Wildcats get best, last game of season

Published February 15, 2013 5:00pm by Josie Musico

Wellman-Union freshman Martin Loewen goes in for a jump shot. The Wildcats wrapped up their hoops season Tuesday night with a narrow 34-35 home loss to Loop.

A frustrating hoops season was nearly over for Wellman-Union Tuesday night, and the Wildcats wouldn’t go out without clawing up a fight.

In a frenzy with their last chance to finally get a win under their paws, the ‘Cats made their final game of the season their best when they narrowly fell 34-35 to Loop.

"It was a heck of a ball game to finish the year on,” said Head Coach JoeBob Ussery.

The ‘Cats sank some good shots that helped them lead the visiting Longhorns 13-9 at the end of the first quarter and 17-16 at halftime. Not surprisingly, seeing the scoreboard in their home team’s favor for the first time in recent memory drew some ear-pounding cheers from the blue-and-gold-decked crowd packed in Wildcat Gym.

The ‘Cats maintained a slight advantage through most of the third that was offset only with Loop three-pointers near the end of that quarter and beginning of the fourth. 

And just when fans thought the action on the court couldn’t get any more heated, sophomore Luis Gonzales survived some tremendous pressure on the free-throw line and sank a lay-up to return the scoreboard to his team’s favor, 33-31 with 40 seconds on the clock. Two more quick Loop shots and Wellman-Union missed free throws returned the Longhorns to a one-point lead, though, which they maintained as the ‘Cats’ shots bounced off the rim the last 10 seconds. 

Scorers included Gonzales 12,  Braden Caldwell 10, Kirk Martin 8, Vincent Tedford 2 and Kirby Bailey 2. The Wildcats landed 12 of 25 free-throw attempts and the Longhorns two of five.

Ussery noted that despite their winless season, the ‘Cats  improved significantly and would return plenty of ambition - and four starters - to the court next year.

"This year we were a very young, inexperienced team, and it showed,” he said. "The experiences we gained this year should pay off. This is a good group of kids that never quit when they faced adversity.”