WAYNESBORO – The Waynesboro Indians varsity basketball team earned their 11th win of the season on Friday after turning away the Shippensburg Greyhounds 62-31 in a Mid-Penn Colonial Division game inside the Waynesboro Area Senior High School gym.
Ryan Shaffer led the Tribe scoring surge with 20 points, and he could have scored more were it not for Waynesboro substituting liberally in the second half thanks to large leads. In fact, the running clock was used after the Indians’ advantage grew to 30 points.
Michael Young scored 11 points, with three of his shots coming from beyond the three-point arc. He also had three assists.
Waynesboro improves to 11-1 and is now 6-0 in the Mid-Penn Colonial Division. The Indians play at Greencastle-Antrim on Tuesday to close out the first half of league play.
This wasn’t a typical Waynesboro-Shippensburg game. The two teams split last season with Waynesboro pulling out a win in the second meeting that helped the Indians gain a share of the division title.
But a blowout on either side isn’t the norm for this rivalry.
“They lost three guys from the team that went to states, but they returned two starters, and some other kids who can really play,” said Waynesboro head coach Tom Hoffman. “It’s a little bit of a transition year – new coach, new system. It was a little different, but we tried to encourage our guys to stay focused and locked in and see if we couldn’t put our best performance together.”
Once Waynesboro got the parts moving and built up steam, there wasn’t much the Greyhounds could do to stem the tide.
Shaffer, who dunked twice and made both of his three-point field goals, scored the first five points of the game, the first on a layup and the second on a three-pointer.
Jaylon Bean was next, and after Shippensburg scored its first points, Tanyon Shaull made a layup to give Waynesboro a 9-2 lead.
Shaull (9 points) added a three-pointer of his own and made a layup on a follow-up shot – then banked another layup off a nice pass from Shaffer that upped the score to 16-4.
Shaffer increased the decibel level of the crowd with a straight-on dunk for an 18-4 lead with just over two minutes to play in the first quarter.
Reserve guard Kellan Smith got in on the scoring with a basket from just above the free throw line to close out the Tribe’s scoring in the opening quarter.
“Our depth is starting to develop,” Hoffman said. “Nice performances from Kellan, Farin (Parks) and Grant (Thompson). With our core group being so strong, there isn’t a ton of minutes, but they played well and found a way to contribute.”
Shippensburg tried to slow down Waynesboro’s half-court offense with a 2-3 zone, and while it limited second-chance opportunities, the Indians didn’t need many of those. Waynesboro was 19 of 27 from the field with a good bit of the points coming inside the paint.
A three-pointer by Young gave Waynesboro a 31-11 lead, and Smith made an off-balance basket as time was running out in the first half to make it 39-19 at the half.
What made life really hard for Shippensburg was that the Indians were playing well at both ends of the court.
“The one constant for us has been our (defense),” said Hoffman. “We know there could be a night when we’re not shooting well – the Northern game, but we only gave up 29 that night. If you can guard in the half court and stop transition you’re giving yourself a chance every night.”
What also helped Waynesboro was Shippensburg committing 21 turnovers. The Indians turned the ball over 13 times.
Waynesboro started the new year with a 69-44 win over Gettysburg. Jaylon Bean had a great game as he scored 33 points to pace the Indians scoring effort. Tanyon Shaull had 14 points and Michael Young added 10 points.
Waynesboro held a 21-16 lead after the first quarter and then pulled away after outscoring the Warriors 16-5 in the second quarter.
