Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Wolves to the Well!
No. 5 Winfield-Mount Union holds off Holy Trinity in Substate basketball final
FAIRFIELD — It’s a tale as old as time in Winfield Iowa. The dominant Wolves athletics programs of the mid 1990s have been well documented, and the current WMU students have heard stories of the glory days 20 years in the past.
On Saturday night at Fairfield High School, the WMU boys basketball team did something to assure themselves some fond memories of their own for the next couple of decades.
The Wolves, ranked No. 5 in Class 1A, held off a hungry Holy Trinity Catholic team 46-41 in the Substate 5 final, earning WMU its first trip to the boys state basketball tournament since the 1996 season.
“Watching the clock click down is something I've dreamed of,” said senior guard Carter Loyd. “Just to be able to play at Wells Fargo Arena, and bring history back to Winfield.”
Loyd was one of five WMU starters to play every minute in the win. The Wolves used a stellar defense performance and a couple of key baskets down the stretch to outlast the Crusaders.
The Wolves trailed early, but fellow senior guard Gabriel Hemsworth hit a cold step-back 3-pointer just before the buzzer at 11-11, a shot that would erase Holy Trinity’s last lead of the night.
“It's the risk of not being able to play again,” Hemsworth said. “If we lose this game, we won't be able to play again, and that scares the crap out of me, honestly.”
The next eight minutes saw the Wolves put on a ridiculous defensive display, holding HTC to just two points in the second quarter, which helped WMU build a 23-13 lead before the halftime break.
“We limited them to one shot,” said Coach Edwards. “Cam (Buffington) and Abram (Edwards) cleaned up everything, it seemed like. If there was an offensive rebound, it was probably a long one out of our reach or something.”
There were, in fact, no offensive rebounds for the Crusaders in the second quarter, or any other quarter for that matter. The WMU posts did their job on the defensive end all night long.
Holy Trinity, however, wasn’t going to go down so easily.
The Crusaders had the hot hand in the third quarter, cutting the WMU lead to six points on a couple of occasions, before seeing the Wolves take a 36-27 lead into the final period. Holy Trinity had the deficit all the way down to two points late in the fourth.
The Crusaders, however, would never get the ball with a chance to tie it. Leading 42-39 in the final minute, the Wolves needed a basket before the shot clock ran out to give their defense some more breathing room, and WMU went right to old reliable, a high-arching pass to Buffington at the rim.
Buffington out-jumped HTC star Luke Hellige at the rim, came down with the ball and put a shot up. After the first attempt bounced off the rim, Buffington lept up and scored on the put-back to give the Wolves a five-point advantage.
“I missed it at the start, and was like, 'oh crap,'” Buffington said. “But then I ended up getting it back in.”
Holy Trinity’s Conner Gehling cut the lead back to three with a layup to cut it to 44-41 with 22 seconds left. Hemsworth and Buffington each hit one free throw down the stretch to get the lead back to five.
The Wolves’ defense held HTC off until the final buzzer, and for the first time in 28 years, WMU celebrated a boys basketball state tournament berth.
“To get there again for the first time in a while, it feels great,” Abram Edwards said. “It's something that the younger generations can look forward to, and hopefully they can have the same aspirations to one day make it also.”
Buffington finished the night with 18 points. Jake Edwards had 11 points, five rebounds and three steals. Hemsworh scored nine, and Abram Edwards finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.
“Four of the starters are seniors, and this was their last chance to go for basketball,” said Jake Edwards. “Knowing that I can help them get there feels great.”
The win comes one year after the WMU girls program returned to state for the first time since 1998, and just a few months after the Wolves’ football team made it to the UNI-Dome for the first time since 1999.
“I've been with these kids since Kindergarten, and three of them are mine,” said Coach Edwards. “Their families are all fantastic, and it's just a joy to help them get to this point.”
The Wolves earned the No. 4 seed in the Class 1A state tournament. WMU (20-2) will take on fifth-seeded Lynnville-Sully (24-1) in the second quarterfinal game of the week. That game will be on Monday, March 4, at 12:15 p.m.
“ It's so exciting,” Buffington said. “Last year we fell short, and then this year we went in football. We've been together in big atmospheres, so it's just so awesome to play with those guys again.”
