Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Habecker’s late basket lifts Wayne

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By PAUL GOTHAM

WAYNE, N.Y. — A blown transformer delayed the conclusion of Newark and Wayne’s Finger Lakes East matchup two weeks ago.

An unlikely source provided electricity when play resumed Wednesday evening.

Stephen Habecker delivered the game winner in the closing seconds as host Wayne defeated Newark, 64-62.

Coming out of a timeout with 18.8 remaining in the game, Habecker took a handoff from teammate Aidan Twist along the left side of the floor and with a crossover dribble beat his defender.

“One of my teammates was getting sealed underneath,” said Habecker, a selective mute, through his teammate PJ Treasure. “Everybody was on the far side of the court. I had the ball. My teammates trust me.  I just took it to the rack. It was a wide-open layup, just took it confidently.”

Habecker’s second basket of the game was the difference as Wayne (12-2) won its eighth straight.

“He took what they gave him and that’s what we tell them,” said Eagles’ head coach Bill Thomson. “He saw the lane and he went right in.”

Twist had connected four times from behind the three-point arc in the second half including a triple to give the Eagles a 60-58 lead just moments earlier.

Cam Blakenberg and PJ Ostrowski had combined for 26 points in the first half to give Wayne a 33-28 when play was suspended on January 13th.

Habecker, who leads Wayne with six assists per game had hit a floater earlier in the fourth quarter, expected to play the role of distributor on the play.

“Scoring is not usually my job,” he said. “I pass first, but I get to the rim when I can.”

The basket brought to a close a fourth quarter that saw Wayne take an eight-point lead on the first possession of the frame only to have Newark rally for a 62-60 lead with 1:20 left on the clock.

“I told our guys in the locker room, ‘that was about as good a-16-minutes-of basketball as we’ve played all year,’” said Newark head coach Henry Kuperus.

Trailing 53-45, Newark used an 11-2 run to take a one-point lead.

Sam Underhill connected on a corner three. Jaypar Allen followed with his own triple. Underhill found the range again from distance before Allen’s bucket off a drive gave the Reds a 56-55 edge.

“They shot ridiculous from the field in one half of play,” Thomson said of Newark. “We had to get out of our 1-3-1 and go man over the last three to four minutes.”

The teams traded leads four more times over the next four minutes of play.

Ostrowski converted a pair of free throws to tie the game at 62.

Both teams came away with empty possessions before Wayne called a timeout to set up the final play.

“We wanted Aidan to take the last shot,” Thomson said. “We thought he was going to be open. Stephen saw the read and reacted.”

Newark, the Class B New York State Far West Regional champion a year ago, dropped to 10-3 on the season.

“That’s a very good Wayne team,” Kuperus said. “We’re in Class A with them this year. Tough part of it is, that’s our third league loss. We go one step at a time. Our first goal is a league championship. That’s hurt our chances for that goal. It puts us a little bit in a hole.”

The same two teams will meet on February 9th at Newark. A pre-game ceremony that night will dedicate Newark’s home court in honor of former head coach and Section V Hall of Famer, Ron Ceravolo.

NEWARK
Jahnor Allen 6 2-3 17, Jaypar Allen 5 0-0 13, Eric Finn 2 0-2 4, Kellen Foster 5 2-2 13, Sam Underhill 2 0-0 6, Carlos Martinez 2 0-0 5, Terrell Jenkins 2 0-0 4 TOTALS 24 4-7 — 62

WAYNE
Aidan Twist 4 0-0 12, Jonah Schichtel 3 0-0 7, Cam Blankenberg 7 4-5 19, Stephen Habecker 2 0-0 4, Joshua Warner 3 0-0 6, PJ Ostrowski 4 8-10 16 TOTALS 23 12-15 — 64

NEWARK 12 16 17 17 — 62
WAYNE 17 16 17 14 — 64

3-point goals — Newark 10 (Jahnor Allen 3, Jaypar Allen 3, Foster 1, Underhill 2, Martinez 1); Wayne 6 (Twist 4, Schichtel 1, Blankenberg 1)

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