WILLIAMSTOWN - When eight of the ten players on your high school basketball team are either freshman or sophomores, you are bound to experience some highs and lows.
The Williamstown Yellow Jackets proved this to be true as they pulled out to a 25-point third quarter lead before hanging on to defeat the Tyler Consolidated Silver Knights 73-65 in Little Kanawa Conference action Tuesday night at Williamstown High School.
"We were in control of the game for a very large part of it," said Williamstown head coach Scott Sauro. "We let them get back in it a little bit, but we are young and we will have to learn from our mistakes."
Article Photos
MICHAEL UHL Special to the Times
Williamstown’s Gage Wix (32) goes up for a shot against Tyler Consolidated’s Drew Casey in a basketball game Tuesday night. Wix had 28 points in a 73-65 Williamstown win.
Williamstown came out firing in the opening quarter as the Jackets connected on 9-of-15 shots to take a 22-8 lead.
Four of those first quarter field goals came from behind the arc as senior Jarric Hoskins and sophomore Chandler Weber each hit a pair of treys.
"Those two guys both do a good job shooting the ball for us," said Sauro of Hoskins and Weber. "They put practice time in to be good shooters and they are confident kids."
Fact Box
Williamstown 73 Tyler Consolidated 65
Tyler Consolidated 8 20 11 26 - 65
Williamstown 22 18 20 13 - 73
Tyler Consolidated (2-2)
Cole Kocher 0-2 0-0 0, Dylan Reynolds 2-7 2-3 6, Isaiah Casenelli 0-7 0-0 0, Marvin Sole 8-15 2-2 21, Dylan Romine 9-17 2-3 20, Randy Eastham 1-3 0-0 2, Swen Scheidemantel 0-2 0-0 0, Drew Casey 2-5 0-0 4, Timinia Edwards 6-9 0-2 12. Totals: 28-67 6-10 65.
Williamstown (2-0)
Chandler Weber 3-4 2-2 11, Jarric Hoskins 6-10 3-3 20, Hunter Neely 4-8 1-1 9, Josh Palmer 0-2 0-1 0, Dakota Watson 1-3 0-0 2, Gage Wix 12-23 3-6 28, Joshua Debolt 1-5 0-0 2, Austin Hall 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 27-56 10-15 73.
Team Totals
Shooting: TC: 28-67 (42%), W: 27-56 (48%). Three Point Shooting: TC: 3-15 (20%) (Sole 3). W: 9-14 (64%), (Hoskins 5, Weber 3, Wix 1). Rebounding: TC: 27 (Edwards 8, Romine 5), W: 32 (Debolt 10, Wix 10). Assists: TC: 16 (Reynolds 8, Romine 5), W: 17 (Watson 7, Neely 6). Turnovers: TC: 18, W: 20. Team Fouls: TC: 13, W: 13.
Next Game: Williamstown, home versus Doddridge County Friday.
Junior Varsity game
Williamstown 52 Tyler Consolidated 41
Tyler Consolidated Scoring: Josh Smith 12, Swen Scheidemantel 9, Alex Doak 8, Blake Carpenter 6, Chase Cornell 4, Ryan Dalrymple 2.
Williamstown scoring: Landon Travis 25, Austin Hall 8, Mac McCormick 8, Josh Palmer 7, Seth Shaffer 2, Aaron Bordas 2.
The pace by both teams picked up dramatically in the second quarter as they alternated field goals until Tyler got back-to-back scores from Dylan Romine and Drew Casey to cut the lead to 11 at 29-18.
Hoskins continued to have the hot hand for the Jackets as he drilled two more three-pointers in the second quarter.
While Hoskins was handling things from the outside for WHS, sophomore Gage Wix was excelling under the basket.
The six-foot-three Wix scored 14 points in the first half including ten in the last four minutes as Williamstown went to the intermission with a 40-28 lead.
Wix opened the second half with a bucket for Williamstown and after Romine came up with a steal and a basket for Tyler, Wix drilled a three to stretch the Jacket lead to 15 at 45-30.
Another three ball from Hoskins, his fifth of the game, sparked a 15-2 Yellow Jacket run that increased the lead to what appeared to be a comfortable margin at 60-35.
There would be no quit however in the Knights as a full court press seemed to rattle the young Jackets.
Tyler forced Williamstown into nine final quarter turnovers and by the time the charge ended, the Knights had completed a 20-2 run and closed the lead to just seven points at 62-55.
"Our kids never let up," said Tyler head coach J.C. Kimble, noting that three of his kids were playing while feeling under the weather. "They gave me every ounce that they had and left it all on the court tonight."
A Williamstown bucket by Dakota Watson put an end to the Tyler run and Hoskins and Wix followed with scores to inch the lead back to 13 at 68-55.
Tyler got a pair of three balls from Marvin Sole to close the lead back to eight but could get no closer as the Jackets took care of business at the foul line for their second win of the season.
Wix finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high 28 points while grabbing 10 rebounds for WHS.
"He's a very talented sophomore," said Sauro of Wix, who hit on 12-of-23 shot attempts in the game. "He works very hard and I think he has a very bright future ahead of him."
Hoskins added 20 points, while Weber finished in double figures with 11.
Tyler was paced by Sole's 21 points, while Romine contributed 20 points, seven steals, five rebounds, and five assists for the Silver Knights.
The win improved the Jackets record to a perfect 2-0 on the season, while Tyler Consolidated fell to 2-2.
WHS will remain home for another LKC match up Friday night as Doddridge County comes to visit.
