WELLINGTON — The term “Backyard Brawl” was defined clearly in southern Lorain County.
Allan Benson
With all the intensity, physicality and rowdiness fans have come to expect when Black River and neighboring Wellington square off in any sport, the Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division boys basketball game Tuesday night was a low-scoring slugfest.
As Dukes coach Dan Gundert and Pirates coach Josh Calame alluded to, Wellington simply made a few more positive plays, as three straight Black River missed shots and a turnover allowed Wellington sophomore Maxwell Joppeck to make both ends of a double-bonus and clinch a 49-45 victory.
Starting three sophomores and two juniors, hard-nosed Wellington (10-8, 7-4) matched its win total from the previous two seasons combined.
“It was definitely a big game,” junior center Trey Bealer said. “There were a lot of people here for both sides. It’s a big rivalry. It always has been and it probably always will be.
“We came out a little slow, but we got it done, and that’s all that matters. A win is a win is a win is what Coach always says.”
Bealer was a load inside with 18 points and nine rebounds. Fellow 6-foot-4 post Josh Kindel added 14 points, while the previously scoreless 6-4 Joppeck had the game’s final three points at the foul line while adding eight boards and a game-high five assists.
Wellington scored 18 of its 21 field goals in the paint and added seven points from the foul line, meaning 88 percent of its scoring came from those locations. The Dukes didn’t even try to stretch the defense with 3-pointers — often pump-faking open looks and attacking the rim — and survived a brutal second quarter in which they took only nine shots while committing eight turnovers.
“We didn’t shoot it very well today, so we had to (go inside),” Gundert said. “We couldn’t get our outside shot falling early, so we go through Trey Bealer. There’s no secret to that. That’s what we do.”
With 17-point scorer Curtis Roupe (season-low-tying 5 points, 11 rebounds) struggling among the trees and 1,000-point man Allan Benson (17 points, 3 assists) being face-guarded by Colton Schmidt, Black River (5-12, 3-9) used a 1-2-2 defense to frustrate Wellington and get back in the game. Zach Hawley, Derek Hawley and Brennan Scheck were key in the second quarter, scoring 10 of the team’s 13 points.
Benson then got going with eight third-quarter points, many coming on rainbow mid-range jumpers. The Pirates never led again after Kindel hit a fadeway 17-footer at the third-quarter buzzer, and down 47-45 missed two layups and a jumper and couldn’t keep the handle off a steal.
The final chance came when Benson took a handoff from Roupe at the 3-point arc, drove right and tried to split three defenders for an acrobatic layup with approximately 15 seconds left. The attempt glass-balled and Joppeck grabbed the rebound.
“I can’t be more proud of them as a group for as far as they’ve come, especially in games like this,” said Calame, whose team shot 6-for-14 at the foul line. “I feel real bad for them that we couldn’t make a few more plays and come out on top in that one.”
Joppeck’s free throws not only were clutch — he entered the night pushing 70 percent at the stripe —they proved his resiliency as well. The sophomore’s playmaking was paramount in the Dukes’ 18-10 start, but he sat for long stretches after picking up a technical foul in the second quarter.
The right-hander more than made up for that with 11.9 seconds left.
“For him to be able to fight through that and knock down the two biggest free throws, that says what kind of kid he is,” Gundert said.
Note
River Wheeler, Blake Widenmeyer and Seth Pluta had eight points apiece as Black River’s junior varsity lost 51-36.
Wellington 49, Black River 45
BLACK RIVER 10 13 13 9 — 45
WELLINGTON 18 8 12 11 — 49
Black River — Mike Hazlett 1-0-3, Brennan Scheck 3-0-7, Curtis Roupe 1-3-5, Zach Hawley 3-2-9, Allan Benson 8-0-17, Derek Hawley 1-1-4, Brandon Heath 0-0-0, Garrett Hord 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-6-45.
Wellington — Trevor Porter 3-0-6, Josh Kindel 7-0-14, Trey Bealer 8-2-18, Colton Schmidt 2-2-6, Maxwell Joppeck 0-3-3, Damian Paramore 1-0-2, Grant Kidd 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-7-49.
3-point goals — Hazlett, Scheck, Z. Hawley, Benson, D. Hawley. Rebounds — Black River 29 (Roupe 11), Wellington 30 (Bealer 9). Assists — Black River 7 (Benson 3), Wellington 11 (Joppeck 5). Records — Black River (5-12, 3-9), Wellington (10-8, 8-4). Junior varsity — Wellington 51, Black River 36.