NEW PARIS – Mississinawa Valley boys basketball got off to a good start in their game at National Trail. The Blazers fell victim to a cold shooting night, and the Blackhawks took advantage leaving town with a 47-37 WOAC win.
Mississinawa road the coat tails of guard Kyle Wehrkamp in the opening quarter as the senior knocked down two triples and a fielder to help the Hawks go out to a 15-6 lead.
With the Blazers focused on slowing down leading scorer Cing Scott, Wehrkamp stepped up taking the open looks he got which pleased Mississinawa Coach Jeff Vaughn.
“Kyle Wehrkamp had a heck of a first quarter, and it really sparked us, which puts the other team on notice that somebody else can score besides Cing, and that’s what we need. I keep telling these guys, somebody else has to score, because Cing’s getting face guarded, double teamed every game,” Vaughn stated.
Cold shooting by National Trail led to a 24-12 deficit at the break. The only thing the Blazers had going for them was the play on the inside from senior Tayden Blevins who accounted for 10 of their 12 points.
“Oh, man, it was an icy night for us, we couldn’t get shots to fall in the first or second quarter. They (Mississinawa) did a good job, made us work everything in the paint and didn’t give us anything easy in there … so hats off to those guys,” National Trail coach Andy Blevins commented.
National Trail came out firing with senior Kellen Laird knocking down their first perimeter shot to start the 2nd half, followed by a lay-up from Blevins, cut the margin to seven, 24-17.
Mississinawa responded with two fielders from junior guards Caden Hanes and Elliott Seubert and a jumper from Wehrkamp to push the lead back out to 30-17.
The Blazers added two free throws from Laird and another bucket from Blevins that was countered by an old-fashioned three-point play from junior Ashton Amspaugh for a 9-9 tie in the 3rd quarter, and the Hawks led 33-21 going into the final frame.
Sophomore guard Cole McGlothlin connected from deep to start the 4th quarter for Mississinawa and they were able to maintain their lead until a lay-up and a triple from sophomore Coltin Lipps closed the gap to 40-31 at the 3:13 mark, bringing the student section and Trail fans into the game.
The Blazers had a few opportunities to cut into the margin even more, but the lid on the basket would not lift, and with time now under two minutes, Mississinawa looked to their main guy, Cing Scott.
Scott was strong with the ball and was sent to the free throw line multiple times late making 5-for-8 down the stretch and 7-for-10 in the game to close the door on any Blazer comeback.
Coach Vaughn talked about Scott’s maturity level so far this year and his play down the stretch.
“He’s matured huge from last year. If they face guarded him last year he would have crawled in a shell. We’ve been working on it all summer. He’s a great kid. He’s working hard and wants to be a player, is a player, and it’s great to see him step up wanting the ball to end the game. He’s shooting 89% from the line, so it’s a no-brainer,” Vaughn concluded.
Scott led all scorers in the game with 18, Kyle Wehrkamp had 12 for Mississinawa who won the game 47-37. The Blackhawks improved to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the WOAC and they will host Newton on Friday night.
National Trail started the season well at 4-1, but it was an off night for them.
“Unfortunately for us tonight, they took a bet that we weren’t going to make threes and they won the bet tonight,” Blevins said.
“We struggled a little bit, but we’ll get back in the gym, get some shooting in and hopefully we’ll rebound, there is no time to dwell on it since we have another big conference game on Friday,” Coach Blevins concluded.
National Trail was led by Tayden Blevins with 14 points, Kellen Laird had 12 as the Blazers fall to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the WOAC and they will play at Preble Shawnee on Friday.
Box Scores:
Score by Quarters
MV – 15 … 09 … 09 … 14 – 47
NT – 06 … 06 … 09 … 14 – 37
Team Scoring
MV – C. McGlothlin 1-1-0/0 – 5, C. Hanes 0-3-1/1 – 7, E. Seubert 0-1-0/0 – 2,
A. Amspaugh 0-1-1/1 – 3, C. Scott 1-4-7/10 – 18, K. Wehrkamp 2-3-0/0 – 12,
Total 4-13-9/12 – 47
NT – T. Blevins 0-7-0/0 – 14, C. Lipps 1-1-0/0 – 5, K. Laird 2-2-2/2 – 12, T. Brubaker 0-2-0/1 – 4, Totals 3-12-2/3 -37
