Boys basketball: Waubonsie Valley clamps down on Kelly, pulls away from Neuqua
It’s not gonna happen again.
That was the talk from the Waubonsie Valley defense heading into Friday night’s second battle with Neuqua Valley and Wildcats star freshman Cole Kelly, who scorched the Warriors for 25 points earlier in a one-point loss.
The 25-1 Warriors were determined to contain Kelly this time around and the results had to be even better than anyone could have anticipated. Kelly was held to just 2 points — and no field goals — as Waubonsie Valley stayed perfect in the DuPage Valley Conference with a 53-37 victory.
“Obviously, and I told Cole this after the game, he’s a great kid and he plays the game the right way. I really respect his game but I wasn’t going to watch him do what he did to us the first time,” Warriors coach Andrew Schweitzer said. “We came up with a game plan where we’re not eliminating his touches, but we’re making everything tough.”
The plan worked to perfection as Kelly didn’t score until a pair of free throws in the second half, and by that time Tyreek Coleman had gotten going and the Warriors started to pull away. The shots didn’t fall early for Waubonsie, and the hosts led just 23-21 at the half despite blanking Kelly.
Tall forwards Cade Valek and Moses Wilson each had extended duties guarding Kelly, and Coleman and others were also assigned the tough task at various times on Friday night in Aurora.
“That’s a tough assignment,” Schweitzer said of guarding Kelly, one of the top freshmen in the state. “You got to mix it up. The kid is a freshman, but physically he’s the real deal. Almost everyone got their turn at him, and that’s tough for anyone to be guarded that way.”
With Wilson slamming down a pair of dunks and Coleman knocking down a 3-pointer, the Warriors took command by outscoring Neuqua Valley 15-4 in the third quarter.
“We knew we had to pick it up. We knew shots were going to fall so we just had to keep up the defensive intensity on the other end,” said Coleman of his team’s strong second half and his 25-point effort. “We had some defensive lapses and some things to clean up [after the first meeting]. The first time we played them it was a close game (49-48 Waubonsie win). Coming into this game we just wanted to move differently.”
Mason Martin did his best to keep the Wildcats (15-11, 3-5) in the contest. He matched Coleman’s 12 points in the first half and finished with 18 on the night, but the next best total came from Carter Coviello, who tallied 7 points off the bench for Neuqua.
“We just didn’t make shots. You can’t win if you don’t make shots. The defense was good, the effort was good, the rebounding was good. We just didn’t make shots,” said Wildcats coach Todd Sutton, who also said he plans to vote for Coleman as Mr. Basketball for the state of Illinois. “They’re just better than us.”
Neuqua Valley improved to 7-0 in the DVC and can take another big step toward a league crown with a win Wednesday in DeKalb.