Waverly at DeWitt – – Boys Basketball – – The Bleacher Denizen – – January 25, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

Tonight, the Bleacher Denizen is headed to DeWitt, where the Panthers will host the Warriors from Waverly in a CAAC-Blue Conference game. Waverly is 2-2 in the CAAC-Blue and 9-4 overall. DeWitt is 1-3 in the CAAC-Blue and 9-4 overall.

While we wait for the game to start, I hope you will enjoy this vintage Blues Tune (performed by me) from my You Tube Channel!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TtsKUnqw7g

Waverly is a team that uses a lot of defensive pressure. Deunte Phifer is a senior four year starter who has scored over 1000 points in his Waverly career. He is a great perimeter defender and shot blocker who has tremendous range on his three point shot. He is 6’6″ and can run the point. (This makes him a matchup problem for almost any team.) Sophomore Derek Thomas II is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. He is a tough defender in the lane and gets a lot of points from offensive rebounds.

Kavandre Pena is an energetic defensive menace (to the opponents) who frequently guards the other team’s most dangerous player. He is a great passer as well. Keenan Harris is a fine three point shooter that gives Waverly another stout perimeter defender. Louie McCloud and De’Shawnta Malone give Waverly two more energetic defenders who get a lot of steals for the Warriors. Trey Miller and Xavier Pendergrass provide tough interior defense and rebounding. They are also solid midrange shooters.

Adam Flannery is an experienced and poised point guard. He runs the offense and leads the team well. He is a fine defender and ball handler. He passes the ball well and can score from the three point line or on slashes to the basket. Zach Nevison is a fine three point shooter. Elliott Larner is a tough perimeter defender. Luke Hanselman and Garrett Grewe defend well in the post and are also good rebounders and post scorers. Landon Kurncz is a freshman guard who can either go to the basket or hit shots from long range.

Unfortunately, when I got to the game, I learned that Garrett Grewe is ill and unable to play tonight.

The JV game was tied 19-19, but Waverly pulled away to a third quarter lead. DeWitt fought to stay in the game and got to within four points at 45-41 on a three point bucket by Nate Mullen with 5.3 seconds left, but Waverly ran out the clock and won.

Carson Soltis led the DeWitt JVs with 8 points. Ian Sosebee, Brendan Mensing and Eric Stevenson eached contributed 7 points. Nate Mullen pitched in with 6 points. Lucas Brandell scored 4 points and Luke Ladd tallied 2 points.

Kameron Amunga led the victorious Waverly JVs with 17 points. Cayden Ali supported his teammate with 8 points. D.J. Pope and Amon Baylark each notched 7 points. C.J. Gomez, Elijah Jenkins and Jayden Gay each scored 2 points.

It is now time to look at the results of the varsity game through the occasionally observant eyes of an aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to escape church league. Your Bleacher Denizen learned too late that when his coach said he played “matador defense”, that is was NOT a compliment. (Young folks unfamiliar with this term from the last generation can google this to learn that it was truly NOT a compliment.)

I suppose the breaking point was once during a close church league game when I yelled, “OLE!!” as my man drove by me. The coach was disappointed and my playing time never really recovered after that.

Waverly wins the opening tap. Luke Hanselman blocks a Waverly layup. Matt Huhn passes to Luke Hanselman, who hits a fifteen footer from the side to give DeWitt the first two points of the game. Derek Thomas drives and hits a layup in traffic for Waverly to tie the game at 2-2.

DeWitt commits an offensive foul. Waverly misses a threeball from the wing. Keenan Harris grabs the offense rebound for the Warriors. Waverly misses a six foot shot in the lane. The rebound goes out of bounds and DeWitt gets the ball. DeWitt throws a pass out of bounds. Derek Thomas drives and hits a layup to make the score Derek Thomas II 4 DeWitt 2.

Adam Flannery drives the lane and hits a layup for DeWitt to tie the game. Kavandre Pena drives and hits a layup for Waverly. Matt Huhn darts into the backcourt to retrieve the ball and avoid a Panther turnover. DeWitt misses a three point shot from the side. Zach Nevison steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for DeWitt to tie the game at 6-6.

Kennan Harris launches and hits a threeball from the side for Waverly. DeWitt misses a layup. Waverly misses a threeball from the wing. DeWitt reciprocates and misses a threeball from the wing. Kavandre Pena passes to Derek Thomas, who spins and hits a layup to give his Warriors an 11-6 lead.

