By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
SPRING GARDEN – The Sand Rock Wildcats seemingly haven’t been the same since they lost on a last-second shot to the Cherokee County Warriors in the Cherokee County Tournament semifinals back on Jan. 16.
Including that setback, the Class 2A, No. 10 Wildcats had dropped five of their last six contests heading into Saturday’s game at Spring Garden.
With area tournaments beginning next week, head coach Nick Traffanstedt said the Wildcats needed to “get back on the right track.”
They did so, but it wasn’t easy against the Panthers.
Spring Garden rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second quarter to make it a 3-point game at halftime. The Panthers briefly led early in the third, but the Wildcats stepped up and made the necessary adjustments down the stretch to come away with a 57-40 victory.
“This was huge to get us back on track where we need to be,” Traffanstedt said. “We’re just a few days away from hitting the area tournament. These games right here are huge here at the end of the season to clean all your mistakes up. It’s like a checklist if you’re building a house. You’ve got to go through and check all those things, your box outs, your close outs, all the small things. That’s really what I’ve been preaching to them. The small things matter, especially in the area tournament.”
Things got off to a good start for Sand Rock (16-10) early on. The Wildcats jumped out to an 11-3 advantage early in the first quarter before Spring Garden (6-19) began to chip away.
A 3-pointer by Brady Ruark just before halftime sent the Panthers into their locker room down 27-24 with momentum.
That momentum carried over early in the third as Spring Garden captured its first lead of the game at 29-28 on a 3-pointer by Zane Edwards. The Panther lead was short-lived, however, as Sand Rock closed out the third on a 15-6 run to take a 43-35 advantage into the fourth.
The Wildcats kept their foot on the gas in the fourth by going on a 12-0 run to put the game away. Spring Garden didn’t score in the fourth until a basket by Brody Bostick with 1:27 remaining. Bostick also sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final.
“I challenged our guys about their pick coverages, to make sure to do them right,” Traffanstedt said. “We had a couple of guys in different positions who aren’t normally in those positions out on the perimeter, but that’s a good thing. They learn from those experiences, but no excuses. They’ve still got to do it right. I challenged them there at the end of the third quarter to run those pick coverages right, and I do think they responded.”
“We weren’t being physical. We were timid. We weren’t rebounding the ball as well as we should. We weren’t playing like we normally do,” said Sand Rock junior forward Will Cleere, who led the Wildcats with 21 points and 16 rebounds. “We closed out a little better at the end.”
Cleere called the win “a big deal.”
“Lately we haven’t been playing like ourselves,” he said. “Ever since the county tournament we haven’t been ourselves. We were trying to get our leadership and energy back up.”
The Wildcats did just that in the second half.
“That was a huge bucket by (Edwards) to put them up there (in the third), but that was a big response by my kids to step up and do things right,” Traffanstedt said. “We’ve got to get more consistent so we’re prepared for the area tournament.”
Jonas Browder sank three 3-pointers and had 16 points for the Wildcats. He also had four assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Elijah Hood had 10 points, four boards, and two assists. Jaxon Bruce finished with five points, four assists, three rebounds, and three steals.
Ruark led Spring Garden with 14 points, including three 3-pointers. Bostick rang for 12 points for the Panthers.
“They kind of stole the momentum at the end of the third,” Spring Garden coach Levi Hatcher said. “Sometimes we go through those lulls, and that’s why our defense is so important. When you go through those lulls, you kind of have to lean on your defense. If we didn’t dig ourselves a hole to begin with, then who knows? We just kind of went through that stretch where we couldn’t take the lid off the rim. We got some good shots, but they just didn’t fall for us through that stretch.”
