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Warren takes control in 2nd half, routs Vinton County

Photo by Mike Morrison Warren’s Jake Baumgard (5) goes up for a basket during Wednesday’s Division II sectional semifinal basketball game against Vinton County at Jim Myers Gym in Logan. Warren won, 64-44.

LOGAN — Any high school basketball coach will tell you that their top goal is to have their team playing at its best as the regular season comes to a close and tournament time rolls around.

After an inconsistent first half that saw them play well in the opening quarter and not-so-well in the second, the Warren Warriors played their best basketball of the season in an explosive third quarter and went on to down the Vinton County Vikings 64-44 in a Division II sectional semifinal Wednesday evening at Jim Myers Gymnasium.

Leading by just three at the intermission, the eighth-seeded Warriors out-pointed the nine-seed Vikings 29-7 to turn a nail-biter into a laugher in a matter of eight minutes.

“I told them that’s one of the best quarters we’ve played in this program for a long time,” said Warren head coach Blane Maddox of the pivotal third period that featured runs of 11-0 and 10-0. “I was proud of them the way they came out that third quarter and that shows what we are capable of.”

The Warriors got off to an excellent start as they jumped out to a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, largely due to the strong post play of 6-foot-5 junior Jake Baumgard, who scored half of Warren’s points.

The Vikes fought back strong in the second period and actually took a one-point lead with 1:25 to play in the half on a pair of free throws by Braylon Damron before the Warriors finished the half with a bucket by sophomore Brayden Sallee and two freebies by senior Brandon Simoniette.

Sallee opened the second half for the white and royal blue with a rebound put-back for two as well as an inside score off of an assist from Simoniette.

Junior Kurt Taylor made it a double-digit Warren lead with his third triple of the game before Simoniette converted a rare four-point play and just like that the Warriors had a 14-point lead three minutes into the second half.

Vinton County buckets by Damron and Aaron Stevens sandwiched a Baumgard field goal to trim the lead to 12 before the Warriors went on their second large run of the quarter to open up a comfortable lead.

Junior Joel Chevalier opened the Warrior run with a strong drive to the bucket for two and Simoniette followed with an and-1 to push the lead to 17.

Viking head coach Matt Combs called a time-out to try and slow the WHS momentum but a triple by Simoniette and a pair of field goals by Sallee and Baumgard pushed the lead to 24.

Warren extended their lead to as many as 31 in the final period allowing Maddox to get all of his players some extended playing time before the Vikings scored the final 11 points of the game to trim the final deficit to 20.

Sallee got the start in the game after coming off the Warrior bench of late and made the most of his opportunity by leading everyone in points with 14 and rebounds with 13.

“He’s a great kid who loves basketball and has goals that hopefully he can reach by the time he’s a senior,” said Maddox. “We put him back in the starting lineup and he rewarded us with a great effort.”

Simoniette added 13 points while Baumgard also reached double-figures with 11.

Taylor chipped in with nine while Chevalier contributed eight points and five assists to the balanced Warrior attack.

Vinton County was led by Lance Montgomery with 10 points and Gavin Arbaugh with nine.

Warren improves to 14-9 with the win and will play for a sectional title back in Logan Saturday night against top-seeded Fairfield Union.

“We focused on being more aggressive in the third quarter, especially on the offensive end,” said Maddox. “We’ve got to put four quarters together like that one and if we do we will be a scary team on Saturday.”

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