WILTON – There were plenty of things for Sean Young to like Tuesday night.
Wilton-Lyndeborough's Steve Heck goes up for a layup during Tuesday's win over Lisbon. For more photos, go to the Photo Album.
The Wilton-Lyndeborough boys basketball team he coaches put together a solid performance against Lisbon in the opening round of the Class S playoffs. The 66-57 win over the No. 10 Panthers means the seventh-seeded Warriors will play on Friday night at No. 2 Newmarket in the quarterfinals.
WLC won by doing the things it wanted to do both offensively and defensively – attacking.
Leading the way was center Steve Heck, who had a game-high 23 points to go along with a dominate performance on the defensive end. When in the game, Heck forced the Panthers to adjust their shots, and when they didn’t, he got a hand on a few of them.
“He was the most active I’ve ever seen,” Young said. “That’s the player I’ve expected to have for the last three years. The way he played (Tuesday), I believe he can do that 18, 20, 22 games a season. I’m hoping it’s the turning point for him.”
Heck’s performance was key for the Warriors, as he spent most of the night guarding Lisbon’s Jamsie Myers. While Heck had a big height advantage over all of his opponents, Myers wide body created a matchup problem that Young worried about when his center was out of the game.
That happened too much early on, as Heck got into foul trouble, picking up his third with over five minutes left in the second quarter. He went to the bench for the rest of the half, and Myers scored six of his eight points in that stretch.
“(Myers) was the matchup I was really concerned about because of how big he was,” Young said. “I thought the only guy that could really beat him off the block was Steve. I really need to have Tory (Rysnik) out top on (Jake) Clement. He’s one of the better players in the state. Tory did a tremendous job.”
Tory Rysnik drives to the basket during Tuesday's game.
Rysnik, who had 14 points of his own, held Clement to just six points through three quarters, but when the Warriors started rotating on defense in the fourth quarter, Clement scored 14 points to get the Panthers back in the game.
One of just two seniors on the roster, Rysnik showed how much he wanted his team to advance with his intensity on the floor and with a leaping, celebratory fist pump after the game was over.
“You don’t want to get knocked off in the first playoff game at home with all your friends here,” he said. “Everyone pulled together, it was just awesome.
“There’s not a lot of teams that have a tall guy like Steve. Every time you come down the floor, you’ve got to that big guy, you have that presence. We’re lucky to have that.”
In the second half, Heck scored 16 of his points, seemed to get a hand on every loose ball on the defensive end and even went 7-of-8 from the free throw line. And he went the whole half without picking up another foul.
“I realized I just needed to play straight up,” Heck said. “I had a huge height advantage over all of those kids, so I didn’t need to be jumping and leaning over them. Coach told me I just need to stay straight up.”
One stretch early in the fourth quarter seemed to sum up the night.
Heck blocked a shot by Myers on the defensive end, and the Warriors grabbed the rebound and started the fast break. The ball made its way around on the offensive end before winding up in Heck’s hands near the basket. He was fouled on a made layup and finished off the three-point play by making the free throw.
Lisbon made a run late, cutting the lead WLC down to 56-51 with 2:24 remaining, but the Warriors scored the next six points to go back up by 12.
“The way the kids came out and played, I was so proud of them,” Young said. “Every guy that stepped on the court was tremendous. Going in, we talked about how we wanted to attack. Not only defensively, but offensively, that was our mindset going into the game.”
The Warriors will head to No. 2 Newmarket on Friday to face the Mules in the quarterfinals. The teams have already played twice this season, with Newmarket winning both, including a 40-39 victory in Wilton on Feb. 12.
“I like our chances a lot,” Young said. “We just need to keep attacking like we did (Tuesday).”