By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — From start to finish, it was a balanced scoring night for the Watauga men’s basketball team in a resounding, 65-45 win over South Caldwell at Lentz Eggers Gym on Jan. 27.
Pioneer point guard Maddox Greene poured in a game-high 17 points, including 7-of-8 shooting from the foul line, and forward Grant Morrison added 14 to lead Watauga.
In front of packed grandstands, the Pioneers had a 27-24 edge over the Spartans at halftime, but Wyatt Keller’s three, 3-pointers in the third quarter helped Watauga jump out to a 21-11 run as Watauga clamped down on South Caldwell, defensively, after intermission. A 17-10 fourth quarter was icing on the proverbial cake.
“It was a hard fought win,” said Pioneer head coach Bryson Payne afterwards. “Both teams played hard and the officials let us play, so it was a physical game. Ultimately, I was proud of the way our guys played and held their composure. We were able to finish in the second half by moving the ball in transition and pushing the tempo.”
That the team’s scoring was spread around the roster was not lost on Payne.
“We want to be unselfish. We talk about it a lot. In fact, the stats we care the most about are assists and even pass to assist,” said Payne. “We have a lot of guys who can score the basketball. On any given night, we want to get as many guys as possible into double digits. It makes us hard to play against when so many can score on any given night.”
While Greene was the team leader in points scored, he also recorded a team-high nine assists. Keller and point guard coming off the bench, Cole Horine, led the team with three steals each.
Critical to the Pioneers’ ability to get second chance points were the 13 offensive rebounds, nine by junior forward Jackson Pryor and four pulled down by Wyatt Kohout.
On the other end of the court, Keller cleared the glass for seven defensive rebounds, while Greene hauled in five defensive boards and Pryor four defensive rebounds.
On Jan. 31, the Watauga men will host Alexander Central, looking to reverse their fortune after a 66-47 loss to the Cougars in Taylorsville on Jan. 10. Then the Pioneers will travel to Lenoir on Feb. 3, to face Hibriten. Watauga has won three of four games since taking down the Panthers, 70-63, on Jan. 12.
SCORING SUMMARY
- WAT Maddox Greene (17)
- SC Connor Setzer (16)
- WAT Grant Morrison (14)
- SC Tyler Eggers (10)
- WAT Wyatt Keller (9)
- WAT Wyatt Kohout (8)
- WAT Jackson Pryor (6)
- SC Carter Anderson (6)
- SC Tyler Cline (5)
- SC Riley Heubaum (5)
- WAT Cole Horine (4)
- WAT Josiah Railey (3)
- SC Dawson Carr (3)
- WAT Davis Hunt (2)
- WAT Cade Keller (2)
