By Phil Murphy
DigitalSports.com
(Look below the story to find video highlights. Late-game footage and interviews will be added Saturday afternoon.)
Yorktown Boys 63, Wakefield 62
Yorktown senior Wes Huntoon stepped to the free-throw line in a tie game against district rival Wakefield with only :33 seconds showing on the game clock. Forced to endure chants of “choke” from the Warrior supporters, Huntoon’s first of two attempts made it seem as if he’d submit to the wishes of the home crowd.
“I missed the first one and I know I’m a senior, so I have to step up,” he said. “I’m a captain on this team.”
Huntoon then coolly sank the second attempt to put the Patriots ahead by one. After two timeouts by Wakefield coach Tony Bentley, a desperation three-pointer fell short as time expired, and Yorktown escaped the hostile environment with a 63-62 victory.
“I knew I’d hit the second one,” said Huntoon, who finished with seven points. “I’m a pretty good free throw shooter. I just shot it and it went in. I’m pretty happy.”
Yorktown (10-8, 7-2) had led throughout the first three quarters thanks in large part to the game-high 25 points by forward Simon Kilday. The junior connected on all three of his attempts from beyond the arc just three days after the Patriots shot 3-for-22 from three-point range as a team in an upset, home loss to Washington-Lee (1-16, 1-8). One of Kilday’s 3-pointers midway through the third quarter broadened the Patriots’ lead to 40-28.
“Wakefield is one of the tougher places to play in the region,” he said. “We just had to come out here, stay focused and not let that stuff distract us.”
But a Herculean effort by Warrior junior Reggie Williams, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth period, coupled with 30 made free throws in 38 attempts by the team, sparked the Wakefield rally.
“I’m kind of carrying the load this year,” said Williams, whose team had to replace its three leading scorers from last year’s Northern Region runner-up — George Johnson, Anthony Allen and Tye Beal.
“I was just pushing the ball. I was in attack mode,” he said.
The Warriors (6-11, 3-5) were able to tie the game three times in the fourth quarter before briefly taking the lead on a baby hook by center Alex Henderson with 2:01 to go. Henderson scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the second half.
“We allowed too much dribble penetration,” said Kilday, Yorktown’s leading scorer on the season. “We let guys get to the baseline. They were able to get to the free throw line and slowly chip away at the lead. But in the end, we came up with the stops when we needed them, we hit the shots when we needed them and we were able to pick up a win.”
Yorktown Girls 59, Wakefield 44
In the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, the No. 6 Yorktown girls defeated Wakefield, 59-44. The Patriots were led by 5-feet, 10-inch junior guard Shannon Briggs, who scored 15 of her game-high 18 points in the first half.
“We thought it would be a competitive game,” said Briggs, lining up in her first game as a post player. “We didn’t have our starting line-up, exactly. There were injuries. But we expected it to be a really good, competitive game. We expected a win.”
Briggs played most of the contest in the front court, filling in for senior captain Billie Ripy, who missed the game due to injury. The Patriots (16-1) play at No. 2 Edison on Tuesday and expect to have a full roster, including Ripy and junior LaNia Charity.
Charity returned to the lineup for the first time tonight since going down in the second quarter of Yorktown’s Jan. 11 home loss, 79-52, to the Eagles.
Edison (16-1), featuring Division I signees Adria Crawford and Chasity Clayton, has not lost a district game since the current seniors were in seventh grade.
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
Boys Box Score
Yorktown 20 8 18 17 — 63
Wakefield 13 9 19 21 — 62
Yorktown — Kilday 11 0-1 25; Grebb 4 1-2 10; Huntoon 2 3-4 7; Reynolds 2 2-2 6; Toulouse 2 0-0 5; Ganbat 1 0-0 3; Carey 1 0-0 2; Jones 1 0-0 2; Roberts 1 0-0 2; Troutman 0 1-2 1. Wakefield — Henderson 6 9-12 21; Williams 3 8-9 14; Dickerson 2 6-10 10; Levenberry 3 3-3 9; Timbers 0 4-4 4; Goffney 1 0-0 2; Oliveira 1 0-0 2. Three-pointers — Yorktown 6 (Kilday 3, Grebb, Toulouse, Ganbat); Wakefield 0.
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