Big second half boosts Wellston
TROY, MO. — All Wellston boys basketball coach Jeffrey McCaw wanted was to get to halftime.
“It was the first time anybody had run a box-and-one on us — most times, people put two or three defenders on Ben (McLemore) — and we just didn’t react very well to it,” McCaw said. “But once we got to halftime and were able to make a few adjustments, everything just seemed to fall into place.”
And how. Down by three at the break, Wellston outscored Louisiana 14-0 in the opening two minutes of the second half and rolled to a 71-55 victory in the Class 2 sectional Wednesday night at Troy Buchanan High. With the victory, the Trojans (17-10) move on to the quarterfinals at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Jefferson City High against the Sacred Heart-Stoutland winner.
“With each step, I guess the reality of getting to Columbia becomes a little stronger,” McCaw said. “At the same time, though, we know we can’t afford to look ahead too far. We just have to focus on getting prepared so that we’re ready to play again on Saturday.”
Wellston appeared a bit tight at the start of Wednesday’s game and the Bulldogs (13-14) took advantage, taking an 18-11 lead with the first basket of the second quarter. After Wellston rallied to pull even at 24 Louisiana finished strong, taking a 29-26 lead to halftime.
But the third quarter belonged to the Trojans, who outscored the Bulldogs 29-10 in the period. Wellston delivered the exclamation point on the quarter with about 2:43 to play when Jerron Lee came up with a steal and then passed off the backboard for McLemore, the Trojans’ standout junior, to finish off the play with a thunderous slam dunk. At the time, Wellston was up 51-33.
“Once you get going a little by making a few plays and coming up with a steal or two, that momentum tends to build,” McCaw said. “Because we were playing better, our guys were able to turn up the energy and take control of the game.”
McLemore, a 6-foot-4 guard, led the way for Wellston with 27 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. The Trojans also received double-figure efforts from sophomore Eldright White (17 points, 10 rebounds), sophomore Lee (13 points) and senior Timothy Bright (12).
Louisiana had three double-figure scorers: Brett Kirtlink (19), Ray Tanner (13) and Justin Walker (12).
Wellston, which will close its doors at the end of the school year, reached the quarterfinals a year ago, losing 56-50 to eventual fourth-place finisher Laquey.
