By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — If the Watauga men’s basketball team does this again, it will have become habit-forming: falling behind by double digits in the first half, only to stage a comeback rally and win.
The Pioneers trailed regional rival Avery County on Dec. 2 by 11 points midway through the second quarter before closing the deficit to 34-30 at intermission. A scoring outburst in the second half combined with shutting down the Vikings, defensively, allowed Watauga to come away with a decisive, 76-62 victory and improve the team’s early season record to 2-0. They followed a similar script a week earlier in letting Shelby get ahead in the first half by 21, then rallying to defeat the Golden Lions, 67-59.
Avery County’s Mason Bailey scored 10 points in the first quarter, almost half of the Vikings’ offensive output (22) in the period, while Landon Ingham added six more. Watauga was whistled four times in the quarter for fouls, sending Bailey and Ingham to the charity stripe where they made a combined six of 10 free throw attempts in the game’s opening stanza. Avery stunned Watauga in the game’s first quarter, outpointing the Pioneers, 22-14.
The atmosphere was electric in Lentz Eggers Gym for Watauga’s first home game of the 2022-23 season. Nearly full grandstands on both sides of the court were accentuated by enthusiastic, even “dueling” student sections. Avery’s student contingent got more animated and louder with each first quarter bucket by their side, while Watauga’s costume theme for the evening was some combination of “Christmas sweater” and “Santa’s elves.” If the student sections weren’t applauding a good play or a score, they were trading insults — all in good-natured fun.
Pioneer forward Grant Morrison arched in a couple of 3-pointers along with another bucket from short range in the second quarter, leading Watauga to close what was an 11-point gap and narrow it to just four by halftime, 34-30.
It was the third quarter that proved a key turning point in this game, following adjustments made by the Pioneers at halftime. Watauga outpointed Avery County, 19-10 in the third frame and kept up the scoring pace in the final quarter, 24-18.
“We had to do a better job of boxing out and keep them from dominating the boards, rebounding,” explained Watauga forward Wyatt Keller to High Country Sports after the game about the adjustments at halftime. “We had to limit their second and third opportunities. Offensively, we started pushing the ball up the floor and passing the ball around quick definitely helped. It can leave a man open for a shot. That really helped us most. I was fortunate enough a few of those times to be that man open and take advantage.”
Indeed. Keller was successful on six, 3-point attempts on the night, four of them in the second half.
In spite of his six 3-pointers, Keller’s 20 points was not the game-high points leader for the night. That honor belonged to Morrison, who accounted for 21 points, including four shots from beyond the 3-point arc and a number of free throws as he was fouled in the fourth quarter by the Vikings. Maddox Greene and Wyatt Kohout were also in double figures, scoring 13 and 10, respectively.
Although forward Jackson Pryor had some key buckets in the second half, he got into early foul trouble and had to sit a large portion of the first two periods. Greene got into foul trouble, too, replaced at the point by Cole Horine.
In talking with High Country Sports after the game, head coach Bryson Payne acknowledged that Pryor’s and Greene’s minutes were limited and praised the guys who stepped up, proving the team’s roster depth.
“Being our first home game and it was a pretty big crowd… You know, we don’t have a ton of experience at the varsity level on our team,” said Payne. “Coming out, I wouldn’t say we were nervous, but so amped up. We were almost over-pressuring at times which was giving up some easy baskets. Then we had that run and in the second half we just buckled down and played defense and worked for some easy shots and they went in. Both of these first two games we started slow and had to be a second half team.
“Jackson Pryor got into foul trouble and had to sit, but Morgan Henry came in and played great, stepping up and battling in the post for us. Then Maddox got in some foul trouble and we had some guys step up and lead that comeback,” Payne added. “In the second half, we executed better and rebound, too. Credit Avery because they crash the boards really hard. They were doing a really good job of getting offensive rebounds. One of the things we talked about at halftime was limiting their offensive boards (by boxing out), as well as make them take tougher shots.”
Watauga will go on the road Dec. 5 to play at West Wilkes, then return to Lentz Eggers Gym on Dec. 6 to face A C Reynolds, both non-conference games. On Dec. 9 and Dec. 13, the Pioneers will see a home and away exchange with Burnsville-based Mountain Heritage, then travel to Lake Norman on Dec. 16. They have two additional games before Christmas, at home against Davie (Mocksville, N.C.) on Dec. 17 and away at T C Roberson on Dec. 21, in Asheville.
SCORING
- WAT Grant Morrison (21)
- WAT Wyatt Keller (20)
- AVY Landon Ingham (19)
- AVY Mason Bailey (16)
- WAT Maddox Greene (13)
- WAT Wyatt Kohout (10)
- AVY Jack Crenshaw (8)
- AVY Landon Hughes (7)
- WAT Jackson Pryor (6)
- WAT Cole Horine (4)
- AVY Elijah Holtsclaw (3)
- AVY Brooks Berry (3)
- AVY Preston Coffey (3)
- WAT Morgan Henry (2)
- AVY Bray Guest (2)
- AVY Cole Singleton (1)
