By: Joe Shouse, Sports Writer
HAVILAND – Playing a high school basketball game the day after Christmas can be a challenge. Not knowing how a team will respond is often times an unknown until the tip-off and sometimes it’s not until the second half. For the Wayne Trace Raiders the response the coaching staff was looking for came in the second half.
Wayne Trace hosted cross state rival Woodlan and after a less than stellar performance in the first half managed to put it together in the second half to come away with a 62-44 win. The Raiders improve their season mark to 5-2. For the Warriors, who entered the contest with a five-game winning streak, falls to 8-2.
Both teams played even in the first half with the Warriors holding a slight two-point lead at 12-10 at the end of the first quarter. The second period was close throughout with the visitors from Indiana clinging to a three-point advantage at the break 22-19. However, the Raiders responded in the second half to quickly grab the lead and post the 18-point win. The third period had the red, white and blue scoring more points in the quarter then in the previous half. Wayne Trace outpointed the Warriors in the third 22-11 and nearly duplicated the score in the fourth frame when they outdistanced the Warriors 21-11.
The winners from Paulding County had a trio hit for double figures. Brooks Laukhuf hauled in 26 points on 6-14 shooting from the two-point area and 4-6 behind the arc. Kyle Stoller totaled 20 points on 6-9 shooting inside the arc while hitting his only three-point attempt. Stoller connected on 5-6 from the charity stripe and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior Tyler Davis contributed 12 points in a solid effort. Rounding out the Raiders scoring were Tanner Laukhuf and Cale Winans each with two points.
For the Warriors, Trey Yoder put together a nice performance registering a double-double. Yoder finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Shooting from the field, Yoder was perfect on his two-point tries, hitting all five, and 3-7 behind the three-point arc. Team mate DeJay Gerig finished with nine, Alex Miller chipped in six, Braden Smith added five and Drew Fleck rounded out the scoring with four.
