Warriors still perfect in UEC

One coach talked about experience, while the other talked about energy.

But in both cases Saturday night, they were talking about the edge Waubonsie Valley had down the stretch in its tight Upstate Eight Conference battle with visiting East Aurora.

It was experience and energy -- and some clutch free-throw shooting -- that enabled the Warriors to pull out a 57-52 win despite trailing at the end of each of the first three quarters.

East Aurora (14-9, 3-5) was looking to hand the hosts their first UEC loss and to prevent Waubonsie Valley (20-4, 8-0) from reaching the 20-win plateau.

After William Brown busted out for 16 first-half points and then the Tomcats built a 37-31 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter, the Warriors were in jeopardy of losing both their perfect league mark and sole possession of first place.

But senior guards Kevin VandenBerg, Justin Peaster and Josh Daniels all finished strong, and senior forward Kyle Obendorf was strong all night on the boards.

After pulling within 41-40 after three quarters, the Warriors took an early lead in the fourth on a short jumper by VandenBerg and a Peaster putback. The two then went on to make 9 of 10 foul shots in the fourth quarter as Waubonsie finished off its visitors.

"East played very well tonight and we were playing catch-up most of the evening," said Waubonsie coach Steve Weemer. "I thought Justin was key tonight. His energy in the fourth quarter was big."

Daniels, meanwhile, kept Waubonsie in the game in the first half with 11 of his team-leading 16 points. In the second half he focused more on defense and helped blank Brown, who didn't play in the teams' nonconference game earlier this season. East Aurora's top scorer went 0 of 2 in the second half before fouling out with 5:24 left.

"We just stayed mentally tough. We knew we had to stay tough on defense," Daniels said. "All year we've been a second-half team."

Tomcats coach Wendell Jeffries liked his team's effort. He felt the biggest key, however, came down to the Warriors' experience.

"We played well," he said. "They just finished the game out better than we did. They start four seniors and six of their top seven are seniors while we play one. They know how to finish off games and we're still learning."

Daniels, Peaster and VandenBerg each scored in double figures and combined to score 40 points, while Obendorf had 9 points and 12 rebounds. Jelani Johnson added 8 points and 7 boards as the Warriors' starters accounted for all 57 of their points.

"We had no room to lose," said Peaster, who scored 7 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. "At the end we just pulled it out."

Brown led East Aurora with 16 points, all on 7-of-9 shooting in the first half. Jamar Shepard and Tramell Weathersby and each added 10 points, but Weathersby was one of three Tomcats to foul out in a fourth quarter in which Waubonsie outscored the visitors 17-11, thanks in large part to 11-of-13 shooting from the foul line.