Hardwood Heroes Sports
Tomcats Complete Season Sweep of Wildcats with Gritty Team Win
By: Zach Paquette
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GLOUSTER, Ohio – The Trimble-Waterford rivalry may be known as more of a football rivalry, but on Friday night in Glouster, the animosity carried over to the hardwood in a TVC-Hocking slugfest. After both teams exchanged punishing blows, Trimble delivered the knockout and held on to win 59-51.
The Waterford Wildcats came in playing for pride as they found themselves in the bottom half of the Hocking standings while Trimble, on the other hand, wasn’t playing for much as they were sitting at second in the standings with little to no chance of competing for the top spot.
Early on, Waterford stayed toe-to-toe with the Tomcats, even jumping out to an 11-9 lead after the opening quarter, but it was the Tomcats who outscored the Wildcats 18-8 in the second quarter to take a 27-19 lead into the half.
Brayden Weber started off hot scoring 11 of his team-high 15 points in the opening half after shooting 80% from the field in the opening half. Aside from the 15 points, Weber finished one rebound shy of a double-double and added a few assists.
The intensity picked up in the second half as Waterford quickly cut the Trimble lead to three before taking the lead midway through the period. Waterford’s Zane Heiss caught fire in the second half as he finished with a team-high 18 points.
Despite falling behind, the Tomcats didn’t panic. They held their ground and clawed back into the game, tying it at 36 before the final frame.
From there, the Tomcats kept up the momentum and kept clawing their way down the stretch before taking the lead and hitting clutch free throws down the stretch. It was a complete team effort on the comeback win.
This Valentine’s Day matchup had no signs of love as this game was chippy from start to finish with both teams combining for 55 team fouls by the end of it. Whoever paid the refs surely got their money’s worth.
One player who doesn’t shy away from the physical play is Blake Guffey, however Friday was an interesting night for the sophomore. He finished with only 13 points, which is just a few under his season average. The Wildcats played a great defensive game as their 2-3 zone defense limited Guffey’s ability to get inside looks early on in the game. Guffey also appeared to come up grimacing in pain on some plays as well. It didn’t appear serious as the sophomore powered through it and played the majority of the game per usual.
The Tomcats’ victory moves them to 16-3 on the season and with Federal Hocking’s win over South Gallia on Friday night, the Tomcats have been eliminated from defending their TVC-Hocking crown.
The Tomcats will conclude their season on a homestand against the South Gallia Rebels on Saturday before playing Miller and Southern to close out the regular season. Trimble will then play the waiting game as they await the winner of the Eastern-Portsmouth Notre Dame game for their first tournament game on Feb. 26 at Wellston High School.