Wednesday, February 7th, 2018
Mr. Big Shot(s)
Wenning, Blasingame heat up in Cavs' win
By Colin Foster
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Jacob Wenning releases one of his five 3-pointers during Tuesday's game with Parkway in Rockford.
ROCKFORD - Parkway had a shot to comeback against Coldwater.
A shot by the Cavaliers' Myles Blasingame effectively ended any thought of that.
Blasingame hit a trio of 3-pointers, including a key one with just under 2 minutes to play, Jacob Wenning and Derek Albers scored 15 apiece, and the Cavaliers defeated the Panthers 58-46 in a Tuesday night makeup game.
"We hit big shots. That's what kept us in control," Coldwater coach Nick Fisher said.
Big shots from start to finish.
Wenning began the game with the first of his five 3-pointers, and Coldwater would lead the entire way.
Wenning made 3-of-4 from deep in the first. Coldwater led by as much as eight, but Preston Stober scored five points for Parkway and Jack Wehe added four as it overcame seven turnovers to only trail 17-13 at the end of one.
Albers - who finished with a game-high 10 rebounds - outscored Parkway 8-2 in the opening 3 minutes of the second quarter. He scored 11 of his 15 in the first half, helping the Cavs jump in front 30-21 by break.
"He's just a workhorse," Fisher said of Albers. "That's just the way he plays."
The Cavs went 11-of-29 shooting in the first half (including 5-of-13 from long range) with only four turnovers. The Panthers finished the first half 8-of-24 shooting (including 1-of-6 from behind the arc) with 10 turnovers.
"I didn't think we took very good care of the ball in the first half," Parkway coach Doug Hughes said. "We have 11 turnovers in the first half and 15 overall, and those 11 in the first half have a lot to do with us being down nine at half."
Wenning and Bruns started the second half with 3s on back-to-back possessions. Albers also added two buckets as part of a 10-2 run to force a Parkway timeout with 5:44 remaining in the third quarter. But Mason Baxter scored six points - with a 3-pointer and an old fashioned three-point play - and Cory Walls added five points to help cut the lead to 46-37 by the end of the quarter.
The Panthers trailed by 12 early in the fourth but slowly began to chip away. The damage was reduced to 51-46 by the 3:44 mark after five points by Caleb Kinney and a hoop by Stober. However, Coldwater made 2-of-4 free throws while holding the Panthers scoreless over two possessions - and Blasingame cashed his third 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:40 left to dash any hopes of a comeback.
"That was a gutsy shot by a freshman," said Hughes of Blasingame.
"It's frustrating because against Fort Recovery, we had two really good looks at 3s and we just couldn't get them to fall," Hughes continued. "We had guys we wanted shooting them. They just didn't fall. Then tonight, we had two good layup (attempts) by guys we want shooting them, and they don't go in. I thought we did a lot of good things. I thought Preston Stober played a whale of a game."
Wenning connected on 5-of-10 shots from behind the arc and Blasingame was 3-of-5. As a team, Coldwater went 10-of-22 from 3.
"Jacob's had mono and he's been battling his way back, but he's been shooting the ball really well in practice," Fisher said. "It was nice to see him do it in the game. Myles had ice in his veins when he pulled up and took that shot. He's got no problem knocking them down."
Stober and Baxter shared team-high honors for Parkway with 12 points apiece. Kinney had nine points and eight rebounds.
Coldwater (9-8, 3-3 MAC) will look for its fourth straight win on Friday when it travels to Fort Recovery.
Parkway (7-10, 0-6 MAC) will try to end a three-game skid on Friday when it travels to New Bremen.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Parkway's Preston Stober scored 12 points in a losing effort on Tuesday.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Myles Blasingame had three 3-pointers for Coldwater.
