Waldorf’s Varsity Boys Basketball Team took on Evangel Chrisitian School in the Coaches vs Cancer Tournament held at the Portledge School on Friday, December 7th.

“The first half was very scrappy for the Varsity boys,” said Coach Boyd. “They played hard defense and forced Evangel Christian to take some tough shots. The team stayed focused and worked hard to disect Evangel Christian’s pressure defense. Waldorf started to move the ball and spaced the court to take some quality shots. Senior Cody Bach helped Waldorf stay in the game, scoring nine of the team’s 20 first half points. Waldorf forced Evangel to turn the ball over and was able to cut Evangel’s lead to 10 points at the half, 20-30.

As the team huddled during the half, they stayed confident and talked about rebounding better and out hustling Evangel Chrisitian. Coach Flanagan and Coach Boyd told the boys to stay confident and focus on minimizing the turnovers and maximizing Waldorf’s possessions.

As the second half was under way, Waldorf became a rebounding unit. They limited Evangel Chrisitian to one-shot opportunities on their first three possessions. Waldorf rebounded and ran the floor for layup opportunities. Senior Max Novick picked up his team’s scoring in the third quarter and helped claw at the deficit – pushing the game’s tempo. He rattled-in a season high 11 third quarter points. Fellow senior Caleb Yuan also stepped-in and added four points and five rebounds. At the end of the third quarter, Waldorf was able to cut Evangel’s lead to 7, 37-44. During the fourth quarter, the Waldorf boys out-hustled the Evangel Chrisitian team. Evangel Chrisitian started to slow the ball and tried to waste the clock. But Waldorf pushed the ball and made a few good transition shots. The lead was cut to two after a wonderful steal and layup by Novick. Going into the home stretch, Evangel Christian was able to score four straight points and took the lead back to six. “Still,” said Coach Boyd, “I’m proud of the boys who gave it their all at making a nice come back!”

Caleb Yuan – 10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals
Cody Bach (season high) – 13 points, 6 rebounds
Max Novick (season high) – 19 points, 4 steals, 7 rebounds
Orin Pearce – 4 points, 2 steals, 2 rebounds
Max Sapupo – 4 points, 1 steal