NWOAL SHOWDOWN … Elijah McLeod goes to the hole for the Indians on a fastbreak layup attempt after a Delta turnover in the first half. (PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
DELTA – The remedy when facing a 2-3 zone defense is three-point shooting, which the Wauseon Indians did plenty of on Friday night at Delta High School.
Wauseon went 10/21 from beyond the arc led by seven from Tyson Rodriguez to cruise to a 54-31 win in a matchup of teams tied for the top spot in the league entering the game.
It was a good start for Delta after Bryce Gillen opened the game with a triple and later Nolan Risner was 2/2 at the free throw line for a 7-4 Panther lead.
Wauseon began to find the range against the Delta zone at that point as Rodriguez drilled consecutive treys to put Wauseon ahead 10-7.
The 11-0 Indian run carried over to the second quarter with another long ball by Rodriguez to make it 15-7.
Gillen and Risner answered for Delta with baskets to cut the Wauseon lead to 15-11 before Landon Hines scored inside and Jack Leatherman rung up five straight points to stretch the lead to 22-11.
Elijah McLeod added a trifecta to end the 10-3 Wauseon run for a 25-14 halftime lead.
A 7-3 spurt by Delta to begin the third quarter helped the Panthers draw within 28-21 before Wauseon would start to take control.
Rodriguez would connect on three more shots from deep with Hines and Jude Armstrong adding layups as Wauseon closed the quarter on a 13-2 run to increase their lead to 41-23.
After Rodriguez’s final triple of the night started the fourth quarter scoring, Wauseon would take advantage of the Panthers’ trapping defense with Hines getting open inside numerous times for layups to put the game away.
Hines finished with 14, eight in the fourth quarter, and Leatherman had a dozen for Wauseon (12-7, 4-1 NWOAL), who ended the night 21/41 (51%) from the floor overall.
Delta (15-3, 3-2 NWOAL) had a 11/37 (29%) night shooting and was led in scoring by Gillen with 11.
Wauseon is now tied with Patrick Henry for first place in the NWOAL at 4-1 with two league games remaining.
WAUSEON (54) – Leatherman 12; Rodriguez 21; Armstrong 4; McLeod 3; Borton 0; Vajen 0; Hines 14; Keefer 0; Parsons 0; Patterson 0; Totals: 11-10-2 – 54
DELTA (31) – Ju. Ruple 4; Gibbons 0; Knapp 7; Reinhard 0; Roth 0; Gillen 11; Ja. Ruple 0; McQuillin 0; Ruffer 3; Risner 6; Brasher 0; Totals: 6-5-4 – 31
GAMES STATISTICS – WAUSEON: FG – 21/41 (51%); FT – 2/2 (100%); Rebounds – 21 (4 offensive); Turnovers – 8; DELTA: FG – 11/37 (29%); FT – 4/4 (100%); Rebounds 15 (6 offensive); Turnovers – 9
WAUSEON 12 13 16 13 – 54
DELTA 7 7 9 8 – 31
JUNIOR VARSITY: Wauseon, 42-27
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com