Womble, Taconic Boys Pull Away from Wahconah in Third Quarter
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- After going 0-for-8 from behind the 3-point line in the first half on Friday night, the Taconic boys basketball team turned things around in a big way.
Christian Womble hit three third-quarter triples, and Taconic made six 3s as a team to outscore visiting Wahconah 26-8 in the third en route to a 53-27 victory.
Taconic (8-4), winner of seven straight, went to the locker room ahead, 20-14, but took control of the game with a 22-2 run that saw Wahconah (6-3) call two timeouts.
“The half-time talk was, ‘Go out and play,’ “ Taconic coach Bill Heaphy said of his brief locker room chat between the second and third. “There’s a lot of things we could break down and address. But to me, we were not aggressive enough on offense. We were not looking to attack players or attack gaps in the zone or the basket.
“We were passing it way too much, and I thought we could beat them down the floor. We turned up the press a little bit more, got the pace going in our favor. And they responded. They made some shots. Womble hit a few, [Dedric] Moody hit a few, and we got rolling a little bit.”
The half started with a Womble 3 on a pass from Robert McCown. The next time down the court, Jayden Cross set up McCown, who made it 26-14.
After Tom O’Connor converted an assist from Tim Clayton to get Wahconah its first points of the half, Taconic scored the next 12 to put the game all but out of reach.
McCown got things started by putting back his own rebound, and Womble, Javier Osorio and Womble again hit triples on three straight possessions to make it 37-16 before Quintin Gittens hit a free throw to cap the 12-0 spurt.
Gittens finished with nine points. McCown matched Womble with 11 apiece, and Moody had 10 for the typically balanced Taconic attack.
For Wahconah, Austin Roughey scored eight -- five in the fourth quarter -- and Tom Burris added seven.
Taconic nearly matched its season-low on the defensive side, holding an opponent in the 20s for the second time this winter. Heaphy’s team has not given up more than 44 points since its last loss, to Drury back on Dec. 21.
“It’s really the key for us,” Heaphy said. “If we continue to play this good defense, it always gives us a shot. We’re trying to get some offense out of it. If we can limit them to one shot, rebound the ball and go, that gives us the best shot. It’s the best way to beat a zone, too.
“But, hey, we finally got going, and we’re happy with the effort.”
Taconic goes for its ninth win of the season on Wednesday when Longmeadow visits.
Wahconah heads to Cheshire to face Hoosac Valley on Monday.