Tigers hang on against Wolves

MEDIAPOLIS — For just under three quarters on Tuesday night, Winfield-Mt. Union didn’t have an answer for New London standout guard Blaise Porter.

The senior Tiger did a little bit of everything for New London through 23 minutes of action, finding his way to the rim for picturesque finishes, while dishing the rock just as well.

Porter amassed 19 points through two quarters and had 23 with just 58.2 to go in the third; however, he followed with his fifth and final foul.

Momentum shifted toward the Wolves.

But to the Tigers liking, their commanding lead was enough despite a Wolves rally, as they came out on top, 58-52, in the Class 1A District 7 final.

New London (18-6) advances to the substate final to take on Marquette Catholic (22-3) for a chance at the state tournament.

Supporters from both teams came out in troves to cheer on their squads, as there wasn’t an open seat at Mediapolis’ Bud McLearn Court.

New London controlled for much of the district final, as Winfield-Mt. Union never got the lead, but they never gave up.

With 3:33 to go in the third quarter, the Tiger’s Kade Benjamin, scored two to match the Tigers largest lead of the night, 48-27.

Two minutes later, Porter fouled out and heading into the fourth the game sat at 18, 50-32.

“All season long we’ve preached next man up,” New London head coach Bryant Porter said. “You never no when your gonna have to bring what you bring to the table and we needed that tonight. Hats off to those guys. We work our butts off at practice. I had total confidence in them. They stepped up.”

From then on, WMU slapped on the press and began to rally as the waves of red rose from their seats.

Benjamin gave the Tigers a spark to start the final period pushing it back to 20 at the 6:55 mark, 52-32.

But over the next four minutes, the Wolves were able to cut it back to single digits with a 13-2 run, 54-45, spearheaded by eight from Cam Buffington, who finished the night with a game-high 30 points.

“The biggest thing was to just take care of the ball.” Benjamin said. “We tried to get the best shot we possibly could. We didn’t want to rush shots early in the shot clock because it would have given them more time.”

New London was able to weather the storm and limit the damage of the press with some great care from Leo Gebauer, who became the Tigers lead ballhandler after Porter’s absence.

“I was just trying to stay clam.” Gebauer said. “That’s all I could do. I just wanted to help the team the best way I could.”

With 1:36 to go, Benjamin ended the Wolves’ run pushing back to 11, 56-45, with a lay-in.

The Wolves went down swinging.

Buffington answered back with a pair of layups off the break to make it 56-49 with 1:05 remaining.

Benjamin got to the line on the other end in back-to-back possessions, hitting one of three to put the Tigers up 57-49 with 26.3 to go.

WMU came down and Andrew Brown drilled a three from the corner to bring the Wolves within five, 57-52, with 15 seconds left, but Brenden Richey hit one of two for the Tigers and the Wolves ran out of time.

“I think it says some good things about our team,” (of being able to hang on with Porter out) Gebauer said. “It shows that we don’t depend on one player and we have other people that can step up. Our last quarter wasn’t great, but we still managed to win and that’s what counts.”

Through the opening quarter, New London and Winfield-Mt. Union were separated by single digits.

Porter, Benjamin and Gebauer did all of the Tigers scoring, with Porter dropping in 11 of New London’s 19 first quarter points.

On the Wolves’ side, Buffington and Abram Edwards tallied a combined 12 points to make it 19-12 heading into the second.

The second period was very much similar to the first.

Jake Edwards drilled a three to bring it to four, 19-15, right out of the gate, but that’s as close as WMU would get the rest of the way out.

The Tiger’s jumped out to a double-digit lead just under two minutes into the period, as Benjamin threw down a two handed dunk.

From 7:05 to the end of the quarter, the Tigers outscored the Wolves, 19-6, making it 38-21 at the break.

“Our transition defense was atrocious,” Winfield-Mt. Union head coach Klay Edwards said. “That was disappointing because we had talked all week about it.”

In the third, Buffington scored a pair of buckets to start, but the Tigers followed with an 8-0 run capped off by a poised left-handed lay-in from Porter, pushing the Tigers lead to 21, 46-25, with 4:19 to go.

WMU went on to edge the Tigers 7-4 the rest of the quarter, which included Porter’s fifth foul.

“I wish he would’ve fouled out in the middle of the third quarter,” Edwards jokingly said. “Porter is a heck of a player and we had trouble staying in front of him. He’s a difference-maker.”

In the end, the Wolves ran out of clock.

“We kept fighting and clawing,” Edwards said. “We never game up. We just came up a little short.”

Winfield-Mt. Union ends its season at 19-5.

Along with Porter’s 23 points Benjamin carded 19 points on the night. Gebauer ended with eight points. Richey tallied five and Rylan Martin finished with three.

Along with his 30 points, Buffington added 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Abram Edwards tallied 13 points and 12 rebounds. Carter Loyd, Jake Edwards and Andrew Brown all finished with three points.

New London’s focus is now on the substate final.

“We’ll go watch some film and see what their percentages are,” Porter said. “We’ll come up with a solid game plan and we’ll go to war with that one. That’s what we’ve done all year and we’re still here.”