Whiteland’s Brayden Roy, right, battles for a loose ball during Friday’s sectional semifinal against Shelbyville.
Doug Clements | For the Daily Journal
COLUMBUS
All season long, Whiteland has had trouble at the free throw line, and it has cost them a few close games.
Friday night, the Warriors again had trouble shooting free throws, but this time, they held on for a 47-45 win against Shelbyville in the semifinal round of the Class 4A Columbus North Sectional.
“We played a lot of close games this year, and more often than not, we came out on the wrong side of it,” Whiteland coach Nate Cangany said. “We lost six conference games by 20 combined points this year, and in five of those six games, we shot under 50 percent from the free throw line. So this was about on par. That’s why we lost all those close games. But I do really feel like those gave us experience.”
Leading 22-19 at halftime, the Warriors (10-14) scored the first seven points of the second half to build a 10-point lead. The Golden Bears battled back to within one with 56 seconds left in the game.
Whiteland got a free throw from Austin Willoughby with 47 seconds remaining and another from Gavin Stubbe with 4.5 seconds left to push the lead to three. The Warriors then fouled Shelbyville’s Oliver Sandman on the inbounds pass, and Sandman made the first of two free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining.
Sandman missed the second attempt on purpose in an attempt to get the Golden Bears a rebound basket, but Whiteland rebounded and dribbled out the clock.
Willoughby led the Warriors with 14 points. Jazz Banwait added 10.
Brayden Roy grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Whiteland to a 32-23 advantage on the boards.
“We had some guys step up and play tonight,” Cangany said. “Early in the game, we could buy a bucket. We were getting some good look that we liked around the rim. We just couldn’t get anything to drop early in the game.”
The Warriors advance to tonight’s sectional final, where they will play host Columbus North at 7:30 p.m. The Bull Dogs needed overtime to turn away a Columbus East upset bid in Friday’s second game.
“Columbus North, they do what they do, and they do it really well,” Cangany said. “We have to be ready to execute offensively, and at the same time, (Cooper) Horn is a nice kid, but they’re a senior-laden team. You go down the list, they have a lot of nice players, so we have to take away what they do best. I really do think it’s going to be our offensive efficiency against what they do defensively.”