Barrett hit four free throws in the fourth quarter as he and the Spartans turned in a stellar defensive effort to stave off and defeat Oakwood 47-42 at The Pit on Friday.
“Winning one in this atmosphere and to get an outright in the Pit is really special,” Barrett said. “This is a great ball team, heck of a game and it was so fun.”
Waynesville captured its first SWBL title since winning a share of the Buckeye Division during the 2018-19 season. The Spartans ended Oakwood’s four-season run of division titles at the same time.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
“Our league is extremely tough night in and night out,” Waynesville head coach Brandon Philpot said. “It means so much to this community and I think you could see what these guys have done to bring this community back and it’s just so fun and exciting to see.”
The Spartans have won 17 consecutive games since its 2-2 start to the season that included a pair of three-point losses. Friday was its toughest test during the final minutes it has encountered while on its run of wins.
Waynesville (19-2, 13-1) captured its title the hard way. They went without a made field goal for the final 7:44 of the game — making only four total shots in the second half — after taking a nine-point lead to begin the fourth quarter.
Waynesville’s defensive play hounded Oakwood all over the floor and either caused turnovers or forced shot attempts throughout the night.
“They’re really physical so we knew we need to start our tempo and our pace on the defensive end,” Barrett said. “We were really trying to bring energy and get flying around trying to rotate. The full court pressure definitely helped us get settled in.”
Oakwood (16-6, 11-3) cut its deficit to three in the final minute as the standing room only crowd in attendance didn’t occupy a seat. A prolonged Waynesville possession that followed involving several missed shots that turned into offensive rebounds led to the start of a free throw barrage.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
Senior Lucas Rocha hit a pair to put Waynesville up 45-40. Oakwood senior Owen Hoersting then returned the favor with 25 seconds left. Barrett had the ball in his hands and crucially made his second attempt after missing the first to make it a two-possession game again. Oakwood missed a three-point attempt from the corner at the other end and Barrett again came up clutch at the line to secure the Spartans’ closest win of the season.
“I’ve struggled from the line this year, so I was definitely nervous,” said Barrett, who has the most free throw attempts for Waynesville this season. “Great atmosphere and it’s super loud, but I tried to stay calm and knock them down.”
Senior Zevin Sesslar led Waynesville with 12 points and Rocha added 11.
Oakwood got 13 points by freshman Andrew Woeste, who connected on a trio of threes, and another eight points by senior Tristan Provancher.
The Lumberjacks struggled to convert around the basket and were never able to produce a run of more than four points until its 6-0 streak to get within three with 1:35 remaining before the well dried up again.
“The Pit is one of the toughest places to come into and get a win,” Philpot said. “Paul [Stone] does a great job with that team and we knew they were going to be physical. We’re used to being able to run a little more than we did tonight, so I was glad that our kids could adapt and overcome what they had to face.”
Oakwood opens its Division IV district tournament playing either Kenton Ridge or Meadowdale at 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 at Xenia High School.
Waynesville will be the No. 1-seed in the district tournament for D-V. They will play No. 13 Stivers at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at Northmont High School.
In the meantime, they still have one more division crossover game to play at Edgewood on Sunday. There’s a winning streak to protect, and a title to coronate.
“It’s difficult to win that many in a row, but that’s what we preach about is one game at a time,” Philpot said. “We’re not done yet.”
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