DeWitt misses a three point shot from the side. De’Shawnta Malone hits a fast break layup for Waverly. DeWitt misfires on a triple try from the side. Luke Hanselman pulls down the offensive rebound for the Panthers. DeWitt misses a driving layup. De’Shawnta Malone passes to Deunte Phifer, who hits a three point shot from the side to give Waverly a 16-6 lead.

Zach Nevison passes to Luke Hanselman, who hits a threeball from the side for DeWitt. A Waverly cross court pass flies out of bounds. Adam Flannery drives and hits a layup for DeWitt. De’Shawnta Moore drives and hits a reverse layup just before the first quarter buzzer announces its presence.

After one quarter, Waverly holds an 18-11 lead.

DeWitt inbounds the ball to open the second quarter. Ben Johnson passes to Landon Kurncz, who hits a three point shot from the corner for the Panthers. Derek Thomas drives and hits a layup for Waverly. He is fouled on the play and hits his free throw to give Waverly a 21-14 lead with 7:22 to play in the second quarter.

Trey Miller steals the ball for the Warriors. Keenan Harris passes to De’Shawnta Malone, who hits a three pointer from the wing for Waverly. DeWitt misfires on a triple try from the wing; the rebound goes out of bounds and Waverly takes possession. Waverly misses a threeball from the wing. DeWitt loses the ball out of bounds. Waverly misses a driving eight foot shot from the side. Zach Nevison hits a three point shot from the wing to cut the Waverly lead to 24-17.

De’Shawnta Malone passes to Trey Miller, who hits a layup for Waverly. DeWitt misses a sixteen foot shot from the side. John Amama hits a fifteen foot shot from the side for DeWitt. Waverly misses a three point shot from the wing. Elliott Larner is fouled on a driving layup and hits two free throws to bring his Panthers within five points at 26-21 with 3:44 left in the first half.

Waverly misses a jump shot from the side. Trey Miller gets the offensive rebound for the Warriors. Waverly misses a layup. Trey Miller is fouled on a putback and hits one of his two free throws to give Waverly a 27-21 lead with 3:12 left on the first half clock.

Landon Kurncz hits a ten foot jumper off the dribble from the side for DeWitt. Deunte Phifer passes to Jaice Harris, who hits a three point shot from the side for Waverly. DeWitt misses a threeball from the top of the key. Jaice Harris passes to Trey Miller, who hits a jump shot from the free throw elbow to give his Warriors a 32-23 lead.

Deunte Phifer gets his hand on the ball, but DeWitt is able to recover. DeWitt loses the ball out of bounds. Landon Kurncz taps the ball away from Waverly and Adam Flannery picks it up for DeWitt. DeWitt misses a three point shot near the top of the key. Waverly misses a three pointer from the side. Waverly misses a full court heave as the halftime buzzer announces its presence.

Luke Hanselman has 7 points for DeWitt and Landon Kurncz has 5 to lead the Panther halftime scoring.

Derek Thomas has 9 points for Waverly and De’Shawnta Malone has 7.

As there is no halftime entertainment, I hope you will enjoy these two videos of original songs from my You Tube Channel.

“A Man Like Me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTdeYRUEOkc

“Won’t Be Alone Too Long” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1_qnhfMT2k

Waverly inbounds the ball to get quarter number three underway. Derek Thomas is fouled on a driving layup and hits one of his two free throws for the Warriors. Deunte Phifer knocks the ball out of bounds; DeWitt retains possession. Deunte Phifer knocks the ball away from DeWitt and Kavandre Pena picks it up for Waverly. Kavandre Pena passes to De’Shawnta Malone, who throws in a threeball from the side to boost the Waverly lead to 36-23.

Kavandre Pena knocks the ball away from DeWitt and Keenan Harris picks it up for Waverly. Adam Flannery steals the ball for DeWitt and passes to Luke Hanselman for a fast break layup. Waverly misses a three point shot from the side. DeWitt misses a reverse layup, but gets the offensive rebound. The Panthers miss a layup, but get another offensive rebound. DeWitt misfires on a triple try from the side. Waverly reciprocates and misfires on a triple try from the side.

Derek Thomas gets the offensive rebound for the Warriors. Waverly misses a layup. DeWitt misses a three pointer from the side. Kavandre Pena drives and hits a layup for Waverly. Zach Nevison hits a layup for DeWitt. Elliott Larner steals a Waverly pass. Zach Nevison hits a ten foot shot off the dribble in the lane for DeWitt. Derek Thomas hits a layup to give Waverly a 40-29 lead.

