WAYNESBORO – Monday night’s Pack the House Night game between Waynesboro and Big Spring was supposed to be played on Friday, Jan. 19.
But Mother Nature dumped some snow that forced the annual game to be postponed until Monday, Jan. 29.
The atmosphere most certainly didn’t disappoint. The students from Fairview, Hooverville, Mowrey, and Summitview Elementary schools brought plenty of noise and enthusiasm. But something seemed lacking in the Waynesboro varsity boys’ basketball players, who struggled from the opening tip to the final buzzer against the Big Spring Bulldogs.
The Indians never led – and the game was never tied – as Big Spring withstood several comeback attempts on its way to a 49-38 victory in a Mid-Penn Colonial Division contest inside a packed house inside the Waynesboro Area Senior High School gym.
“I think the effort was there, but we didn’t compete against a good team,” said Waynesboro head coach Tom Hoffman, whose team was coming off a four-game win streak. “We were sluggish. We had some good wins of late: we beat Gettysburg (Friday, Jan. 26). We’ve been riding a pretty good wave. We wanted to keep building on those wins.”
Starting players were introduced with the names of the elementary schools they attended. Summitview was the best represented with three players – Rayshawn Frazer-Hewitt, Grant Thompson, and Alex Torbica. Farin Parks attended Fairview Elementary School, and Julian Mencia went to Hooverville.
A pep band added even more atmosphere to the game, and the Mowrey Mustang, Hooverville Hornet and Summitview Shark mascots were courtside.
The boys’ varsity game was the fourth game played Monday. The day started at 3:30 p.m. with the girls’ junior varsity game, which was followed by boys’ JV. The varsity girls’ game preceded the boys’ varsity contest.
In a nutshell, the Tribe struggled mightily from the field. From the three-point arc, Waynesboro was 3 for 17 (18 percent). The Indians were 14 of 38 from the free-throw line.
Torbica scored a team-high 11 points and also had a team-best eight rebounds. Grant Thompson had eight points and six rebounds, while Frazer Hewitt scored seven points. Kellan Smith provided a needed spark when he made a three-point field goal. He added another three, but Waynesboro couldn’t get into any kind of rhythm against a team that played with a lot of discipline and worked for high-percentage shots.
Big Spring led 14-7 after the first quarter and was up 25-16 at halftime.
Smith’s three-pointer occurred at 1:13 of the opening stanza with the score 9-1. He made another trey to make it 12-7.
Trailing 20-12 midway through the second stanza, the Indians scored on back-to-back possessions as Torbica made a follow-up basket and Parks made a close-range bucket to make it 20-16,
But the Bulldogs, as they did all night, put the pressure back on Waynesboro when they knocked down a three-pointer. The Indians committed turnovers down the stretch, the second resulting in two points and a nine-point halftime deficit.
Waynesboro has no time to figure out how to fix what was broken on Monday. The Indians host Shippensburg in a league game Tuesday. Varsity tipoff is around 7:30 p.m.
