SCAA Tournament: Woodland storms back (with belief) in shocking comeback over Advance

DEXTER – There is belief and then there is borderline insanity. For the Woodland boy’s basketball team on Friday, its players and coaches never ceased in their conviction that the Cardinals could beat Advance in the third-place game of the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament, which minutes into the contest, was either an insane thought or ignorant, take your pick.

Woodland fought back from a 31-9 deficit in the FIRST QUARTER and somehow managed to win 80-78.

“It took a little bit for our kids to realize that they could win the game,” Cardinal coach Shawn Kinder said. “Once they started believing, and we changed some things up defensively, and we started to punch the ball inside…”

And the rest is SCAA Tournament history.

Woodland – eventually – began to “punch the ball inside” to senior Lane VanGennip, who is only 6-foot-1, but against a small Advance lineup, was plenty big enough.

The Cardinals (15-6) trailed 31-11 entering the second quarter, but with a strategy that was actually being implemented, instead of just talked about, Woodland stormed back into the game.

“That originally was our game plan,” Kinder said of feeding the post. “We just weren’t getting it done. We weren’t executing it. But once we did that, we changed it up and got a few (defensive) stops, the kids started believing.”

Woodland outscored the Hornets 26-10 in the second quarter, with half of those points coming from VanGennip.

“Our inside presence has always kind of been the nucleus of our offense,” Kinder explained, “and we’re not real big, but we are extremely athletic and we are versatile.

“(The kids) make it tough.”

The Cardinals trailed just 41-37 early in the third period, but following a VanGennip post score with 12 seconds left in the third period, the Cardinal comeback was complete, as they led 60-59 heading into the final eight minutes.

VanGennip added 12 more points in the third quarter and finished the game with 31 points.

“We came out hot in the first quarter,” Hornet senior Hayden Hitt said. “They came out and bumped up (their game). They are way more athletic than us, I’ll give them props for that.”

Hitt said Woodland “outrebounded us on the boards and outscrapped us,” but not by much.

Advance (17-3) battled just as tough in the final quarter and Hitt made a bucket with 57 seconds remaining that tied the game at 76.

The Cardinals got another post bucket, this time from senior Preston Hulvey, with 30 seconds left to take a 78-76 lead before VanGennip grabbed a Hornet miss and fed Cardinal junior Reed Layton from half-court to seal the win with 14 seconds left.

“It just started happening,” Kinder said of his players’ confidence. “The kids really just started believing and playing harder than what they originally started at the beginning of the game.”

VanGennip scored nine of his points on 12 free throws, while junior Brayden Hastings drained five 3-pointers and totaled 20 points in the win.

Woodland senior Jarid Frymire was one of five Cardinals to contribute offensively in the final period and finished with 17 points, while Layton had eight.

Hitt connected on three 3-pointers and scored 25 points, while Hornet senior Colton Silman had four long shots and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line to match Hitt’s 25 points.

Advance senior Hayden Laird chipped in 11 points.

The best part of this story? The two teams will meet again on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Advance.