SCAA: Woodland makes effective use of its time in tourney rout

BLOOMFIELD – With only a month remaining before MSHSAA boy’s basketball squads enter postseason play, coaches throughout the state are trying to remedy the weak spots in their teams with the remaining opportunities to do so in game situations.

That is precisely what was going through Woodland High School boy’s basketball coach Shawn Kinder’s mind as he watched his team dismantle Bell City 105-55 in the opening round of the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament on Tuesday at Bloomfield High School.

“The two things that we were working on were helping on the lob (passes to the post),” Kinder said of his focus in the rout. “We were really trying to help on the lobs from the weak side and getting our (defensive) rotation.”

The Cardinals (11-4) entered the tournament having dropped four of their previous seven games, so Kinder was nowhere close to being on cruise control despite his team’s No. 2 seed status and the Cubs being the No. 7 seed.

“Bell City has a lot of young kids,” Kinder said. “They play hard, and they are trying to figure some things out. We know about (Bell City’s) sophomore class. We’ve played them since they were in the third grade. We know that they are competitors.”

Woodland, which had depth issues on Tuesday due to illness, led the Cubs by margins of 26-12 (first quarter), 58-24 (halftime), and 89-48 (third quarter), as 10 players contributed offensively.

“We’ve got a lot of guys, who can do a lot of things,” Kinder said. “We do have a lot of depth.”

Kinder moved sophomore guard Calvin Layton up from junior varsity to help fill a needed roster spot against Bell City (5-11), and he matched his older brother (senior Reed Layton) with 14 points.

“That gave us another guy on the perimeter who can do some things,” Kinder said. “We’ve got a lot of guys, really, night in and night out, with our guard play, that can really hit shots.”

The Cardinals knocked down 29 makes, including 12 from 3-point range, and were an astounding 11 of 13 from the free-throw line.

Cardinal junior point guard Lane Lee hit seven 3-pointers, including three in a second period in which he tallied 13 points, as he totaled a game-high 29 points.

Sophomore guard Korbin Kinder scored 17 points while senior Brayden Hastings and junior Trae Cook chipped in nine points.

Bell City was led by junior Dawson Loomes, who had 22 points while sophomore Kale Richardson (11 points) and junior Baylor Eftink (nine points) also contributed.

Woodland moves on to face Richland (Essex) (13-4) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in a championship semifinal.

“Richland is talented,” Kinder said. “They have a couple of shooters (and) that point guard (Rebel junior Hunter Sanders) is a real heady player. They have some interior guys who are athletic and can score in a lot of ways.

“We are hoping to show up, contain them on the boards, and protect the inside game.”

Bell City will play Dexter (3-13) today at 8:30 p.m. in a consolation semifinal.