Warriors can't hang on against Cougars

WILTON – Sean Young was pleased with the performance of his Wilton-Lyndeborough boys basketball team Monday night against Derryfield.

Well, as pleased as a coach could be when his team loses a nine-point third quarter lead to a team that had lost only once in Division IV this season.

The Warriors gave the Cougars their best shot and had a chance to take a game that was up for grabs late, but in the end, Derryfield prevailed 55-48.

“That game could have just as well went our way,” Young said. “If we don’t turn the ball over a couple of times, and we don’t miss a couple shots, it’s a totally different game. The biggest thing is getting them to play with confidence.”

It’s been hard to do with the road the Warriors (6-5) have gone down this season. Injuries and illness kept them shorthanded through a 1-3 start to the season, and then, thanks to the weather, W-L went over three weeks without playing a game and the Warriors played just three games in the month of January.

“We’re right back where we started before Christmas,” Young said. We’re three-quarters through the season and I’m perplexed. I have been scratching my head every day, trying to figure out where we are as a team. I really think we’re there, we just have to get a win to get these guys confidence.”

Beating Derryfield (12-1) would have served as that win, but Young is still hopeful that the way the Warriors played will show the players what they’re capable of doing.

Derryfield coach Rob Bradely certainly knew the Warriors were capable going into the game and he was more surprised by his Cougars’ response to W-L’s defensive pressure than anything else.

“I think our kids were surprised that Wilton came so aggressively after us,” Bradely said. “I was disappointed that they kind of took a step back instead of a step forward. It’s one of the things that most teams haven’t done, and he decided to do and I think it caught some of our perimeter players. The pressure he was putting on the full court and the half court, they were giving up the ball.”

Derryfield got 17 points each from Barret Lamp and Anuj Vadalia, but it was Bryan Rivard and Gus Davis who Bradely felt stepped up and saved the day for the Cougars.

“They kept the ball and made some decisions and made some big plays,” he said. “We were fortunate that we could play well enough to make some plays to get back on top of the game.”

The Cougars looked like they’d be all right early on as they jumped out to a 12-3 in the first quarter. But W-L turned up the pressure toward the end of the quarter and went on a 6-0 run to get back in the game.

It was more of the same from the Warriors in the second quarter, as W-L got a couple of big baskets from Aaron Davis, and with 3:30 left until halftime, they led 21-18.

But Derryfield came right back, scoring the next six points to take a 24-21 lead on a layup by Vadalia. On W-L’s next possession, Davis, who finished with a team-high 14 points, hit a 3-pointer to tie the game and Adam Edmunds hit another 3 to give the Warriors the lead, 27-26.

The Warriors had a chance for more, but a turnover led to a last-second basket by Derryfield’s Garrett Coler to give the Cougars a one-point lead at halftime.

Derryfield opened the second half by scoring the first point to make its lead 29-27, but W-L took control of the game from there, going on an 11-0 run to go up 38-29 with 2:11 left in the quarter.

“I thought for a lot of the game we got out-hustled and out-played,” Bradely said. “I really kind of got on them towards the end of the third quarter. It wasn’t anything tactical; we were getting run off the floor. Every loose ball, every rebound, (the Warriors) were running back on defense and running up on offense.”

The Cougars got their first field goal of the quarter in the final seconds and that cut the lead to five going into the fourth quarter.

W-L pushed its lead back to as many as seven, but Derryfield continued to whittle it down as the quarter wound down. The Cougars outscored the Warriors 26-10 over the final 11 minutes of the game, and finally tied things up at 46 with 4:40 left to play.

Ryan Burke gave the Warriors their last lead on a putback with 3:10 remaining, giving W-L a 48-46 advantage, but Derryfield came right back to tie it and took the lead with 1:21 left on a layup by Rivard.

The Warriors had a chance to tie the game, but Davis’ jumper was off the mark and putback attempts by Steven Heck and Burke were blocked.

Heck finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds for W-L, while Edmunds added 11 points and Burke six.

“When it’s been a close game and the team we play against plays with urgency, all of a sudden we start to bend,” Young said. “We made turnovers at inopportune times. We missed some layups.

“(Monday), without a doubt, was the best that we’ve handled a team’s pressure down the stretch all year long.”