STAC BOYS BASKETBALL: ITHACA PULLS AWAY EARLY IN 70-40 WIN OVER WAVERLY (2024-12-16)

Valley Sports Report
ITHACA — Ithaca dominated play in the first half, and took a 26-point lead into the halftime locker room on its way to a 70-40 non-divisional win over Waverly in STAC boys basketball action here Monday night.

"It was some of same stuff (from the Seton Catholic loss)," said Waverly coach Lou Judson. "Live-ball turnovers, having trouble getting into half-court sets, and our shot selection was a little questionable, which was leading to not playing well in transition defense.

"There was a combination of things going on, but really Ithaca is just a better basketball team than us.

"We played harder in the second half than we did in the first half, so the effort was better, and, we're struggling shooting the basketball," added Judson. "There's a lot going on right now that we need to improve on."

Ithaca center Mikko Greene scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the first half. He also finished the game with 14 rebounds.

"Porter (Daddona) is a little banged up, and didn't play, so we were missing our big guy inside, and (Ithaca's) big guy (Greene) absolutely dominated in the first half," Judson said.

The Class AAA Little Red opened the game with a 21-7 blitz, then used a 20-8 second-quarter run to open up a 41-15 lead at the half.

Waverly senior Fletcher Good scored eight points in the third quarter, and junior Hogan Shaw drained a pair of 3-pointers, but Ithaca outscored Waverly 21-18 in the stanza to up its advantage to 61-33 heading into the final eight minutes.

Hogan Shaw led Waverly with 12 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and three assists, while Good had 10 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore Ben Shaw added nine points, three rebounds, three steals, and one blocked shot.

Junior Ronin Ault chipped in with five points and four rebounds for the Wolverines, and seniors Jack Cheresnowsky and J.T. Williams, and junior Carter Davies added three boards apiece.

The Wolverines are off to a 1-2 start, with the losses two of the most lopsided in Judson's 22-year career.

Judson says it's simply a case of his young team needing more varsity minutes.

"These guys are not using to playing with one another," he said. "Their chemistry is off, they're young, the speed and the physicality of the game is a little bit quicker than I think they anticipated, and we had certain guys playing this summer who aren't playing with us now.

"It's going to take some time, we're going to go through some growing pains. We just need to get some varsity games under our belt," noted Judson.

"We play in a tough league, we have a tough schedule, and we have a big bull's eye on our chest because we've been good for years and everybody gets up for us," added Judson. "These guys are taking the punishment from the previous success of other teams."

Waverly returns to action Saturday night at Chenango Valley.

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