Scoring balance is a big thing for first-year Wood River High School boys' basketball coach John Radford, and his Wolverines have been putting a smile on his face recently.
Wood River played two of the best 2A teams in Idaho last week and went 1-1 against Glenns Ferry and Challis with terrific scoring balance. And the defense continued to be impressive, yet another plus.
Intensity has been red hot.
Radford said, "We want to hold other teams under 50 points which gives us a pretty good chance to win the game."
Thursday, Wood River handed #1-ranked 2A Glenns Ferry (7-2) a 63-49 loss on the Hailey floor. Danny Sibrian (19 points, 4 assists), Cory Rutkowski (18), Matt Staskiewicz (11) and Erik Jacobson (10) all hit for Hailey double figures.
Against a very quick and talented Pilots squad, point guard Sibrian had his best game as a Wolverine—constantly cutting to the basket in the motion offense and getting good passes from his mates.
"We executed well against a good Glenns Ferry team," said Radford.
It was the first time Wood River has put four players in double figures in 173 games over nine seasons dating to an 82-65 loss at Kimberly Jan. 23, 1999. Brock Weber (14), Sky Wolfe (14), Charlie Askew (14) and James Cordes (12) did the scoring in that road contest.
Wood River out-rebounded Glenns Ferry 31-17 led by Staskiewicz (10 boards, 3 steals, 2 assists),Jacobson (8 boards, 2 steals) and Travis Beckman (7 rebounds, 5 steals). Rutkowski added 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Chase Bitterman (17 points, 6 boards, 5 steals) and Cody Darrington (13 points, 5 steals) were the main Pilot factors. The game was tied 34-34 in the third, but Staskiewicz sparked a 12-3 run to end the period by drawing a charge and being very active on the boards.
Saturday night, Sibrian couldn't play for academic reasons at Challis but the Wolverines had their hands full anyway. "We ran into a buzzsaw at Challis," said Radford.
The Wolverines stayed close each quarter, but Challis (5-0) remained unbeaten with a 59-50 non-conference victory behind 29 points by 5-9 senior Devin Crane (three 3s) and 18 by senior power forward Frank Phillips. Challis outpointed Wood River 14-1 at the charity stripe.
Radford said, "Challis' sagging match-up zone took away Erik and our inside game, and they forced others to take outside shots. Their high scorer was just a hard match-up for us. Overall, we played well enough and had pretty balanced scoring with five guys between eight and 11 points."
Staskiewicz and Rutkowski each scored 11 points and Sibrian's substitutes at guard, Ross Parsons and Michale Brunker, each had 9 points featuring three 3-pointers apiece. Jacobson (8) and Beckman (2) were the other Hailey scorers.
The Wood River defense held the high-scoring Challis offense (66.0 ppg) seven points under its average. For the season, Wood River is averaging 51.4 ppg offense, 49.3 defense.
Century visits Hailey tonight
Wood River (3-4, 2-1 home) wraps up its pre-holiday schedule with a tough home non-conference game against Century tonight, Wednesday in Hailey. The Wolverines dropped a 51-42 decision to Century in their season-opening game Nov. 29 at Pocatello.
Century (5-1), ranked fourth in the Idahosports.com 4A poll, has lost only to #1-ranked Burley 59-40 at home Dec. 12.
In that game the Wolverines couldn't stop the shooting of D'back junior guard Kyle Miller-Whaley, who is averaging about 21.0 ppg. Miller-Whaley is the real thing, as he showed last Thursday in Century's dramatic 61-55 overtime win over Highland of Pocatello in Century's Snake Pit.
Miller-Whaley, after spending most of the first half sitting with personal fouls as Century fell behind by nine points at half, drilled a long 3-pointer with four seconds left in regulation for a 51-51 tie. Century then out-pointed Highland (2-5) 10-4 in the extra session.
"It's a very good Century team," said Radford. "We'll have to make changes to do a better job in the defensive end."
Radford was hopeful Sibrian would be back for Century.
JV captures first win
Hot from the 3-point circle, the Wood River boys' junior varsity (seven 3s) captured its first win of the 2006-07 season in a big way over Glenns Ferry by a 63-28 score Thursday on the Hailey hardwoods.
Nine Wolverines ended up in the scoring column for coach Bruce Tuxhorn topped by Alberto Vasquez 11 points (two 3s), Michale Brunker 9, Vladimir Martynko 9 (three 3s), Tyler Israel 9, Brian Tidwell 8, Ben Leopold 6, Sean Bunce 5, Greg Wakefield 4 and Rob Paris 2. Wood River improved to 1-5.
Wood River senior guard Danny Sibrian blasts past Buhl?s Brad Twiss during the Dec. 9 meeting between the two rivals in Hailey. Sibrian had a career-best 19 points and 4 assists in Thursday?s 63-49 home win over Glenns Ferry. Photo by David N. Seelig
