NAPOLEON
– Junior Kyle Stoller became the 11th boys’ basketball player in Wayne
Trace history and second this season to break the 1,000 point mark for
his career as the Raiders moved into the district championship with a
41-29 victory over Swanton in the ‘Grand Canyon’ at Napoleon Wednesday
evening.
Stoller’s basket with 7:35 remaining in the third quarter
put the red, white and blue in front 23-11 as Wayne Trace went on to
the victory in improving to 19-6 overall on the season. The Raiders will
now take on Toledo Emmanuel Christian (21-3) in the Division III
district championship at 6 p.m. Saturday evening in the ‘Grand Canyon’.
Stoller finished the night with 15 points and a whopping 18 rebounds in the contest while dishing out a pair of assists as well.
“He’s
had a tremendous season for us and has played really well the last few
weeks for us,” noted Wayne Trace head coach Jim Linder. “Kyle does a
great job for us and works extremely hard.”
On a night that
started with a Swanton slam dunk by Cole Mitchey off of a Luc Borojevich
assist, Wayne Trace answered with six consecutive points on baskets
from Stoller, Brooks Laukhuf and Tanner Laukhuf in posting a 6-5 lead in
the opening stanza.
Holding a slim 9-7 advantage early in the
second stanza, the Raiders extended the margin with back-to-back
three-pointers by Brooks Laukhuf before a Stoller bucket put Wayne Trace
in front 17-7.
Following a bucket by Borotevich, Stoller and
Brooks Laukhuf added late Raider baskets to expand the Wayne Trace lead
to 21-9 at the intermission.
“I thought defensively we played
really well,” Linder added. “We switched things up a lot and our kids
have done a good job of knowing where shooters are and limiting open
looks.”
With the Raiders in front 27-14 midway through the third
quarter, Swanton cut the deficit quickly with two Charlie Woods baskets
along with a three-pointer by Hayden Callicotte to pull within 27-23.
The red, white and blue picked up a Cale Winans free throw to record a 28-23 advantage entering the final stanza.
Wayne
Trace then widened the gap quickly in the fourth quarter, getting
baskets by Brooks Laukhuf, Stoller and Brooks Laukhuf again to post a
34-23 lead.
“I thought we did a good job of staying patient and
not panicking,” added the Raider mentor. “You know teams are going to
make runs but I thought we were able to get some good looks and then got
stops defensively to go with it.”
The Bulldogs put together one
final run, picking up two Woods’ foul shots and a basket from Drew
Smigelski to close within 34-27.
However, Wayne Trace closed out
the win from there as Brooks Laukhuf converted an old-fashioned
three-point play before Stoller and Tyler Davis each hit two foul shots
to wrap up the 41-29 victory.
“Everybody is contributing,” said
the Raider head coach. “They may not all score but they are making plays
on the defensive end or they are getting rebounds for us. This group
has done a nice job of coming together but we know that we have to
continue to get better as well.”
Brooks Laukhuf led all scorers in
the contest with 21 points for Wayne Trace while grabbing six rebounds.
Tyler Davis (two), Tanner Laukhuf (two) and Cale Winans (one) completed
the scoring for the Raiders.
Wayne Trace finished the night 16 of
43 from the field (37 percent) while Swanton was 12 of 45 (27 percent).
Neither team shot well beyond the three-point arc as the Bulldogs hit
only 3 of 23 attempts (13 percent) and the Raiders connected on just 2
of 14 (14 percent). At the charity stripe, Wayne Trace was seven of nine
(78 percent) with Swanton making two of four (50 percent).
The Raiders won the battle of the boards 31-27 and had fewer turnovers, 6-8.
Borojevich
topped the Bulldogs with seven points while Woods added six markers.
Callicotte (five), Smigelski (five), Mitchey (four) and Keyon Johnson
(two) also scored for Swanton, which closed the season with a record of
18-6.