WC drops first round game to Wabash Valley

March 16, 2011

HUTCHINSON, KAN. – Waycross College’s men’s basketball team faced a formidable opponent in the first round of the NJCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament March 15, losing to the tenth-ranked Wabash Valley College Warriors, 75-57.

Josh Mendenhall led the Swamp Foxes with 19 points, followed by Tarrence Chatman’s ten points. Reco Lewis finished with nine points while Joe Williams rounded out the top scorers with eight points.

“They (Wabash) were pretty good,” said head coach Cory Baldwin. “They got us out of our tempo and controlled the game by making some big shots.”

The game opened with the Swamp Foxes (26-8) staying close to the Warriors in the first ten minutes. After Wabash built an eight point lead with 13:47 remaining in the first half, WC went on a 9-1 run to tie the game at 13-13 with 10:45 left on the clock.

That would be as close as the Swamp Foxes would get the rest of the game. Wabash exploded with a 20-6 run of its own over the next 8:00 to extend the lead to 33-19.

“When the media timeout happened at the midway point of the first half, we felt pretty good because we were only down by two points (15-13). The way Wabash played coming out of that timeout was the difference in the game,” Baldwin said.

Wabash extended its lead in the second half to as many as 34 points, but the Swamp Foxes continued to battle. WC outscored Wabash 19-5 in the final 5:20, which included a 14-0 run at the end of the game.

“We showed a lot of character at the end of the game by fighting back,” said Baldwin. “I was proud of that.”

After a clutch performance at the free-throw line in the GCAA Championship game ten days ago, the rim was unkind to the Swamp Foxes against Wabash. WC missed a total of 14 free throws. Other shooting statistics were not much better as the Swamp Foxes shot 27 percent from the three-point line and 32 percent overall for the game.

WC’s play in the post has been another crucial part of the team’s regular season success and championship run. The Warriors were able to keep the post play of Mendenhall and Williams in check, which forced the Swamp Foxes to take shots farther away from the basket.

“Wabash is a well coached team,” Baldwin said. “They did a good job of taking away our inside game. I felt like when we were able to score inside, it was about an inch or two further away than we like to be.”

The Swamp Foxes have less than a day to regroup as they will now face the Chattanooga State Community College Tigers today in the left side of the tournament bracket. The NJCAA Tournament is double-elimination and, according to Coach Baldwin, if the Swamp Foxes win their side of the bracket, the highest they would finish would be ninth place.

“We would end the season as the ninth-ranked team in the country if we win out,” he said.

Baldwin said his team played Chattanooga in a preseason scrimmage in Columbus last fall and lost by four points.

“They are a big and athletic team,” he said.

Tip for the Chattanooga State game is set for 4 p.m. (EDT). The game will be streamed live over the internet, and fans are invited to watch the game on campus in the WC auditorium. For more information about the Swamp Foxes’ trip to the NJCAA Tournament and to access the live stream, visit the Swamp Foxes Tournament Central page at www.waycross.edu .

Waycross College has been a proud member of the University System of Georgia since the college’s founding in 1976.