Waubonsie Valley wins 20th of the season
As the final seconds ticked away in the first half of Friday night's DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball game at Neuqua Valley, the Waubonsie Valley bench and fans were convinced the Warriors were about to squander an opportunity.
The players seemed to be unaware that the half's final precious seconds were away, but after a quick glance at the clock, Derrien Porter demanded the ball and calmly swished a 25-footer for a 33-19 halftime lead that set the stage for a 55-38 DVC victory.
"I know my teammates, they're always looking for me," Porter said. "I haven't been hitting my shots lately, but I always feel that I can make them and tonight I did."
Indeed, Porter finished the night hitting 4 of his six 3-point attempts on the way to a game-high 18 points, while he also added 10 rebounds.
"Oh, he wanted it. He said, 'Give me the ball,' and then he hit the shot," said Neuqua coach Todd Sutton, who was standing about 5 feet away from Porter when he let fly.
The win was notable because it was the Warriors' 20th on the season, the first time the program had notched that many victories since 2012.
"This group has done a lot of good things and they deserve credit for buying in," said Waubonsie coach Jason Mead. "I'm really proud of them, but we can't let this be the pinnacle. We have to keep working hard and go out and play our best."
Porter's shot was the icing on a tasty second-quarter cake for the Warriors (20-3, 4-2). They held the Wildcats (8-14, 1-4) without a field goal and only a pair of John Poulakidas free throws in the period. That enabled them to turn what was a tight 16-15 game with two minutes left in the first quarter into their 14-point halftime lead.
"The biggest deal for me was the defense in the second quarter, not giving them a lot of chances and rebounding real well," Mead said.
For Sutton, it was a rerun that he has seen too many times this year.
"The story of the season," he said. "The offense was going real well in the first quarter and we even left a few points out there with some missed free throws and layups, but then the well went dry."
Porter wasn't the only offensive star on the night for the Warriors. Marcus Skeete had 8 of his 12 points in the first quarter, while Mason Marinelli came off the bench to drill a pair of 3-pointers. Poulakidas, whose 3-pointer made it 43-33 early in the fourth quarter, the closest the Wildcats got, finished with 14 points. Sentwali Nalls was the only other consistent Neuqua point producer with 9.
Afterward, Porter echoed his coach's sentiments regarding the landmark 20th win: "Twenty wins feels amazing, but we don't want this to be the peak," he said. "We want to keep the streak going and we want to go far in the playoffs."