By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — With all five starters finishing the game in double figures, Watauga survived the onslaught of a hot-shooting Freedom team in the first half of their Northwestern Conference tournament semifinal, defeating the Patriots, 76-63, to advance to the Feb. 23 tournament championship game against Alexander Central.
Freedom’s Braxton King shot 50 percent from behind the 3-point arc (7-of-14) to record a game-high 23 points, but broad-based scoring from the host Pioneers — especially in the second half and the decisive fourth quarter — proved too much for the Patriots. The Pioneers were led by junior guard Maddox Greene’s team-high 20 points, with key contributions from Josiah Railey (16 points), Jackson Pryor (14), Wyatt Kohout (13) and Cade Keller (10).
The athletic Freedom team — which featured a 15-man rotation even though the starters played the lion’s share of the minutes — shot 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from behind the 3-point arc in the first half to take tense, 32-11 lead into intermission. Watauga edged ahead to close out the third quarter with a tentative, 47-46 lead, then used a combination of pressure defense and up tempo offense to gain separation in the fourth quarter, outscoring their guests, 29-17, in the final frame.
Perhaps the most telling statistic reflecting the oppressive defense brought to the floor by the Pioneers: Freedom committed 22 turnovers on the night, compared to just five by the sure-handed Watauga team.
Railey just missed recording a double-double by pulling down nine rebounds to go with his 16 points, four assists and five steals. Point guard Greene not only had the team high 20 points, but also a game-high eight assists in distributing the ball to his ball-hawking teammates.
When a reporter suggested that Watauga might have been a bit lackadaisical in the game’s opening frame and the first half, head coach Bryson Payne had another perspective.
“I don’t know whether I would call our performance lackadaisical early on,” said Payne. “They were just hitting some tough shots. No. 12, King, hit four threes in the first quarter and three in the second quarter. Some of those shots, when a player is hot, you just live with. I told the guys at halftime to just be consistent. Defend. We just have to hope that someone is not going to make those kind of shots throughout the game.”
In fact, the Patriots made just 3-of-10 from long range in the second half, to reinforce Payne’s halftime message.
“We just tried to stay consistent with our transition offense and, ultimately, that is how we were able to pull away,” added Payne. “I thought Freedom played really well. I don’t think they did a whole lot differently than in the regular season, they just played better, with more confidence. It was a battle. I know we won by 13, but it was closer than that for most of the game. We were never really comfortable until maybe the last 20 seconds.”
Payne admitted to a bit of nervousness when Pryor got into foul trouble in the second quarter.
“You never want to see Pryor have to leave the game and sit because of foul trouble, but I thought Brady (Lindenmuth) came in and gave us some good minutes in relief, especially in starting the second half, clearing the boards,” said Payne.
Railey said afterwards that the Pioneers may have taken Freedom more lightly than they should have.
“I think we underestimated them a bit,” said the junior guard. “We beat them twice in the regular season, so maybe we didn’t think we would have any trouble. At halftime, we said we had to step it up. As far as adjustments, that shooter, No. 12, was really racking them up in the first half so we put Maddox (Greene) on him defensively, to lock him up.”
With the win, Watauga improves to 20-5 overall and 9-1 in conference. They will now play the winner of the other semifinal Alexander Central, on Feb. 23. Tipoff should be approximately 8 p.m., following the women’s final pitting Watauga against Hibriten.
Key Performances
- WAT – Maddox Greene: 20 points, 8 assists, 1 steal, 4 rebounds
- WAT – Josiah Railey: 16 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals
- WAT – Jackson Pryor: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
- WAT – Wyatt Kohout: 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
- WAT – Cade Keller: 10 points, 2 assists
- FDM – Braxton King: 23 points
- FDM – Elijah Davidson: 13 rebounds, 5 points
- FDM – Gavin McNaughton: 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists
- FDM – Kobe Johnson: 18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists
