Warwick Takes ‘A Big Step’ As Warriors Knock Wilson From Unbeaten Ranks In Early Season Overtime Thriller
Written by: Andy Herr on December 17, 2022
While the high school basketball season may still be young at heart yet, that should not in any way suggest that there aren’t somewhat season-defining’ish type games still afoot here throughout the first couple weeks of the season if you will. After all, just try on Wilson’s trip to Warwick Thursday night on for size.
It’s ironic in some ways, especially considering how the Warriors are the defending District 3-6A silver medalists after falling to Reading in the championship game last season, but the Warriors won’t even get the opportunity to defend –or even try to improve upon that 2nd-place finish for that matter — this winter. No, that’s not in any way to intimate or suggest in the slightest that the Warriors now have to totally start from scratch this season following in the graduation losses in the form of Ryan Fink, Tate Landis and Avery Sapp to name just a few. Instead, thanks to an enrollment number that allows Warwick to skate right on that thin line between life in the 6A and 5A classification, just enough families moving away from Lititz come this enrollment cycle certainly draws no tinge of sadness from Warwick head coach Chris Christensen as his club now finds themselves competing in the District 3-5A ranks, away from the beasts that lurk in the 6A field.
Of course, when you are a transient bunch that has the look and feel of a 6A squad, despite what the letter of the law will actually tell you, shying away from big school competition is nothing in the vernacular for Warwick. Case in point, their game against an unbeaten Wilson crew, arguably one of the early juggernauts jostling for positioning in the 6A crop, for an early litmus test of sorts for the Warriors to try and show their wares.
And suffice to say, if this were a test, rest assured that the Warriors were able to pass it with exemplary marks.
Even still, despite what prove to be an eventual success story, things did not always start out that way for the home team in this one. Especially not when they surrendered an early 4-0 spurt to their red-clad guests in the early going, highlighted by none other than a Madyx Gruber layup off the opening tip which allowed the Bulldogs to draw first blood within the first five seconds of the contest.
However, as they would in turn demonstrate throughout the entirety of the evening, Warwick had to propensity and the ability to strike back at most every turn.
In that regard, it’d be easy to point to a Carter Horst 5-0 flurry for the hosts in return, an early counterpunch that gave the Warriors the 5-4 advantage with 6:20 left to play in the first following Horst’s early trifecta. From there, the Warriors’ 6’1 junior wing kept at it, eventually upping his troop’s lead to an 11-7 count with a take to the rack roughly four minutes later, all of which preceded Wilson being able to conjure up their own late-quarter momentum found in the form of a slithery move to the hoop by way of 5’11 senior guard, Cleveland Harding, a deuce which helped the Bulldogs close the opening eight minutes on a 4-0 clip, effectively moving the game into the second frame with a deadlocked 11-11 score.
In the early portion of the second quarter, Warwick really put the Dawgs in a bind. So much so in fact that after a pair of beautifully executed backdoors plays that resulted in Tyree Hughes and Trevor Evans buckets respectively, Wilson was prompted into burning an early timeout to address their defensive awareness. From there, the Warriors remained steadfast in their ways seeing as how a Ya’Majesty Washington take to the cup gave Warwick their largest lead of the early evening, 21-15, with 4:15 still left to play before intermission.
Undaunted however, Wilson would retaliate right back in the form of a Harding 3-ball to immediately follow suit before a trademark Warwick triple, this one cashed in via 5’8 junior, Tyree Hughes, put the Warriors in front at a 26-19 difference before the first half eventually expired with the Warriors holding serve by virtue of their 26-22 cushion.
In the second half too, just when it may have felt as if Warwick may have been able to run away and hide for the remainder of the contest, Wilson would end up reeling themselves right back into the fight.
Case in point, while Warwick 5’11 defensive stalwart, Mason Burr, was able to tally himself an early third quarter bucket before then turning right around and having a deflection of his bounce off a Wilson player’s leg and trickle harmlessly out of bounds in front of the Bulldogs’ bench, the early third quarter Warrior mojo would in turn be threatened right around the bend.
Perhaps no instance anywhere near as striking in that regard as when Aidan Melograna knocked home a triple shortly thereafter that clipped the Warriors’ lead back down to size, 30-28, with 4:40 still left to tick off the third quarter clock. And with the Bulldogs’ propensity to suddenly fill it up from deep now running rampant, it probably should not have been much of a surprise to see Cleveland Harding fire in another of his own — en route to a 14-point performance once the evening had concluded – as the wiry senior floor general was able to pilot his crew back to within a point, 33-32, with just 1:30 left in the third frame.
As it turned out, a one-point difference would indeed be all the separation that the Warriors were able to create for themselves at the conclusion of the first 24 minutes as Warwick carried the slim 34-33 lead with them into the last quarter.
