Wetmore Basketball at Twin Valley League Tournament
Wetmore High School’s boys basketball team battled back from a scoreless first quarter in Saturday’s Twin Valley League Tournament consolation bracket game against Doniphan West but came up just short in a 36-35 loss.
Saturday’s tournament-ending loss put the Cardinals at 0-6 in the TVL and at 4-9 overall as they prepare for their next regularly-scheduled game this Friday against Valley Heights (4-1 TVL, 8-5 overall), a team that beat the Cardinals 59-36 in the first round of TVL Tournament play before going on to win the tournament with a 48-33 win over Hanover on Saturday.
“We went into the tournament wanting to make a deep run,” Wetmore Head Coach Mark Martin said of his team’s tournament play. “We started with Valley Heights and it was a two-point game at halftime, but in the second half we scored only 11 points. Valley Heights did a nice job of using their big guys and pounding us in the low post.”
On Saturday, the Mustangs kept the Cardinals’ offense silent in the first, low-scoring quarter that saw Wetmore limiting Doniphan West to seven points. The Cards came to life in the second quarter, with Kael McQueen putting up five of Wetmore’s 10 points in the frame, but the Mustangs were still able to maintain an 18-10 lead going into the lockers at halftime.
“We couldnt hit a shot in the first quarter, and we just played really slow the first half,” Coach Martin said. “I told the team that Doniphan West would play hard no matter what.”
The second half saw the Cardinal boys hitting the floor harder, with Kyle Wommack putting up a couple of treys and McQueen pitching in with a couple of buckets while the Cardinal defense held the Mustangs to seven, and at the end of the third frame, the Cardinals had narrowed the Mustangs’ lead to two points.
The Cardinals’ valiant offensive efforts continued into the final frame, with McQueen and Eric Bloom posting five points each, but the Mustangs were able to capitalize on several trips to the free-throw line and staved off the Cardinals’ comeback with a single-point win.
“We had a chance to win at the end, but we missed a good look at the basket,” Martin said. “Give Doniphan West credit — they deserved to win because they simply played harder than we did.”
McQueen led the scoring efforts for the Cards with 14 points, including a pair of treys, followed by Bloom with 10. The Mustangs were led offensively by Cooper Clark with 13 points and Trent Spiker with nine.
The win put Doniphan West’s TVL record at 1-6 and their overall record at 3-10.
Scoring
Wetmore 0-10-13-12 35
Doniphan West 7-11-7-11 36
Wetmore: McQueen 4 (2) 0-0 14, Bloom 4 2-7 10, Wommack 0 (2) 1-2 7, Hackler 1 0-0 2, Shumaker 1 0-0 2, Henry 0 0-2 0. Totals 10 (4) 3-11 35.
Doniphan West: Clark 4 5-11 13, Spiker 4 1-4 9, Blevins 1 2-2 4, Franken 1 1-2 3, Leatherman 0 (1) 0-0 3, Penny 0 2-3 2, Johnson 0 1-4 1, Smith 0 1-2 1. Totals 10 (1) 13-28 36.
TVL Tournament
Thursday’s Scores
Valley Heights 47, Frankfort 45
Hanover 71, Axtell 34
Clifton-Clyde 66, Blue Valley 41
Washington County 53, Centralia 41
Linn 43, Onaga 36
Saturday’s Scores
Valley Heights 48, Hanover 33 (first-place game)
Frankfort 61, Axtell 47 (third-place game)
Washington County 41, Clifton-Clyde 25 (fifth-place game)
Blue Valley 50, Centralia 49 (seventh-place game)
Doniphan West 36, Wetmore 35 (consolation)
Linn 52, Troy 45 (consolation)
