Central Lee boys bow out early at WB

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Hawks end year with one win at 1-21, but young squad got plenty of experience

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

WEST BURLINGTON - Central Lee Head Coach Kritter Hayes said Monday's season-ending loss to West Burlington was a storyline for the Hawks' season this year.

The Hawks fell out of Class 2A District 12 substate action and ended their basketball season with a 69-23 loss to the Falcons in West Burlington.

Freshman Brayden Wyrick led the Hawks with 11 points in the loss. Wyrick led Central Lee in scoring all year.

Central Lee shot a chilly 4 of 14 in the first half including a 1-of-7 start in the first period. The Falcons were almost as poor from the field in the first quarter but heated up in the second to pull away quickly.

Central Lee's Cory Jones (21) goes up for a reverse layup in the first half of Monday's 63-29 loss to West Burlington in Class 2A District 12 action. West Burlington's Zachary Webb defends from behind. The loss ended the Hawks' season at 1-21. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

Wyrick hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 5:21 left to cut the lead to just three at 11-8 in the second period.

West Burlington then hit eight of its nine next shots from the floor including three 3-pointers in a row from Parker Rau, Caleb Allen, and Austin Applegate to push the lead to 19 at 29-10, sparked by a 16-2 run.

With a 33-13 halftime lead, Corbin Pohren came out and hit a jumper to start the third period, and then Central Lee missed six of its next seven shots, while the Falcons opened up a 44-17 lead and never looked back.

Hayes said the Hawks moved Wyrick, who typically plays in the post, out to the top of the offense in the half court to try and bring West Burlington's big men out from the center to open up the offense.

"We were working on trying to get their bigs out a bit. Brayden is getting better with the ball in his hands and then we just kinda got away from it," Hayes said.

"They sped us up like they've done in the past, but our guys gotta learn how to get back into it and trust what they can do. When we executed in the half court, we looked pretty darned good."

Hayes loses three seniors in Bryce Finney, Alex Sandoval, and Maddox Doty from this year's squad and returns a young squad that got a lot of experience, despite going just 1-21 on the year.

Freshman Brayden Wyrick throws up a floater in the lane over West Burlington's Arya Nowroozi Monday night in West Burlington. Wyrick finished with 11 points to lead Central Lee. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

"I'm happy about the future that we're headed for. The direction is right and we're very young. We just lost three seniors, but its about modeling their work ethic. It's not always about basketball skill, it's just about being good people and then we overcome the other things .That's what my job will be," Hayes said.

Wyrick's 11 was tops on the night for Central Lee. Cory Jones had five and Kegan Damico had four for the Hawks. Wyrick had eight boards to lead the Hawks in rebounding. Jones had four.

Hayes said despite the lopsided score, the Hawks never gave up during the game or during the year.

"There's no quit in our guys. That's for sure," he said.

"We just learned a lot this year about facing adversity head on. You can't hide. Tonight was just a storyline of our season. They never gave up, they kept fighting. I've learned a lot about these guys this year - the work ethic they have and what it's going to take to overcome some of the things we struggle with."

athletics, basketball, central lee, Falcons, hawks, Kritter Hayes, Pen City Current, scores, sports, substate, varsity, West Burlington

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