Friday, January 6, 2006

Defense sparks Wood River's 62-55 win over Jerome

Nine Wolverines score in Great Basin West victory


Photo Caption: Wood River junior guard David Sibrian, who led the Wolverines in scoring with 14 points, drives to the hoop through a host of Jerome players. Photo by David N. Seelig

Wood River was in the zone Wednesday night at the Hailey gym.

Wolverine zone defense with tons of pressure on the perimeter fueled a 20-2 run that turned a 21-17 Jerome lead into a 37-23 Wood River halftime cushion in the Great Basin Conference West boys' basketball game.

Jerome made a run in the second half but the Wolverines kept patiently running their half-court offense and emerged with a 62-55 victory—Wood River's first-ever 4A Great Basin league win in the Hailey school's second season in the league.

Junior guard David Sibrian (3 assists) led the way with 14 points including two 3-pointers. Wood River coach Fred Trenkle calls his team an equal opportunity offense, and nine Wolverines ended up in the scoring column against Jerome.

Trenkle said, "We couldn't play much better. It was a great effort. We really executed offensively and set some great picks. And Jerome didn't play badly. We knew they weren't going to roll over and Jerome fought us until the end.

"Jerome's inability to go against our zone defense in the second quarter and our inability to stop what Jerome was doing in the third quarter made score what it was. The game wasn't as close as the final score. We had to convince them twice we were the better team."

Wood River improved to 5-4 (1-1 league) with its fourth home victory of the season—the most home wins by a Wolverine squad in 10 seasons. Jerome fell to 6-5 (0-2 league). Meanwhile, reigning league tourney champ Burley (3-5, 1-0) visits Minico (4-5, 1-0) Saturday. Burley and Minico are both coming off losses—Burley 86-43 at home to Twin Falls and Minico 49-38 at Rigby.

On Wednesday, both teams came out shooting in their first match-up of the season. Hitting three 3-pointers apiece in the first period were Jerome, averaging 62.3 ppg, and Wood River (49.1 ppg). But the Wolverines scored the final five points on a David Sibrian 3-pointer and a jump hook by Cory Rutkowski.

Cooper McCroskey (11 points) tallied 7 points in the first period.

Trenkle went to the zone defense in the second and Wood River held the Tigers scoreless for seven-and-a-half minutes. On offense, senior point guard Morgan Uhrig (5 assists, 2 points) set up shop on the wing and fed big guys like Corbin Miniard and Erik Jacobson on post-entry cuts.

"It's not hard to hit lay-ins, and when you're shooting wide-open shots and not turning the ball over, you're going to do well," said Trenkle about the offensive success.

With 6-5 sophomore post Jacobson blocking a shot and drawing a charge, Wood River sensed it had Jerome on its heels. Sibrian put the pedal to the metal with a steal and a coast-to-coast hoop, a quick-release 18-footer, a pass to Miniard under the basket and a feed to Rutkowski for a top-of-the-key 3-pointer.

At half, it was 37-23. Trenkle said about Sibrian, "David has only one gear, and that's straight ahead."

Jerome, led by the athleticism of senior Brett Boesiger (14 points, 6 rebounds) started penetrating and attacking the zone in the third quarter. The Tigers cut the 14-point lead to just six points before baskets by Kyle Lubeck and Jacobson quieted the surge at the end of the period.

One huge factor was the Wolverine defense holding Jerome's junior sharpshooter and top scorer David Prescott to just two free throws and no field goals in the first 30 minutes of the 32-minute contest. Prescott hit two meaningless 3-pointers near end.

Rutkowski finished with a quiet 11 points and 6 rebounds. Other contributors were Miniard (5 points, 2 boards), Jacobson (9 points, 3 rebounds), Danny Sibrian (3 points, 2 assists), Travis Beckman (5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), Casey Lane and Jesse Stark (2 boards apiece).

Wood River Basketball's post-game intensity award went to Jerome senior Zack Dietz (a game-high 16).

Winner of four of its last five, Wood River traveled to Pocatello Thursday and entertains the Kimberly Bulldogs Saturday, Jan. 7 in a 5 p.m. matinee at the Hailey gym.

In the junior varsity game, Wood River (2-7) picked up its second victory with a come-from-behind 45-42 win over Jerome. Two strong drives by Ross Parsons (17 points) and a critical putback by Clay Johnson (5 points) helped Wood River score the final seven points of the close game.

Other Hailey scorers were Pat Patterson 7 points, Raul Villanueva 6, Drew Anderson 4, Micah Floyd 2, Nick Sutton 2 and David Pinkard 2.




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