Pioneers look

to solve A.C.

in tournament
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

There are two ways that Watauga’s boys’ basketball team can reach the state 4-A tournament.

Both involve beating Alexander Central, the Pioneers’ first Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament foe Tuesday night.

The first way is to win at least two games in the NWC tournament. That would give the Pioneers (9-14, 4-8 NWC) 11 wins and a shot at one of six wildcard berths into the state tournament.

The second would actually involve winning the NWC tournament, which would give them the conference’s No. 2 seed.

“We won’t know until Saturday,” Pioneers coach Rob Sanders said about finding out if they make the playoffs. “As a staff, we’ve been telling the guys we feel we need to win at least two games to have a legitimate shot at a wildcard.”

But to get to either scenario, they must beat Alexander Central, a team that whipped the Mountaineers, in Taylorsville, 81-73 just last week. Earlier in the season, the Cougars, behind 35 points from 6-foot-6 forward Ryan Hargrave, beat the Pioneers in Lentz-Eggers Gym.

Watauga returns to Taylorsville for the first round of the NWC tournament looking to contain Hargrave and Justin Mayberry, a 6-5 forward who scored 23 points last Tuesday.

Mayberry was able to get open close to the basket when Watauga hit the Cougars (16-7, 7-5) with its fullcourt press. Pioneers coach Rob Sanders was happy with the way his guards pressured the ball in the backcourt, but would like to see them either get a turnover, or to have the rest of the team not give up an easy layup if the press in broken.

“We’ve tried to emphasize defending the backside block in the press,” Sanders said. “I feel we’ve done a good job getting the ball trapped, but we’re also giving up easy baskets. We’ll give them a different look. Our main focus is playing better defense and shutting people down if we want to have a chance of getting into the tournament.”

Offense has not be a problem for the Mountaineers.

Watauga hit 16 3-point baskets against the Cougars last Tuesday and nailed 17 treys in a win over A.C. Reynolds the week before.

Zach Greene hit seven of those 16 3-point baskets against Alexander Central, but did not go to the foul line and finished with 21 points. Not a lot of Pioneers went to the foul line against the Cougars as they made 3-of-6 attempts.

It was a different story for the Cougars, who made 16-of-23 from the free throw line. Many of those were in the fourth quarter when Watauga was fouling to stop the clock.

Sanders felt that having a bye Friday helped the Pioneers, who lost their last two games, a chance to regroup.

“I think it’s been good for us,” Sanders said. “This team has dealt with a lot of adversity. I think as coach (Jerry) Moretz said Wednesday, sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you climb your way out. Now we have to play to keep the season going.”