Kavandre Pena steals the ball for Waverly. The Warriors miss a fast break layup and foul on the rebound. Kavandre Pena steals the ball and passes to De’Shawnta Malone for a Waverly fast break layup. DeWitt misses a layup. Ben Johnson hits a putback for Waverly. Deunte Phifer hits a jump shot off the dribble from the free throw line for Waverly. De’Shawnta Malone steals the ball and hits a fast break layup to push Waverly to a 46-31 lead.

DeWitt misses a layup. Waverly misses on a threeball from the side and fouls on the rebound. Ben Johnson passes to Matt Huhn, who hits a driving layup for DeWitt. Waverly misses a three point attempt from the top of the key. DeWitt misses a three point attempt from the wing. The Harris connection shows itself as Keenan passes to Jaice, who hits a three pointer from the side to boost Waverly to a 49-33 lead.

DeWitt misses a reverse layup. Waverly is assessed with an offensive foul. DeWitt misses a twelve foot shot from the side. Waverly misses a fast break layup; the rebound goes out of bounds and DeWitt gets the ball with just 5.6 seconds left in the quarter. Jaice Harris knocks the Panther inbound pass out of bounds; DeWitt retains possession. DeWitt misses a three point shot from the corner as the buzzer goes off.

After three quarters, Waverly holds a 49-33 lead.

DeWitt inbounds the ball to start out the final quarter. Jaice Harris steals the ball for the Warriors. Waverly misses a fast break layup; the rebound goes out of bounds and the Warriors get another opportunity. Derek Thomas passes to Deunte Phifer, who hits a three point shot from the side for Waverly. DeWitt misses a three pointer from the side. Trey Miller is fouled on a layup and hits one of his two free throws to give Waverly a 53-33 lead with 6:51 left on the clock.

Jaice Harris steals the ball and passes to Deunte Phifer, who hits a fast break layup for the Warriors. DeWitt is fouled on a driving layup, but misses two free throws. Louie McCloud passes to Derek Thomas, who hits a layup for Waverly. Adam Flannery drives the baseline and hits a layup for DeWitt. Louie McCloud drives and dishes the ball to Trey Miller, who hits a layup for Waverly. Louis McCloud steals the ball and hits a fast break layup to give Waverly a 61-35 lead.

John Amama is fouled on a driving layup and hits two free throws for DeWitt. Waverly misses a three point shot from the top of the key. Ezra Easterly grabs the offensive rebound for the Warriors. Trey Miller is fouled on a layup and hits two free throws to give Waverly a 63-37 lead with 4:25 left in the game.

Adam Flannery passes to Zach Nevison, who hits a three point shot from the corner for DeWitt. Elliott Larner steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for DeWitt. Deunte Phifer pours in a threeball from the wing for Waverly. Elliott Larner passes to John Amama, who hits a fourteen foot shot in the lane for DeWitt. Nolan Colligan steals the ball for DeWitt. Jackson Walthorn passes to Nolan Colligan, who hits a three point shot from the corner to shave the Waverly lead to 66-47.

Waverly misses a driving layup and fouls on the rebound. Landon Kurncz hits a three point shot from the wing for DeWitt. Waverly misses a driving layup. The rebound is tied up. The Possession Arrow looks up from its cribbage game long enough to award the ball to Waverly. Matt Huhn steals the ball and is fouled on a fast break layup. He hits one of his two free throws to cut the Waverly lead to 66-51 with 1:08 to go.

Waverly turns the ball over while bringing it up. (Your aging Bleacher Denizen was far too slow with his note-taking to record why.) DeWitt misses a three point shot from the wing. Jackson Walthorn hits the floor to secure the offensive rebound for DeWitt. Matt Huhn inbounds the ball to Jackson Walthorn, who hits a layup for DeWitt.

Matt Huhn’s tough defense forces a Waverly traveling violation. Nolan Colligan passes to Landon Kurncz, who hits a three point shot from the side for Waverly. Waverly runs out the clock.

Waverly wins this CAAC-Blue road game by the score of 66-56.

Freshman Landon Kurncz led the DeWitt scoring with 11 points. Zach Nevison joined his teammate in double figures with 10 points. Luke Hanselman notched 9 points. Adam Flannery and John Amama each scored 6 points. Elliott Larner put in 4 points. Matt Huhn and Nolan Colligan each added 3 points. Jackson Walthorn and Ben Johnson each tallied 2 points.

Derek Thomas II and De’Shawnta Malone shared scoring honors for Waverly with 14 points each. Deunte Phifer contributed 13 points. Trey Miller scored 10 points. Jaice Harris put in 6 points. Kavandre Pena had 4 points. Keenan Harris added 3 points. Louie McCloud scored 2 points.