Wildcats outscore Blue Jays on opening night of annual gobble squabble

Young saw positives.

“We played two good quarters out of the four,” Young said. “The third quarter, we came back and tied the game up, and they went on a 23-0 run at that point. That’s inexperience. We’ve got a lot of kids who haven’t gotten a lot of time on the floor. They have a lot of guys who have played a lot of varsity action. It’s a work in progress for us. There’s a lot of fixable things. It’s going to take some time. It’s a marathon season, not a sprint where we’re done in two weeks.”

With the win, Union’s boys moved into Friday night’s semifinals against top-seeded Ft. Zumwalt North.

“They’re a good team,” Simmons said. “They’ve got the big kid in the middle (6-10 Butler recruit Connor Turnbull) who is a game changer. He will kill us on the glass if we don’t get that fixed. We have to fix how we rebound defensively.”

Washington was matched up with No. 8 Owensville in the consolation semifinals.

“They just got done with football season, but we’ve got to recover and be ready for the VanLeer clan Friday,” Young said.

It was a game of runs for Union, seeded fourth in the event. The Wildcats opened with the first seven points of the game before Washington found the basket, 3:04 into the contest.

From there, both teams found the mark often as Union led after eight minutes, 22-16. That included a dunk by Union’s senior post player, Collin Gerdel.

Washington was able to find holes in the Union defense, optimizing back-door cuts and aggressive offensive rebounding to cut the gap to 29-28 with 2:45 to go in the half. Union held a four-point edge at the half, 36-32.

“Mark Hensley did a great job inside,” Young said. “We got extra chances. We didn’t force a lot of outside shots. We’ve got to stay within the offense. We got out of our offense in the third quarter. It wasn’t our style or discipline. Good things happen when we stay in our offense. Give credit to Union. They guarded us well to get us out of our game plan.”

Simmons said Washington dominated rebounding in the first half.

“They absolutely killed us on the glass,” Simmons said. “If we could have been on the defensive rebounds, we would be that much better on offense because we can get out and run like we want to. They just pounded the glass hard and pushed us under the rim. We allowed them to get into the paint on the drive, and it became a jumping contest.”

The third quarter was a different matter. Baskets by Washington senior Alex Zanin and Hensley, a junior, tied it, 36-36, just 38 seconds into the second half.

But instead of marking a change in the momentum, it woke up the Wildcats.

“We had just wanted to wear them down,” Simmons said. “I felt that the big run gave us some breathing room.”

Within a span of 15 seconds, the Wildcats were up by six points again. Gerdel scored, sophomore Ryan Rapert got a quick steal off the press and scored, and senior Matthew Seely scored off the press.

“Turnovers hurt us,” Young said. “We’ve got to be able to take care of the basketball a lot better.”

Union wasn’t done. By the time the Blue Jays found the basket again, on a pair of free throws from sophomore Ryan Jostes with 30.4 seconds to play in the quarter, Union scored 23 points in a row to lead after three quarters, 59-38.

From there, the Wildcats added to the lead in the fourth quarter until taking it, 75-55.

Union senior Kaden Motley led all scorers with 21 points, including four of Union’s 10 three-point baskets.

Seely and Gerdel scored 13 points apiece.

Sophomore Ozzie Smith netted 12 points.

Rapert closed with nine points, and sophomore Trent Bailey added seven points.

The Wildcats hit seven of 11 chances from the free-throw stripe.

“I was pleased with our effort,” Simmons said. “We consistently played hard. We scored good points on offense.” 

Hensley led the Blue Jays with 18 points.

Zanin was next with 13 points.

Senior Todd Bobo ended with six points. Senior Chase Merryman added five points. 

Sophomores Kaner Young and Tai’Sean Williams each scored four points. Junior Sam Paule closed with three points, and Jostes netted two points.

Washington went 7-17 from the free-throw line.

“I’m not disappointed by any means,” Young said. “It’s just a learning process for some young kids who are finding out the intensity level and what varsity action is. They’re being thrown into the fire.”