Waubonsie enjoys sounds of winning
The other sound heard Tuesday night at Waubonsie Valley, besides people scraping their car windows for the trip home, was the volume increasing steadily on momentum building.
That momentum belongs to the the Warriors boys basketball team as sophomore Jared Brownridge paced the offense with a game-high 20 points as Waubonsie Valley edged nonconference foe Plainfield South 54-50 for its third straight victory after a three-game losing streak.
Warriors coach Steve Weemer was pleased with the victory for two reasons. First, the team heads to Neuqua Valley on Saturday night and any momentum is useful in the second and final regular-season game between the teams. Secondly, the Warriors are simply getting the job done right now after a tough stretch that included defeats in the Waubonsie holiday tournament finale to Brooks and the first two games of 2011 to East Aurora and Downers Grove South.
Weemer said attention to all parts of the Waubonsie game, especially fundamentals, will go a long way in keeping the good times rolling.
"If we are going to keep playing well enough to be a good basketball team, we have to take good care of details," he said.
The win pushed Waubonsie to 12-6 overall and wasn't completely in the books until time ran out. The Cougars (11-5) are tied for the lead in the Suburban Prairie Conference with Oswego and put up an expected fight.
Jakobi Johnson sank a 3-point basket with 2:41 left in the game to give Waubonsie a 51-47 cushion. But like much of the game, what little cushion the Warriors could build evaporated when Plainfield South's Zachary Snowden responded with a 3 of his own 25 seconds later to cut the lead to 51-50.
With just over a minute left Waubonsie's Austin Keys sank a pair of free throws sandwiched around a Cougars timeout to push the Warriors' lead back to 3.
Just 36 seconds remained after Plainfield South took another timeout. It had the ball and could not convert on the opportunity, and Johnson's free throw with two seconds left solidified the win.
"We thought we had them on their heels at times and couldn't put them away. Every lead we got, they came right back," Weemer said.
Waubonsie led 14-13 after one quarter and 29-24 at halftime. Weemer and Plainfield South coach Ken Bublitz both thought their teams ran their respective offenses better in the second half.
"I thought we matched their level of intensity with better execution in the second half," Bublitz said. "In the first half, we were a step slower and they were quicker to the ball."
Ed Presniakovas, a three-year varsity player and considered one of the top players in the SPC, finished with 17 points. Waubonsie was well aware of his outside shooting talents and twice, when he hit 3-pointers in the second and third quarters, Weemer called time out.
"We had some defensive breakdowns and if you are going to be a good basketball team, you can't let a team's best player be open for long," he said.