Boys Basketball: Waubonsie Valley survives at Bartlett

Updated: January 7, 2012 11:46PM

The big points at crunch time Saturday came from reserves Jack Cordes and Josh DeHaan, but it didn’t matter to Waubonsie Valley coach Steve Weemer.

His Warriors survived a tight Upstate Eight Valley game at Bartlett with a 45-40 victory and now own a four-game winning streak.

“To be honest, I’m happy to get out of here with a win,” Weemer said. “We haven’t played very well up here for some reason in the past and I give them credit. Tonight they executed pretty well, got loose and hit some big threes to tighten the game up, and they didn’t quit.”

But the Warriors (10-4, 3-1) finished the Hawks thanks to Cordes, a 6-foot-6 sophomore backup, and DeHaan, a 5-11 senior reserve. Both were on the court at game’s end in place of starters.

Bartlett (7-7, 1-3) did a solid job holding Waubonsie Valley scoring star Jared Brownridge to 12 points for the game, but DeHaan had the nerve needed to stand in the corner and score his only points of the game, a three-pointer for a 40-36 lead with 2:45 left that essentially left Bartlett scrambling and fouling at game’s end.

“We knew all game everyone is keying on Jared,” DeHaan said. “It’s my job to sit in the corner and Jared is going to find me. I’m always going to be ready to shoot.”

Bartlett got to within 40-38 on two Marcus Aluquin free throws, and after Brownridge missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Hawks’ Jonathan Leigeber shot for the lead with a three-pointer that rimmed off with 1:45 remaining. Then Waubonsie Valley killed off 58 seconds before Cordes got fouled and calmly sank two free throws for a 42-38 lead.

“I think that’s why you call it a team,” Weemer said. “You’ve got other guys who can step up and make plays and did.”

After Leigeber missed a layup, Brian Jefferson got the rebound, was fouled and hit 1-of-2 free throws for a 43-38 edge with 19.8 seconds left. Leigeber, whose team-high 13 points all came in the second half to fuel a Bartlett rally, made a reverse lay-in with 11.5 seconds left, and the Hawks might have had a chance at the tie. But after Brownridge had his fourth and fifth missed foul shots of the fourth quarter, he got the offensive rebound and the Hawks didn’t have a chance at a last-ditch three-pointer.

“Defensively, I thought we defended real well all game long against a good offensive team,” Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said after the Hawks held the Warriors to five second-half field goals in 23 attempts (22 percent). “I thought we did a great good on Jared on not giving him uncontested shots and forcing bad shots on his part.”

The Hawks had problems with Waubonsie Valley’s defense in the first half and hit just 20 percent (6-for-30) before improving to 7-for-16 in the second half when they rallied from a 32-19 deficit early in the third quarter.

Brandon Malby had scored all of his team-high 13 points to help stake the Warriors to the big early lead.

But Brandon Leigeber’s back-to-back three-pointers fueled a 12-2 run, and Lorenzo Mitchell had five points in the run down low to get the Hawks back in the contest. But Mitchell got in foul trouble and fouled out.

“I think we have room for improvement, but I’m happy we ground out a win,” Weemer said. “But we’ve still got a long way to go to be a good team.”

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