Wayne Country Day survives Terra Ceia's second-half rally

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 22, 2006 1:47 PM

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After experiencing slow starts in each of its first two games, the Wayne Country Day varsity boys basketball team bolted to a quick lead against Terra Ceia on Tuesday evening.

The Chargers connected on their first four shots, including a pair of three-pointers and claimed a lead they'd never relinquish. Transfer Floronta Wynn provided a career-high 35 points and Jeff Franklin added 10 in a 68-58 victory over the Knights.

"We had talked about our two slow starts ... how we had come out and not really looked focused," said first-year WCDS coach Mike Ellis. "I don't know how we can play much better in the first half."

Wayne Country Day (2-1) led 23-18 after one quarter and boosted its advantage to 42-29 by halftime. The Chargers constantly overplayed the passing lanes and intercepted Terra Ceia passes, which led to numerous fast-break opportunities.

The Knights committed 15 first-half turnovers.

"We just weren't thinking," Knights coach Roger Klaassen of the miscues. "We didn't come out to play and got ourselves in a hole. We had to struggle back."

Wynn continued slashing his way inside in the third quarter and scored 10 of the Chargers' 14 points. Klaassen and his staff made two slight adjustments at that point and both changes allowed them to pull within single digits as the half progressed.

Klaassen gave Hendrick Van Dorp the assignment of guarding Wynn, who liked to dribble to his left. Van Dorp cut off the left side of the court, which forced the Chargers to play a halfcourt offense a majority of the fourth quarter.

The Knights (1-2) also pounded the ball inside to 6-foot-8 Bradley Von Staalduinen. Von Staalduinen managed just four field goals, but drained 7 of 7 free throw attempts en route to 23 points.

"Once we made that change (with Van Dorp), they had a lot more difficulty moving the basketball," said Klaassen. "We'll take the blame for not noticing that sooner. Our defense finally stepped it up (late) and on the offensive end, we just pounded it to the glass.

"That was the difference in the fourth quarter."

Van Dorp's soft jumper in the lane capped a 20-7 run and pulled the Knights within 60-52.

Meanwhile, Wayne Country Day tried to manufacture points on its end of the court. Working from the spread offense, Kameron Byrd got loose inside and drew a foul on his way to the basket. He nailed both free throws to make it 62-52.

Wynn added a driving layup off a turnover seconds later.

Von Staalduinen's open-court layup off Derek Joyner's assist and a turnover allowed the Knights to pull within 64-56. Van Dorp stole the ball near midcourt and kissed a soft shot off the glass to make it 64-58.

Terra Ceia wasted its next two possessions -- an ill-advised three-pointer that missed the entire backboard and a turnover.

"A three we didn't need," said Klaassen.

Wynn answered with back-to-back baskets as the Chargers survived in their home opener.

"They put up some threes (late) that, fortunately for us, were way short and we did dodge that bullet," said Ellis. "When we got into the spread (offense) a little bit, we finally got some baskets. We basically hung on when you consider the first half.

"All this talk about starting strong, now we've got to talk about finishing strong."

Wayne Country Day travels to Wayne Christian next Tuesday.

Notes: The two teams combined to hit their first six 3-pointers of the game. ... Terra Ceia finished with five three-pointers, while WCDS shot 3 of 20 from behind the arc. ... Wynn and Shadoe Stewart dished out six and four assists, respectively, while Wynn pulled down 11 rebounds. ... Franklin contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. ... Seven of the Chargers' 10 players scratched in the scoring column. ... Terra Ceia is 0-2 against CPIC teams.

Terra Ceia 18 11 12 17 -- 58

W. Country Day 23 19 14 12 -- 68

TERRA CEIA (1-2)

Hendrick Van Dorp 7 3 1-2 24, Derek Joyner 1 2 0-0 8, Payne Snow 0 0 1-2 1, Greg Van Essendelft 0 0 2-2 2, Hunter Davenport 0 0 0-0 0, Bradley Von Staalduinen 7 0 9-9 23. TOTALS -- 15 5 13-15 58.

WAYNE COUNTRY DAY (2-1)

Kyle Pender 0 0 0-0 0, Ajay Fowler 0 0 1-2 1, Shadoe Stewart 1 0 1-2 3, David Wilson 1 1-2 3, Floronta Wynn 16 1 0-1 35, Jeff Franklin 2 2 0-0 10, Lamar Carpenter 4 0 0-3 8, Kevin Martel 0 0 0-0 0, Cam Strickland 0 0 0-0 0, Kameron Byrd 3 0 2-2 8. TOTALS -- 27 3 5-12 68.