Timberwolves dominate second half to give Zebras first loss of the season

Woodcreek High's Timberwolves basketball team played fierce defense and limited Lincoln High's Fighting Zebras to only 16 second-half points in a 49-33 victory on Tuesday night. "We got a few good looks early and set the tone defensively in the second half," Timberwolves coach Drew Hibbs said. "I think it wore them down a little bit and they looked a little tired at the end. We took advantage of that." Woodcreek High forced 12 turnovers and blocked nine shots in the win. Five of those blocks were from senior Taye Hollins and three were from freshman Max VanLaningham, who also added 11 points and eight rebounds. "He is a rim protector and a good shot blocker, so that obviously helps," Hibbs said. "He has a long way to go but we think he's going to get there. He is putting in the work, has accepted constructive criticism and this was his best game." The Zebras played solid defense in the first half and forced early turnovers with senior Sami Tekesta getting two steals and senior Beni Njomo finished the night with three steals and two blocks. Njomo led the Zebras with 14 points and seven rebounds but struggled from the field only making four of his 16 shot attempts. The Zebras only made 11 out of 34 shots. "They made it incredibly hard to move the ball around," Zebras coach Chris Ahrens said. "They are long players and they had their arms everywhere. That's what we try to preach in practice every day is active hands and clearly they did that. It seemed like they were everywhere. I do think offensively that our ball movement got pretty stagnant there and when we stopped throwing it down low is when they pushed up and made it hard to penetrate. We have to space better." The leading scorer of the night was Woodcreek High senior Austin Ito, who finished with 16 points, despite only scoring four in the first half and getting into early foul trouble. Ito scored 32 points in an 81-71 loss against Granite Bay High on Nov. 22. "I saw that my shot wasn't falling, so I got easy buckets and looked for my teammates to score," Ito said. "My teammates came up big in the end, hit some big shots and had defensive rebounds and stops." The Timberwolves will play in a tournament starting on Thursday against Oak Ridge High before returning home on Tuesday to face Chico. For the Zebras, this was their first loss of the season after starting with five straight wins. They will prepare for the Wheatland Tournament, which begins on Thursday against Hamilton High. "We need to get back to who we are, the defensive identity and pride that carried us through the first five wins," Ahrens said. "Rely upon each other and the fact that we play team ball. I've said to our guys that we don't deserve to win unless they're playing with effort and togetherness. We need to maximize our effort and our effectiveness with five guys offensively."