Wilson, Cullen take over

FISHERSVILLE — Wilson Memorial took control of the game early on the play of Dylan Hudson and Hunter Cullen, and held on late to notch a 48-39 win against Waynesboro Wednesday night.

Waynesboro had its only lead of the game on the first possession of the game, when Jordan Ross nailed a 3-pointer. After five straight Wilson points, Ross struck gold again for three, accounting for all six of the Little Giants’ points in the first quarter.

“We are basically looking to get the ball up the court and if we have an advantage we will take it,” Waynesboro coach C. Jay DeWitt said. “We don’t want to play too fast. I don’t think we will hit a lot of 3s and outscore people.”

Waynesboro’s Storm Burks knotted the score back at nine in the early minutes of the second quarter.

The Little Giant defense kept the score close mainly due to shutting down Cullen in the second. Cullen hit his first shot in the stanza with just over two minutes left in the half.

The third quarter could be described as Little Giants versus Cullen.

Waynesboro scored 15 points in the quarter against Cullen’s 10.

Wilson’s first, and only third contribution by another member of the team, was Justin Rexrode’s 3-pointer with one minute left to play in the quarter.

Waynesboro was poised for a comeback in the fourth, down five to start the final eight minutes of play.

Hudson and Cullen took over for the Hornets, shutting down the Little Giant threat, scoring all but two of Wilson’s 13 points.

“Dylan [Hudson] is a lot stronger than last year,” Wilson coach Rodney Cullen said. “He has really worked on his game. He had trouble finishing in the first half, but I thought he did a much better job of finishing his shot in the second half.”

The Little Giants would not go peacefully into the Fishersville night.

Sam Richerson came off the bench to score six of his eight points in the fourth quarter, along with multiple hustle plays.

Clyde Thompson’s steal late in the fourth and subsequent 3-pointer began to change the game’s momentum with the Hornets holding onto a five-point lead.

“Everybody on the team has a golden opportunity to get playing time,” DeWitt said. “I thought Clyde [Thompson] played his best game tonight and Sam [Richerson] came in there and gave us a spark.”

Patrick Wagoner ran the ball up the floor for the Hornets, but Richerson was standing at half court to take the charge, causing a full-blown momentum switch in the Hornet Nest.

Coach Cullen called a timeout to settle his kids down.

“We had three looks in a row,” Cullen stated. “I told them that they had to be stronger with the ball.”

The Hornets must have taken the advice to heart, holding onto the ball and drawing fouls to pull away at the line.

Cullen’s 26 points paced the Hornets (3-2, 0-0 Shenandoah). Hudson added 13 in the winning effort.

Thompson scored all 12 of his points behind the arch, while Richerson knotted eight points.

The Hornets head to Nelson Friday while Waynesboro (1-4, 0-1 Southern Valley) hosts Robert E. Lee the same night.