Maine West tips Wheeling
Maine West coach Erik McNeill wasn't a happy camper at halftime of the Warriors' Saturday night game against Wheeling at the tournament Maine West was hosting.
McNeill kept his team in the locker room until almost the final seconds of the midgame break, and the message was loud and clear.
“We had to turn up the urgency,” said Warriors senior forward Odera Eneogwe. “Coach even had it written on the blackboard as soon as we walked into the locker room. He wanted us to up the tempo and stop their shooters, especially their freshman (Jeremy Stephani) he's a great shooter.”
“I basically told them to wake up,” agreed McNeill. “We weren't handling Wheeling's pressure well. We had to slow down and handle the ball better and the key was to stop their open shots.”
The second-half strategy worked to perfection as Maine West finally broke through the Wildcats' relentless full-court trapping defense to score a 61-60 win.
The 1-2punch of Eneogwe and junior guard Conor Hart led the Warriors. Hart finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds, while Eneogwe also scored 18 with 7 boards.
“I liked the effort tonight,” said McNeill. “Odera had a really nice game he got back to basics.”
Riley Harvey and Tyler Shapiro led Wheeling with 13 points apiece while Stephani added 11.
“Maine West is a tough team,” said Wheeling coach John Clancy. “Coach McNeill does some nice things over there, but I was happy with our pace and energy tonight.”
Wheeling opened up an early lead thanks to defensive pressure and a barrage of 3-pointers, including 3 from Stephani and two by Shapiro.
The Wildcats kept the advantage until midway through the third quarter when a turnaround jumper by Eneogwe pushed Maine West into the lead, then the teams battled back and forth until under a minute remained in the game.
Maine West led 58-56 when Wheeling split a pair of free throws, then a reverse layup by Eneogwe gave the hosts a 60-57 advantage.
After an errant Wildcats pass gave the ball back to West, Eneogwe hit a free throw with nine seconds left to put the game out of reach. Wheeling's Ricky Schwind nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer but it was too little too late.
Junior guard Kevin Garcia tallied 8 points for West while senior Nick Boyd added 9 points for the Wildcats.
“I like this tournament,” said Clancy, whose Wildcats finished at 2-2. “You see a good variety of teams, from public league teams to Maine South and Maine West. I would have liked to have been at least 3-1 here, but we'll take .500 with Elk Grove on the horizon. We'll get back to the drawing board and see what happens.”
Maine West won 3 times in the tourney while losing only once, in overtime to Maine South.
“Wheeling is a very good team,” said Eneogwe, “but I felt like we played well enough to deserve to be 3-1.”