WAYNESBORO – Waynesboro Area Senior High School varsity boys’ basketball head coach Tom Hoffman stated that the Indians could very well be a “live by the three, die by the three” kind of team during the 2025-26 season.
He couldn’t have been more right – at least in his team’s 43-35 loss to West Perry on Friday, December 12. And Waynesboro needed them.
The Tribe mustered only 35 points, a season low through the first four games. If they made just three or four more three-point field goals, the outcome could have easily been different.
Instead, Waynesboro finished five for 22 from beyond the three-point arc, while the Mustangs relied on closer-range points to hold off a Tribe rally in their Mid-Penn Colonial Division win inside the WASHS gymnasium.
In a game that West Perry enjoyed a height advantage, Waynesboro found a way to overcome a 20-6 deficit to take the lead, 30-27 late in the third quarter. The key to the comeback was turnovers and transition (and two three-pointers by Jayden Tyler, and one each by Rayshawn Frazer-Hewitt, and Danny Martin).
But just as quickly as the Indians flipped the switch and took advantage of a West Perry scoring drought, the switch flipped back the other way.
Waynesboro, which was outrebounded 23-17, failed to convert more Mustangs’ turnovers into points after West Perry regained the lead, 31-30 early in the fourth quarter. The Steeds turned it over on three straight possessions, but the Indians missed shots on all three of their possessions.
In the meantime, West Perry made three of five foul shots to take a 35-30 lead with just north of one minute to play in the game. The Indians got to within 37-35 after Carter Hough’s three-pointer but the Mustangs scored the final six points of the contest.
Tyler and Hough each scored eight points for Waynesboro. Fraser-Hewitt and Christian Munday tallied seven points apiece.
The loss drops Waynesboro to 0-4 overall, 0-2 in the division.
The Indians will host Greencastle-Antrim on Monday, December 15 in a quadruple header. The girls’ and boys’ junior varsity games will be played first, followed by girls’ varsity and boys’ varsity (beginning at 3 p.m.)
Photos by Toya McCleary
