valley
Neither team could find any rhythm offensively for much of Tuesday night’s game.
But Bartlett found just enough offense in the final three quarters to beat Waubonsie Valley, 56-50, in Upstate Eight Valley boys basketball action in Bartlett.
“We picked up the energy in the second quarter,” Bartlett sophomore Lance Whitaker said. “We had a lot of leadership, a lot of people step up and motivate the team.”
The Hawks (12-13, 2-6) went 1-for-8 in the first quarter and trailed 11-4. The Warriors (13-7, 3-3) were just 3-for-10 with no starter scoring a point.
Lorenzo Mitchell got the Hawks going in the second quarter. The junior scored 8 straight points to give Bartlett a 12-11 lead.
“We talked to Lorenzo that this was a team that definitely had in their game plan to sag off him,” Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith said. “We said, ‘You have to be willing to take the shots.’
“Lorenzo stepped up big. He hit a couple of big shots. That kick started us.”
Jakobi Johnson hit a baseline floater with 4:05 left in the first half to give Waubonsie a 13-12 lead. Matt Chaltin answered with a 3-pointer from the corner as the Hawks took a 15-13 lead. Bartlett never trailed again.
Waubonsie trailed 22-15 at the break, shooting just 5-for-24 from the floor in the first half.
“We didn’t execute on offense. We didn’t guard them on defense. And they controlled the tempo,” Waubonsie coach Steve Weemer said. “We were awful. You can’t go on the road and shoot 20 percent (in the first half) and win a game. It just doesn’t happen.”
The Warriors hit their first 3 shots of the third quarter to get within 1, 22-21, but hit just 1 of 9 shots the rest of the quarter. Whitaker scored 7 of his game-high 23 points in the quarter as the Hawks took a 35-24 lead into the fourth.
Waubonsie finally got some shots to fall in the final quarter. Jared Brownridge scored all 12 of his points and Johnson scored 10 of his 15 in the quarter. The Warriors twice cut the Hawks’ lead to 4 but couldn’t get any closer. Bartlett went 19-for-24 from the free-throw line in the fourth. The Hawks made just 14 field goals.
The Warriors shot 33 percent (19-for-58) from the floor for the game.
“We were staying up in their face,” Whitaker said. “We focused on their first shot, forced them into a bad one, one they weren’t comfortable with.”
Whitaker went 10-for-13 from the line in the fourth. Chaltin went 8-for-8 from the line and finished with 18 points.