Well now, isn't it nice to see someone else blow a big lead and lose for once? Wichita State should have won this game. They led by 15 in the second half, they outrebounded the Jays by NINETEEN, they outscored them 40-28 in the paint, they had FIFTEEN offensive rebounds...and they lost. Wow.
How exactly did this happen, you say? Easy. The Jays made the plays down the stretch, and Wichita didn't. Specifically, Cavel Witter made huge plays, Booker Woodfox and P'Allen Stinnett hit big shots, and Dane Watts had a huge tip-in with 16 seconds left to give them the lead.
Obviously, the statistic everyone is going to focus on is the rebounds, because getting outrebounded by 19 at home is really heinous. And make no mistake, the Jays got kicked in the teeth on the boards. Wichita boxed out better, they were in better position, they wanted the ball more, and they got twice as many boards as Creighton. Just an awful, embarrassing effort.
Fortunately, they hit enough shots down the stretch to make up for it, and forced enough turnovers with great defense to allow them to come back.
***
You can blame the awful start on me. I almost always sit in seat 6 in my row, but for whatever reason I sat in seat 5 last night. Blame my silly impulsive nature beating out my silly superstitious nature. Or maybe it was just me being a gentleman and allowing the lady to go first into the row. Either way, at halftime I switched seats and voila, the Jays won. You bet.
***
The Jays started the game 5-6, but made just two field goals the rest of the half. What is it with these prolonged droughts this team tends to encounter? Yeesh. Making one field goal in 13:59 is a really good way to turn a 14-8 lead into a 33-21 deficit, incidentally. Even better when you let them have a 14-0 run in the midst of that. Good stuff.
In the second half, Creighton opened with a 10-4 run to slice the lead in half, and then allowed the ever-annoying P.J. Couisnard to nail two straight threes to put the lead right back where it started, at 12. It looked like that opening spurt might be the Jays only run, especially when the lead swelled to 15 with 9 minutes left. One terrible rebound after another elicited groans from the crowd. Seriously, Wichita was CLOBBERING them on the boards. And it was 54-39 Shockers on the scoreboard. Ouch.
A guy who sits a couple of rows behind us kept yelling at Coach Altman to put Kenny Lawson back in the game. He couldn't understand why Lawson wasn't playing. Well, everyone has bad nights, and this wasn't one of Kenny's better ones. 10 minutes and zero rebounds from your post player, while the opponent gets every rebound in sight? There's a reason why he was on the bench.
Coming out of the Jays' timeout with just over nine minutes left, Altman did go big -- but he opted for Kenton Walker instead of Lawson. Walker immediately gave the team a lift, with a couple of nice plays in the paint. But it was Booker Woodfox, quickly becoming the best shooter on the team, who hit a three right out of the timeout. On the next possession, a sweet interior move and shot by Walker cut the lead to 10. Cavel Witter drained a three on the next possession to slice the lead to 54-47, part of an 8-0 Jays run.
After two Shocker free throws, Woodfox hit another jumper to make it 56-49. Twenty seconds later, P'Allen Stinnett picked Shocker point guard Gal Mekel's pocket and scored a fast-break layup to make it 56-51, and Wichita called timeout to regroup.
A basket by Mekel out of the timeout pushed the lead back out to seven at 58-51. Stinnett promptly drove into the paint and scored an easy bucket to counter, and it was 58-53. And then Cavel Witter stole the ball at midcourt from the Shockers' Wendell Preadom, dribbled down the court three steps ahead of the nearest defender, and laid in a nice layup. 58-55! And now the arena was officially delirious. On the inbounds pass, the Jays trapped Preadom in the corner, and his eventual pass was knocked free. In the ensuing scramble for the ball, Witter committed a foul sending the game into the under-four media timeout.
Couisnard missed a three for the Shockers on the first possession out of the timeout, but Woodfox returned the favor by missing a three for the Jays. And then Couisnard got some manner of revenge by driving the baseline and dunking a mammoth slam dunk, pushing the lead back to five and leaving many wondering if it would be the final nail in the comeback coffin.
And when Booker Woodfox missed a layup on the next possession, the crowd was officially in full-groan mode. A foul by Watts on the other end sent JT Durley to the line, with a chance to push the lead out to seven. But he missed the front end of the one-and-one, and Witter came right down and drained a three for the Jays to make it 60-58. Chad Millard was whistled for a foul on the other end, and Gal Mekel made both free throws to push the lead back out to four at 62-58.
No worries. Booker Woodfox simply came down and hit an amazing three to cut it to one, 62-61 with 1:29 to play. One of the truly great defensive stands in recent memory came next, as the Jays completely locked down the Shockers and forced Gal Mekel to be 30 feet from the basket as the shot clock wound down. He never even got a shot off, as the crowd erupted and the Jays took possession with 41 seconds left, down one.
The offense seemingly bogged down, with Witter nearly getting picked as he drove the lane looking for a shot. He got the ball back and went back to the top of the key to reset the offense. Stinnett drove down the baseline and caught a pass, but his shot was off the mark. Watts, following for the rebound, tipped the ball and it went in. 63-62, Jays lead! 16 seconds left!
The lesson here: if you're going to get out-rebounded by 19, just make sure you get your hands on the most important board of the night.
Wichita State put the ball in the hands of their hot-shooting point guard, Gal Mekel, but it wasn't to be. He drove inside hoping to either draw contact or get up a shot, but instead Watts stepped in front of him and drew a charge. 10 seconds left, Jays up one.
Witter took the inbounds, and was promptly fouled. He sank both free throws to make the lead three at 65-62, and then Wichita drove down for a final shot. They had nine seconds, which was plenty of time to drive the court and find an open shooter for a game-tying three. But their offense stalled and they weren't even going to get off a shot...so of course Josh Dotzler bailed them out and fouled the ball handler with 0.5 seconds left. Of course.
JT Durley made the first free throw, missed the second intentionally (hoping for a tip-in) but Watts secured the rebound. Whew. Did you get all that? 65-63 Jays win.
You bet.
***
POLYFRO LOBSTER COLA PLAYER OF THE GAME: Tonight's player of the game is brought to you by the refreshing taste of Lobster Cola: combining the delicacy of lobster with the refreshing taste of cola, its Lobster Cola!
Has to be Cavel Witter tonight. The young man played great at point guard, and took all of the minutes at that position down the stretch. He made 2 huge three pointers in their late-game comeback, dished out three assists, was 5-8 from the floor and sank the two free throws that iced the game. That's right, Cavel Witter is tonight's Lobster Cola Player of the Game. You bet.
Leave a comment