Waubonsie Valley wins against Metea Valley on the boards

Win the boards, win the game.

That's a basketball truism, and Example 1 was the Waubonsie Valley boys basketball team's 59-35 victory over visiting Metea Valley on Friday.

The Warriors, who jumped out to a 12-0 lead and never looked back, won the rebounding battle 28-11. What's more, exactly half of those boards were on the offensive end. That's probably why 28 of Waubonsie Valley's points were in the paint.

"We practiced real hard this week and one of our focuses was rebounding well offensively, and it gave us a lot of opportunities for putbacks," said junior forward Jackson Langendorf, who led all scorers with 12 points and all rebounders with 9, 6 offensive.

"The guards found the middle really well offensively and gave us a lot of good looks down there."

Metea Valley (1-5, 0-2) was paced by senior guard Charlie Nosek with 7 points and 2 rebounds. Sophomore guard Nick Schroeder had a pair of 3-pointers to finish with 6 points and 2 offensive rebounds.

"We really worked on our physicality (this week)," Waubonsie Valley coach Andrew Schweitzer said. "In practice, we got after it. I think that translates to the game. We talk about defense and rebounding and physicality. We're getting there."

The Warriors (4-3, 1-1) used a pair of 3-pointers by senior guard Ashton Baula and junior guard Braylon Spicer in that game-opening 12-0 run. After a Schroeder 3, Waubonsie Valley put together another 9-0 run, capped by a 3 from junior guard Eric Chtilianov.

Adding to Metea Valley's misery was the fact that Schroeder's 3 was the only field goal for the Mustangs until the end of the half, when junior guard Quentin Schaffer hit a layup with 17 seconds to go.

On a positive note, Metea Valley did go 10 for 11 from the free-throw line in the first half, which actually cut Waubonsie Valley's lead to 24-12 with 4:50 to go in the second quarter.

But that was soon canceled out by an 11-0 run by the Warriors that essentially put the game away. The highlight there was another 3 by Baula followed by a steal and a layup by junior forward Shoi Rathi.

Waubonsie Valley's lead ballooned to 54-22 at the end of the third quarter, which resulted in a running clock in the fourth.

"We were hitting our guys when they were open, they were making great cuts, and we pushed the ball and got plenty of wide open layups," said Spicer, who finished with 8 points.

Rathi finished with 9 points and 3 rebounds, while Baula added 9 points. Senior guard Tyler Helbing checked in with 8 points and 5 rebounds.

Metea Valley was coached by assistant Matt Logan, due to the absence of coach Isaiah Davis.