Weatherly falls to Nativity

MINERSVILLE – Weatherly’s foray into the first round of the District 2/11 Class A subregional was bitter sweet.

Bitter because the Wreckers lost to a very talented Nativity team, 58-37 on Thursday. But sweet because the Wreckers got their foot in the playoff door for the first time since 2013.

The Wreckers’ problems were two-fold against Nativity. They struggled to rebound the ball, especially early in the game, and they couldn’t find their shooting touch — a problem that has been part of their DNA most of the season.

“We focused on what we really needed to do in practice, and that was to play defense and rebound,” said Nativity coach Mike Walborn. “I think we had 25 or 26 rebounds in the first half.”

The Hilltoppers used their rebounding advantage to saunter out to a 22-13 halftime lead. The winners were playing volleyball off the glass at times, and rode the coat tails of three of their four top scorers in Casian Flowers (18 points), Quandre Latimer (14) and Raphael Muldrow (12). Their offensive putbacks were crucial and the reason for the nine-point bulge at the respite.

Then the real blow to the Wreckers’ chances surfaced in the third quarter. That’s when the victors used an 8-for-16 shooting period and put the pedal to the floor over the final 3 minutes and 50 seconds.

Up until the final minutes of the third quarter, Weatherly was hanging close behind its two senior leaders, Zach Moon and Steph Yurchak. The pair did everything in their power to keep things interesting. Moon buried 17 points on the night, and Yurchak, playing like there was no tomorrow, with 12 points and a monster rebounding effort with a game-high 12.

The big games from Moon and Yurchak had the Wreckers within striking distance at 30-22 with four minutes left in the third quarter.

But Nativity used an impressive 14-0 run and that was the coup de grace. Weatherly just couldn’t recover the rest of the way.

“The kids worked their tails off,” said Weatherly coach Corey Gerhart. “Everybody doubted us … nobody gave us the big headlines. But we made it (to districts). We’re here and you’re going to see us here next year.”

Gerhart admitted that the late-season loss of a pair of starters due to eligibility issues hurt the chances of his team advancing.

“The seniors gave us minutes, unfortunately with the scenario of the Millers (Gabe and Julian) being out hurt us,” said Gerhart. “We’re missing two key guards. The last time we played them, Gabe gave us 16 points.”

Nativity preyed on those losses.

“We knew that they had lost a couple of starters,” said Nativity’s Walborn. “Their guard play is where we wanted to focus (our pressure) defensively.”

OFF THE CHARTS … Yurchak played his final game, and was dynamite from start to finish. Kudos to Moon too, as he bagged three triples.

SHOOTING STARS … Weatherly managed to shoot just 16-for-51 from the floor and had just three free throw attempts. Nativity went 19-for-53 from the field, but had 24 free throw attempts, converting 16.

NEXT UP … Weatherly ends its season 10-13. Nativity is now 13-10 and meets Tri-Valley on Monday.

WEATHERLY

Yurchak 8-1-1-17, Moon 4-1-2-12, Derr 1-0-0-2, Zoscin 1-0-0-2, Buck 1-0-0-2, Hinkle 10-0-2, Arthur 0-0-0-0, Knepper 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-2-3-37.

NATIVITY

Flowers 5-7-8-18, Latimer 5-4-8-14, Muldrow 4-3-6-12, Brennan 3-0-0-8, Burke 2-2-2-6, Matlock 0-0-0-0, DiNicola 0-0-0-0, Chiplonia 0-0-0-0, Bilansky 0-0-0-0, Kuperavage 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-16-24-58.

Weatherly 6 7 14 10 - 37

Nativity 8 14 22 14 - 58

Three-pointers: Weatherly - Moon 3; Nativity - Latimer 2, Brennan 2, Flowers 1, Muldrow 1.