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Articles written by Coach Scheef
Wahoo vs. Syracuse

1/6/17                                                  At Wahoo
                                                              
Wahoo
Syracuse        

The Wahoo Warriors defeated the Syracuse Rockets 81-72 in overtime in Capitol Conference action on Friday in Wahoo.

The Warriors led 14-10 after one quarter, and 35-31 at halftime.

Wahoo stretched the lead to 48-39 in the third quarter, but Syracuse went on a 9-3 run to close the quarter and cut the lead to 51-48 after three.

After Syracuse tied the game to open the quarter, Jake Ruzicka answered with a trey to push the lead back to 54-51.  The Rockets would score the next 7 points to go up 58-51.  Another Ruzicka trey made cut the lead to 58-57.  Syracuse pushed the lead back to 6 at 63-57 with 3 minutes left. A Ruzicka basket made it 63-59.  Following a Rocket basket, Brendan Lacey answered with a trey with 2:28 left to cut the lead to 65-62.  On the next possession, Billy Hancock hit a huge trey to tie it at 65.  Syracuse answered with a  trey of their own to take a 68-65 lead with a minute left.  Another Ruzicka trey tied the game at 68 with 30 seconds left.  Syracuse missed a lay up on the next possession.  Wahoo went for the last shot but missed a jumper at the buzzer to send the game to overtime at 68.

The Warriors answered first to start the overtime.  Jake Ruzicka hit his fourth trey of the game on the first possession to put Wahoo up 71-68.  After a Syracuse miss, Billy Hancock hit a trey to put Wahoo up 74-68. A free throw cut the lead to 74-69.  Ruzicka answered with two free throws to make it 76-69.  The Warriors made enough free throws down the stretch to keep Syracuse at bay, and escaped with the 81-72 overtime win.

Jake Ruzicka just missed a triple double.  He led Wahoo with 30 points on 4-5 shooting from behind the arc and 8-8 from the free throw line, to go with 10 boards and 9 assists.  Brendan Lacey had 25 points on 4-9 shooting from the three point line, and 6 boards.  Cameron Quick added 10 points and 8 boards.  Billy Hancock added 7 points and 6 boards.

The two teams combined for 24 made three’s.  Wahoo was 11-26 (42.3%), while Syracuse was 13-31 ( 41.9%).  The Warriors had just 9 turnovers, while Syracuse committed 19 turnovers.

Wahoo improves to 6-2 and will host Crete this afternoon.  Syracuse falls to 8-3.

COACHES CORNER
“It was a very exciting high school game.  We were real close to taking control in the third quarter when we got up 9, but then had a couple of really poor defensive possessions that allowed them to cut the lead and gain momentum.  It was not looking good for us with 3 minutes left in the game, down 6, but I was really proud of our kids for not panicking and making the plays that let us come back and get the game into overtime.  Jake Ruzicka had a huge game for us, and made big shot after big shot, as Brendan Lacey did too.  Billy Hancock hit a couple of big treys down the stretch as well.” -- Coach Kevin Scheef.
12/14/15