Raider, Eli Sinn, under the basket, shoots and scores as Antwerp’s Brandon Pendergrast attempts to block the shot.
The conference rivals took to the court at the Palace on Friday, February 12. The previous night, the Lady Raiders fell to the Antwerp girls in a game that the home team kept the lead the entire time. The question this night was would the Raider boys be able to avenge the loss from the girls game? The JV game was a close match, but the Antwerp boys ended up taking the game in overtime.
The varsity game would end differently for the Wayne Trace team.
Right from the get go the Wayne Trace boys put the pressure on the Archers. The full court press worked and disheveled the guest team through the first period. Three points by Luke Miller and Brady Stabler set the tone, not to mention the turnovers that Linder took advantage of for fast break layups. The first period ended with the Raiders 11 points in the lead, 21-10.
Antwerp got it figured out from the second period on and kept toe to toe with Wayne Trace. Sam Williamson was once again on fire and on a fast break dunked the ball. One person who has really helped Antwerp in the latter half of the season has been Josh Longardner. His average points have steadily increased and he looked good this game. Under the basket, he did well grabbing rebounds and also nailing free-throws when fouled. On the Raider side of the court, freshman Jon Sinn looked impressive on his 3 point field goals. The half ended with Wayne Trace in the lead 39-28.
Antwerp’s Matt Jones races to try and stop Luke Miller for scoring the basket in this high flying block attempt.
The second half didn’t have a huge change. Antwerp would take some and give some. The game ended with the same 11 point difference it ended the first period with with the Raiders winning 78-67.
The GMC championship is shared with Ayersville this year. Wayne Trace is noted for having the fourth consecutive league title for the boys basketball program.
Score by the Quarter:
Wayne Trace – 21 18 20 19=78
Antwerp – 10 18 16 23=67
Scorers of the Game:
Antwerp – Williamson 19; Longardner 14; Mills 12; Jones 11; Poulson 8; Seslar 3
Wayne Trace – Linder 25; Miller 24; J Sinn 9; Stabler 7; E Sinn 5; Vest 4; Shepherd 3; Speice 1
Wayne Trace (13-7 overall, 6-1 GMC); Antwerp (9-11 overall, 1-6 GMC)
JV scores: Antwerp 42, Wayne Trace 41 (OT)
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