WAYNESBORO – The Waynesboro Indians varsity basketball team played a pair of games this past weekend as they hosted the second annual Franklin County vs. Everyone Tip-Off Tournament.
On Friday, Waynesboro battled all game long before coming up short 34-31 to Bishop McDevitt On Saturday, Warwick had a much easier time as it came away with a 62-31 victory.
The 0-3 Indians will host West Perry in the Mid-Penn Colonial Division opener and will have no time to think about three losses to start the 2023-24 season.
Waynesboro showed resilience in the tip-off opener against the Crusaders. The Tribe trailed 21-10 at halftime but chipped away in the second half to eventually tie McDevitt at 23 in the third quarter.
“I really don’t have any problem, especially coming off a 10-point half,” said Waynesboro coach Tom Hoffman. “I told them it could have been 40-20 at the end of the third just because we couldn’t put the ball I the basket. I was very proud of them. The effort was definitely there for 32 minutes. They were playing to win and not playing not to lose. I can live with that.”
The tie was shortlived. The Crusaders went on a 6-0 run to take a 29-23 lead. Then, Alex Torbica got two points back, and Thompson made a conventional three-point play to make it 29-28 with 2:24 to play in the game.
Smith made a three-pointer to get Waynesboro to within a point, 32-31 with onlyl 5.7 seconds remaining. The Indians missed a desperation shot at the buzzer that would have tied the game.
Though the offense is still struggling, Waynesboro did show signs of getting in syn with one another. The passing was crisp and the ball movement was much more fluid than the season-opener against New Oxford last Tuesday, a 68-51 loss.
The communication between the guards (Rayshawn Frazer-Hewitt, Kellan Smith, Farin Parks and Carter Hough) is improving. Inside, Alex Torbica is a diamond in the rough and will have to get used to defenses collapsing on him in the paint. Grant Thompson is the other inside threat, and he is also an adept passer. He fed the ball inside to Torbica for nice short-range buckets.
“I have to find a way to help them score a little easier,” Hoffman said. “We also have trouble guarding. We’re in so much foul trouble all the time. We have guys that sit in long stretches, and it can’t continue. Some it it’s them not being smart. We might have to switch up defenses to allow them to protect themselves to not chase people all over the floor.”
And, as a refresher, all five starters were bench players a season ago. Patience is no doubt a necessity, not to mention practice, practice, practice. Of course, all being competitors, the players and coaching staff will be eager to put the pieces together sooner rather than later to get some confidence-boosting wins.
Torbica was Waynesboro’s scoring leader with 11 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds (seven on the defensive end). Thompson had six points and four assists.
Warwick jumped out to a 16-4 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. The lead was 29-10 at halftime and 46-22 at the end of the third quarter.
Torbica and Thompson each scored nine points for the Tribe. Thompson pulled down 12 rebounds, including 11 on the defensive side. Torbica had seven rebounds.
A big fly in the ointment for Waynesboro was 18 turnovers, compared to six by Warwick.
