‘Best sophomore in Ohio’ propels Wayne
MIAMISBURG — Nate Martindale loves and trusts the six seniors on his Wayne boys basketball team. But there is a special sophomore who has earned equal trust from the coach and the team.
So when the Warriors — the state’s sixth-ranked Division I team — needed a basket with the score tied in the final seconds, Martindale put the ball in guard Lawrent Rice’s hands. Senior guards Malcolm Curry and Prophet Johnson had led a fourth-quarter comeback from a 12-point deficit with eight points each. But the younger Rice got the call.
“I told him no matter what they do, you’ve got it,” Curry said. “We know what he’s capable of. I think he’s the best sophomore in Ohio. It’s crazy what he can do with the ball in his hands.”
As much as Miamisburg’s defense, which had held Wayne in check most of the game, was ready for Rice, the Vikings were running out of answers to the slashing and spinning drives that the Warriors were suddenly converting into points.
Rice went to work, got into the lane and made a difficult shot to break the tie. Miamisburg had 4.5 seconds left after Rice’s basket. But Curry made a steal at midcourt and scored as the buzzer sounded for a 43-39 Wayne victory.
“That was Lawrent’s shot to take,” Martindale said. “We’ve worked on that quite a bit. He’s a super sophomore, he’s a kid that we trust that we know can make plays.”
Johnson, the GWOC’s leading scorer, finished with 14 points, Rice had nine and Curry eight.
After three quarters, heroics
didn’t seem likely for the Warriors (9-1, 6-1 GWOC). Miamisburg (11-3, 5-2) had smothered Wayne’s offense with team defense that cut off penetration and made jump shooters uncomfortable. The Vikings led 33-21 entering the fourth quarter.
“We were able to keep them from making a run and doing a really good job on team defense, and then in the fourth quarter they got some isolations on us and hit some big-time shots,” Miamisburg coach Tim Fries said.
Wayne’s Cam Fancher started the fourth with a steal and dunk and the defensive-fueled comeback was on.
“They’re so long and quick and athletic that they create a lot of havoc and score points in transition,” Fries said. “We made some mistakes and threw some passes that shouldn’t have been there and they made some defensive plays.”
Curry scored twice on fadeaway spin moves, the second of which gave Wayne its first lead at 37-35.
Other than Rice’s winner, the play of the game was Curry’s one-handed tip dunk for a 39-37 lead with 1:26 left.The
6-foot-1 Curry used most of his 40-inch vertical leap – he said he’s jumped higher — and produced maybe the loudest roar in this season of small crowds.
“That really sparked us,” Rice said. “We were hyped after that.”
The comeback was one of three special things the Warriors celebrated. They also clinched a share of the GWOC title with Centerville (7-2, 5-1). The GWOC is only counting the first seven league games — one versus each team — toward league records this season because of the fear that cancellations caused by COVID will mean teams won’t play an equal amount of games. The Elks can win a share of the title when they play Springboro (1-10, 1-5).
The Warriors dedicated the game to the grandfather of Martindale’s wife, “Pappy” Ed Dressler, who died this week. Dressler, known as the father of the bike paths in Southwest Ohio, was a regular attendee at Wayne games and knew the players.
“He was a really selfless man, and I thought our comeback was very indicative of the type of person he was,” Martindale said.