Wildcats lose to WP, MHC

by Diane Stamm

Grant tribune-sentinel

The Wallace boys’ basketball team started its season with back-to-back losses in very different fashions, falling to Wauneta-Palisade in a buzzer beater, then losing to high-flying Maywood/Hayes Center Friday.

With five players scoring in the first half of Thursday’s game against WP, including six points by Trey Robertson, Wallace took a 17-10 lead into the locker room.

Robertson and Kyler Flaming each made a basket in the third quarter. Although those were Wallace’s only points of the quarter, its defense held WP to six points and the Wildcats took a 21-16 lead into the fourth quarter.

Conner Kennicutt made a three pointer for Wallace and Matt Lungrin contributed three points as the game wore down. The Wildcats led 27-25 with 14 seconds left. The teams traded turnovers, but a missed free throw with less than 10 seconds left gave WP the time it needed to get the ball down the court and hit a three pointer at the buzzer to hand Wallace a 27-28 loss.

Wallace Head Coach Eric Miller said the Wildcats played well for most of the game, but made some inexperienced mistakes.

Still, Miller said, there was a lot to be proud of for this first game.

Robertson led Wallace with eight points and 11 rebounds.

The Wildcats lost to MHC 31-75.

Wallace held its own with the Wolves in the first quarter. Lungrin made two three pointers and Conner Kennicutt chipped in one three, while Riley Strawder scored four points and Robertson added three. Behind their efforts, Wallace only trailed by five, 16-21 at the end of the first quarter.

The Wolves athleticism took over as the game wore on. Lungrin continued to stay hot from behind the arc, hitting two more threes, but those would be Wallace’s only field goals of the second quarter, leaving the Wildcats trailing 24-44 at halftime.

Masen Messersmith and Lungrin each added a bucket in the second half for Wallace’s only field goals.

“We played a good first half.  Really proud of how we battled a very good team.  Second half was tough, but there was major growth from game one to game two” Miller said.

Lungrin finished in double figures with 14 points, thanks to 4-6 shooting at the three-point line.

Up next

The Wildcats have another tough week ahead. Wallace travels to 2-0 Sandhills/Thedford Thursday before it hosts 2-0 Hyannis Saturday.

Miller expects Sandhill/Thedford to be a tough, physical team that plays great defense. 

Wallace boys 27

2 PT. 3 PT. FT/

FG FG FTA F TP 

Matt Lungrin 2 0 1-1 0 5

Conner Kennicutt 1 1 1-2 3 6

Masen Messersmith 0 0 0-0 1 0

Riley Strawder 1 0 0-0 4 2

Jason Fisher 0 0 0-0 3 0

Trey Robertson 4 0 0-3 2 8

Kyler Flaming 3 0 0-1 1 7

TOTALS 11 1 2-7 14 27

WP 28

Sutherland, 4; Duvel, 3; Littrel, 11; Jutten, 1; Wheeler, 7; Acton, 2.

WP totals: 2 pt. FG—9; 3 pt. FG—1; FT/FTA—7-11; Fouls—18; TP—28.

Points by quarters:

Wallace 10 7 4 6—27

WP 6 4 6 12—28

Wallace boys 31

2 PT. 3 PT. FT/

FG FG FTA F TP 

Matt Lungrin 1 4 0-1 0 14

Conner Kennicutt 0 1 4-6 2 7

Masen Messersmith 1 0 0-0 0 2

Riley Strawder 1 0 2-2 4 4

Jason Fisher 0 0 0-0 4 0

Trey Robertson 1 0 2-4 2 4

Kyler Flaming 0 0 0-0 2 0

TOTALS 4 5 8-13 14 31

MHC 75

Cox, 8; Patel, 7; Sellers, 5; Kramer, 14; Farr, 12; Ingison, 25; Anders, 4.

MHC totals: 2 pt. FG—32; 3 pt. FG—1; FT/FTA—38-14; Fouls—16; TP—75.

Points by quarters:

Wallace 16 8 5 2—31

MHC 21 23 23 8—75