NCC Freshmen Tournament

Tearless Tournament Victory 

By: Hunter Miller, “Royal Times”

On February 10, 2014 the Royal's, with a record of 8-8, hosted the Riverdale Falcons for the opening game of the freshmen tournament. The Royals jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with Jack Reed's short jumper. Zach Hoffman from the opening tip played tenacious defense which gave the Royal's an early 7-4 lead midway through the first quarter. After a few fast break lay ups, the Royal's end the first quarter with a 14-7 lead. The Falcons put together a little bit of a comeback at the beginning of the second, but it did not last long before Zach Hoffman and Thad Hensel had back to back scores in the paint. In the second quarter, with one minute remaining, the Royal's lead by nine. Jack Reed got a few open looks in the final minute but could not convert taking a 25-16 lead into half. The Falcons come out of the half with a quick three just before the Royals' Jack Reed and Tyler Glowaski score back to back in the lane. After these first two buckets, the Royal's started to play a bit sloppy with the next three possessions resulting in turnovers. After a timeout, the Royal's put the press back on and forced the Falcon's to back to back turnovers resulting in Royal's scores. This makes the score 36-30 with one minute in the third. The Royal's end the third quarter with a seven point lead. Both teams come out in the fourth rather slow with no scoring in the first three minutes. Jack Reed stopped this trend by getting three the hard way off of a fast break. As the clock continued to tick away, with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Royal's held a slim 42-41 lead on the Falcons. Zach Hoffman increased the lead to three after he converted on an acrobatic shot from the left block. This was followed by a Royal foul which happened to be Thad Hensel’s fifth personal causing him to foul out. Zach Hoffman got to the lane once again on a backdoor cut and scored with ease. This brought the score to 48-45 in favor of Wynford. That was too much for the Falcons to overcome and resulted in a 50-45 win putting Wynford in the second round of the freshmen tournament. Jack Reed led the Royal's with 16 points and brought their record to 9-8. The Royals will play again on Thursday night at Buckeye Central, this is just the second step in the journey to win the NCC freshmen championship.