Up until this point, Wilson had largely been playing in Warwick’s shadow for much of the evening. Well, that of course until Madyx Gruber took personal issue with it.
As he was able to do throughout much of the evening against Warwick, the small but crafty Wilson sophomore guard was able to work himself free from the Warriors’ collective clutches time after time, including here in the first 1:30 of the final period as his old-fashioned three-point play not only helped him achieve what would result in game-high scoring honors with a 19-point effort, it would also more importantly put the Dawgs back in front, 38-35, with momentum starting to perhaps careen back in the visitor’s direction.
Despite spotting Wilson the early fourth quarter lead following Gruber’s aforementioned heroics, Warwick kept to the task at hand. So much so in fact over the ensuing two minutes and change that not only were the hosts able to erase the Bulldogs’ current leverage against them, but they were also in turn able to surge back in front by two possessions not long afterwards seeing as how another Carter Horst-engineered 5-0 rally –capped off by a seismic trifecta — put Warwick back in front, 44-40, with 3:47 left to play.
That said, even despite their current deficit, Wilson just kept chipping away in their own regard.
In fact, following what would prove to be key free throws down the homeward stretch pumped in by the Bulldogs, thanks in large part to the law firm of Gruber and Harding respectively, Wilson found themselves with what surely felt like commanding ownership of the 48-45 lead with just 5.1 seconds left to be played.
And instead of tempting the gods of fate when it came to letting Warwick try their hand at coming up with a game-saving triple to send this playoff-type game into an extra period within the final few seconds, Wilson decided to employ the foul tactic to alleviate such a scenario….Or so they thought at least.
So, with Warwick’s Carter Horst having to walk the length of the floor while looking up at the scoreboard and seeing his team in a three-point hole with two shots upcoming, making both was certainly the most pressing matter of the time. However, after calmly sinking the first of the offering, missing the second as it turned out didn’t prove to all that horrendous of a scenario to unfold. No, not when you consider that a freshman — a freshman with a name you would not easily forget came up with a play that no one in attendance will certainly soon forget – came away with the play of the night as Warwick’s Ya’Majesty Washington was able to work himself free and tip in the missed free throw, effectively knotting things up at a 48-48 stalemate with just 2.5 seconds remaining in regulation. Regulation noted of course given how Wilson’s halfcourt shot at the final buzzer bounced off the backboard without much of a threat of ever protruding through the twine, sending this one into a much-deserving overtime session with nothing having been decided up until that point given the 48-48 score other than to suggest that these appeared to be two evenly matched clubs.
In overtime, much like in regulation, it was an exhibition in punch, counterpunch from both Wilson and Warwick respectively.
Just when Wilson would go in front at 50-49 following a Cleveland Harding take to the tin, Warwick’s Trevor Evans would do just the same as his bucket coming on the heels of Harding’s gave the Warriors the 51-50 lead with just 1:10 left to go.
And while it may have been nothing if not difficult to know and predict given how the game had tilted back and forth up until that point, Evans’ hoop would put Warwick over the hill for good.
Sure enough, after seeing Wilson come away with a surprising 0-2 trip to the charity stripe within the final 46 seconds, a 1-2 return trip back to foul line on the other end for Warwick courtesy of Carter Horst made it a 52-50 Warriors’ lead with time winding down. And if that 0-fer trip to the line hadn’t already been excruciating enough for the Bulldogs, most certainly leaving a layup at the tin off a fantastic play design on the ensuing trip back down the floor was sure to cause agita for the group from Berks County.
From there, with Warwick protecting a 52-50 advantage with excactly 10 seconds on the nose left to play, another 1-2 trip to the line from Warwick, this one via Cody Ryan, would be all the Warriors would need when it came to holding on as Wilson’s final possession did not come to pass, effectively awarding Warwick a monstrous 53-50 overtime triumph against a potent 6A outfit that will likely be one of the few left standing in late February once all is said and done.
“That was fun,” Warwick head coach Chris Christensen was able to offer bluntly in the aftermath of his squad’s impressive win. “I thought we stepped up and our guys executed defensively what we wanted them to do.”
“We’re still growing,” Christensen acknowledged. “We lost two games this past weekend (to Waynesboro and Chambersburg), but we played people. It helped us grow. We wanted to challenge ourselves early….The fact that we took a step and grew today was awesome for our young team.”
“They know they have to do this together,” Christensen continued of his 2022-23 club. “We just keep preaching that ‘this is two years.’ This is two years you guys have. Don’t wait til next year. Win now…They understand there isn’t that guy on our team who is head and shoulders above everybody else that we look to. They know they have to do it together.”
“I know I keep repeating myself, but it’s a step,” Christensen said in summation. “It’s not the end. We still have a lot of room to grow and to put things in and things to get better at, but it was a definitely a nice step for us.”
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