Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com

Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com

<p>Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com</p>

Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com

<p>Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com</p>
                                <p>Wolverines’ junior guard Kayshaun Schumpert (14) dribbles the ball up the floor.</p>

Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com

Wolverines’ junior guard Kayshaun Schumpert (14) dribbles the ball up the floor.

WHITMIRE — Newberry Academy(1-5, 1-1 region) boys’ basketball fell short for the second time this season against Whitmire(3-1) on Wednesday evening. The Wolverines defeated the Eagles 29-23 in front of their crowd.

The home team got off to a sluggish start after defeating Riverwalk Academy on the previous night. The Eagles were much better, but did hold a slim 6-4 lead at the of the first quarter.

Both teams went into a scoring drought for majority of the second quarter, but the Eagles started to hit their stride on offense in the last 2:34 of the first half. They scored on three consecutive offensive trips on nearly the same play, which were all backdoor cuts along the baseline.

They visitors led 15-9 at halftime.

The Wolverines came back to life in the early parts of the third quarter after they their defense started to turn into offense. The home team was able to turn two consecutive steals into fastbreak points. Then, scored from one of their half court sets on a third consecutive offensive possession.

That forced the Eagles head coach Scott Gardner to call a much needed timeout.

Despite the score being tied 15-15 in the early parts of the second half, Newberry Academy still held a slim 19-17 lead going into the final quarter.

Ricky Hamilton started to exert himself in the action in the fourth quarter. The senior wing man made two big baskets in the final quarter and finished with nine points in the game. Hamilton also added nine rebounds to his stat line for the final, as well as a big block.

“I’ve got a couple of good guys that can show up big for us. I’ve also talked early on in the year about everyone knowing their role and not trying to do everything on the court,” said Wolverines head coach Noah Armstrong. “I was talking to Aidan before the game and those got a job and both[Hamilton and Davis] score the ball really well. Kayshaun Schumpert, another guy, came up late at the end by hitting some clutch free throws there to give us a lead to separate the game a little bit.”

Wolverines’ guard Aidan Davis followed up his 18 point performance from the previous night, with another 10 points in this contest. Also, starting point guard Kayshaun Schumpert knocked down four big free-throws late in the game to seal the victory.

“You took the words right out of my mouth, I just walked in the locker room and said ‘it’s hard to get a win in varsity sports, but it’s a heck lot harder to get a win against a team you played already,” said Armstorng. “We watched a little film to start the day off. I made them come in a little early and we looked at some things we didn’t do so well last time, and made some adjustments. They actually worked out there pretty well tonight.”

He also gave credit to Gardner and his Eagles for two early, hard fought battles in the span of just six days. Both games came down to the wire, but late game execution hurt the Eagles yet again.

“It was pretty simple, we can’t make layups! We also refused to buy in and be all in, that’s it,” said the disgruntled Gardner.

He also spoke on his team’s offensive execution, “I guess we just got to go back to practice so we can make layups. I got middle school kids who can make layups and we just can’t seem to do it. We refuse to do it! If we are going to be basketball players, then we got to get serious about what we are doing.”

“If you watch our game tonight, you know we should’ve won that game, I mean you saw it. We had 15 shots from zero feet, 15, and we couldn’t get one to go. We couldn’t have enough focus to make a layup. come on,” added Gardner.

The Eagles will get a day of rest before hitting the road on Dec. 8th for a region showdown with Our Lady of the Rosary.

The Wolverines will also get a much needed rest day before getting back to the action on the court. They will be on the road in Simpsonville, S.C. to take on Brashier Middle College Charter on Friday, Dec. 8th.

Their offense struggled down the stretch. The one bright spot came in the closing seconds of the game when senior guard Jackson Montgomery’s tough lap over a Wolverines’ defender.

Newberry Academy finished the game 2-of-15 from the -point line, had 10 turnovers and grabbed 21 rebounds as a team.

Reach Greg Hollis @803-768-3117 or ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com.