PIEDMONT – A strong second half by the Woodmont Wildcats allowed them to pull away even more in beating the Nation Ford Falcons in the first round of the 5A Division II playoffs.
Nation Ford struggled with their shot the entire game as they fell 79-43 in ending their season. Woodmont will advance to the second round where they will have to come to Fort Mill to face the Yellow Jackets in the second round on Friday, Feb. 21.
Woodmont took an early 4-2 lead before a timeout by Nation Ford. Early turnovers hurt the Falcons some to open the game as the Wildcats were able to capitalize. Drew Robertson was able to keep Nation Ford in the game midway through the first quarter.
Woodmont was able to get to the foul line often in the first quarter, which helped them push their lead. Ben Chuttey hit a 3-pointer to pull the Falcons to within one. The Wildcats put together a 9-0 run late in the first quarter and went up 19-11 after the opening period.
Jamari Gore opened the second quarter for Nation Ford with a traditional three-point play. Nation Ford stayed within striking distance, but struggled on the defensive end getting rebounds as Woodmont took advantage of second chance points.
Turnovers continued to be and issue for Nation Ford as the Wildcats would take advantage of them and go up by 12 about midway through the second quarter. Woodmont took advantage of an open baseline from time to time to get easy looks at the basket.
Nation Ford never seemed to get an offensive flow in the first half as they shot roughly 41% from the field and trailed 34-21 at the half.
The Falcons’ Anthony Pryer scored to open the third quarter for Nation Ford, but then soon went down with an injury. Nation Ford came out in the second half firing as Ben Chuttey hit a 3-pointer after that to cut the Woodmont lead to 10 after a Falcons 5-0 start.
Despite the good start, Woodmont was able to counter and keep a distance between them and Nation Ford as the Falcons struggled shooting after the initial start. Pryer would return to the game, but the Falcons struggled to find consistency as Woodmont would go up 49-29 with about 3:30 left in the third quarter.
Woodmont would continue to pull away after a timeout, as turnovers didn’t help the Falcons cause. Nation Ford would go into the fourth quarter down by 26 points after being outscored 27-14 in the third quarter.
Woodmont opened the fourth quarter slowing play down trying to milk the clock and take advantage of their big lead. The Wildcats were good in transition during the fourth and was able to go baseline to baseline without being stopped. Woodmont would go up by 30 with about four minutes left in the game.
Nation Ford was led by Chuttey, who had 13 points. He was the only Falcons’ player in double figures. The Falcons went 5-of-17 from the foul line in the game and shot less than 40% from the field for the game.
Nation Ford ended their season with an 11-16 overall record.
Feb. 18 Roundup
The Catawba Ridge boys’ basketball team won 45-44 at TL Hanna in the first round of the 5A Division II playoffs with a 3-pointer by Kevin Butler at the buzzer. The Copperheads improve to 11-16 on the season and will travel to Riverside on Friday, Feb. 21 for a second-round game.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
