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Washington Evening Journal
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Wolves tame Bears
No. 5 WMU dumps Danville, moves on to District title game
WINFIELD — The Winfield-Mount Union senior class entered Thursday night’s Substate quarterfinal boys basketball game 32-1 on the Wolves’ home floor over the last three years. A couple of hours later, that mark went to 33-1.
After a competitive first quarter, WMU blew through what was a challenging quarterfinal opponent in Danville. The Wolves outplayed the Bears for the final 24 minutes of a 61-40 win.
The victory moves WMU to the district final on Tuesday, which also serves as the Class 1A Substate 5 semifinal, two steps from the 2024 state tournament.
“It was a complete team effort. We didn't rely on one person to go off,” said Wolves’ head coach Klay Edwards. “Gabe Hemsworth made huge shots for us and really got us rolling, and then we just played off that.”
Indeed it was Hesmworth, one of four seniors starting the game for WMU, who had a red-hot hand early on. He scored seven of the Wolves’ first nine points, which sparked a streak of four-straight quarters of double digit outputs.
The Wolves trailed 10-9 in the closing seconds of the first quarter, but a Jake Edwards steal led to a Carter Loyd layup right before the buzzer, and WMU led 11-10. That would be the last lead change of the contest.
In the second, WMU put the pedal to the medal. The Wolves outscored the Bears 22-6 to take a 33-16 lead into halftime, and the Bears never sniffed the lead again.
“We have the ability to play like this every game,” Hemsworth said. “We're going to keep on playing like this, because we're getting more comfortable. This is a really good team that we faced.”
WMU dominated at the rim, finishing the night with a 54.3% field goal percentage and 25 total rebounds, eight more than the Bears. WMU led the game 48-26 entering the fourth quarter and cruised from that point forward.
Cam Buffington finished the night with a team-high 18 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. Abram Edwards went for 15 points and eight rebounds. Hemsworth finished with 12 points, five assists and three steals, also going 5-for-5 from the field.
Loyd put up 10 points on the night. Jake Edwards closed the game out with six points and six assists.
The Wolves, now 18-2 will match up with Notre Dame (16-6) in the District 9 title game on Tuesday night in Mediapolis. The Wolves beat the Nikes 63-49 one round earlier last season.
If WMU can beat Notre Dame, the Wolves will take on either Holy Trinity Catholic (18-5) or North Mahaska (18-6) for the Substate 5 title on Saturday night in Fairfield.
