Valley Sports ReportWAVERLY — Waverly scored the first 11 points of the game, led throughout, then fended off a late Windsor rally in a 58-57 win in the regular-season finale here Thursday night in STAC boys basketball action.
"Tonight was the biggest win of the season," said Waverly coach Lou Judson.
"We came out and were up 11-0 to start the game and were very focused. We had better defensive rotations and better communication.
"When you can win on Senior Night and beat a good team — for a high school coach it doesn’t get much better than that, especially what this game meant to the upcoming sectional tournament," he noted.
"These two wins in a row gives us confidence going into the postseason," added Judson.
Junior Hogan Shaw knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, and scored eight points, while sophomore Ben Shaw added a 3-pointer and scored five points to help Waverly to a 16-9 lead after the opening stanza.
Senior Fletcher Good and sophomore Carson Rockwell scored four points apiece in the second quarter as the teams played even and Waverly took a 30-23 lead heading into the halftime locker room.
Six different Wolverines scored a bucket in the third quarter, and the two teams played evenly. Waverly led 42-35 with eight minutes left to play.
Junior Porter Dadonna scored six points int eh fourth quarter, and Ben Shaw drained a 3-pointer. Waverly also made 7 of its first 8 free throws in the fourth quarter, but Windsor, which took the lead at one point midway through the stanza, trailed 58-57 with 28 seconds remaining in the contest.
Up one with 18 seconds remaining, Waverly turned the ball over.
With a foul to give, Waverly fouls Windsor with 6.9 seconds remaining. The Black Knights in-bounded the ball from under their own bucket, and got off a contested shot. It was off-the-mark, and Ben Shaw rebounded it with 2.4 seconds left, and was immediately fouled.
He missed the first free throw, then missed the second intentionally. It was rebounded by Waverly senior J.T. Williams and time expired.
Daddona led Waverly with 12 points, while Hogan Shaw had 11 points, three rebounds, six assists, and two steals, and Ben Shaw had 10 points, five boards, and three assists.
Rockwell scored eight points in the win, while Good had six points and three rebounds, junior Carter Davies added six points, and junior Ronin Ault grabbed five boards.
Nico Serrano led Windsor with 18 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, and Josh Cantone added 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Waverly finishes the season at 11-9.
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IN PHOTO: Waverly's Porter Daddona.
