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CHILLICOTHE — The Waverly Tigers are playing with house money.
In no way, shape or form is the team’s season supposed to be alive. Waverly isn’t supposed to be getting ready to make a trip to the Convo.
At least, that’s what everybody on the outside looking in says.
The Tigers haven’t read — or have refused to read — that memo.
And without knowledge of what they’re supposed to be doing, they’ve now pieced together two incredible tournament victories.
The latest of those came on Tuesday in a Division IV district semifinal against Jackson at Southeastern High School. Behind a performance for the ages from freshman Kage Alexander, and a total team effort behind him, Waverly handed the Ironmen a 51-49 loss.
“When you’re young, you’re playing with house money,” Waverly coach Kyle Bradley said. “Now we feel like we’re better than what our record is. Our league is really tough. I mean, I think we have two teams that could be in the state semifinal in their divisions. So we’re tested. We’ve been through it. There’s been a lot of adversity. But we came out on the other side in a good place.”
Through it all, Alexander has been one of the team’s constants. And on Tuesday, he was nothing short of incredible.
After his Tigers took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter, alongside the help of teammate Sawyer Myers, he kept Waverly (9-15) ahead throughout the final eight minutes.
But his signature moment came with just 2.2 seconds left.
In a 49-49 tie, Alexander sized up his defender and got a screen from Myers before dribbling to his left. When he found the slightest bit of room, he pulled up and sank a midranger jumper to send the Tigers to the Convo — and the Waverly faithful into a frenzy.
“We ask him to do so much,” Bradley said of Alexander. “The ball is in his hands eighty percent of the time. He initiates all of the offense and we need a bucket, we have to go to him. That’s a really tall ask for a freshman. He’s handled it extremely well. I thought there were times throughout the season where it got tough for him. But he’s as good, if not better, than where he started. He’s even taking the next step in leading guys. He’s a special player and he’s fun to coach.”
Alexander — who else? — got the night’s scoring started before Teagan Hurt extended the lead to 5-2 with an early 3. After two free throws on the other end, Hurt dialed long distance again with 3:32 left in the first, followed by another score at the 2:12 mark for a 10-4 count.
When Landon Russell scored with 55.6 seconds left, the Tigers had gone on a 10-2 and had a 12-4 lead.
Jackson (17-7) battled back, though.
After a 3 from Jax Carroll ended the first, Jenkins scored four straight points to start the second and cut the deficit to one. After both teams traded baskets, with 4:48 left, Bodhi Wolford gave the Ironmen their first lead of the night with a lay-in to make it 15-14.
Jackson would retain its lead until Alexander scored with 7.8 seconds remaining to force a 21-21 tie at the break.
Jenkins began the third with a 3 before Charlie Woodard followed suit, putting Jackson ahead 27-21 with 6:38 to play. Alexander then hit a triple of his own at the 3:58 mark before scoring again with 3:17 left, bringing the Tigers to within 29-28.
Carroll answered with a trifecta on the other end and Waverly’s Cade Carroll got a putback to fall to keep Waverly within striking distance at 32-30.
That putback may have seemed like just two points in the moment, but it ended up being one of the most important scores of the night.
“You can turn on the film at any point and you’ll see [Carroll] thirty to forty feet behind the basketball and here he comes flying in,” Bradley said. “There’s no play that he gives up on. And when you have a young group, you need to have guys that you can point to and say, ‘Hey look, here’s a guy that gives everything he’s got and he’s all about the name on the front of his jersey.’ We need examples like that and he does a tremendous job of leading our group.”
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
Carroll’s heads-up play gave way for Hurt to give Waverly a 33-32 lead going into the fourth with a 3-ball with just 29.6 seconds left.
The Tigers never trailed again, and the duo of Myers and Alexander made sure of it.
Myers started the fourth with two scores before turning in an old-fashioned three-point play for a 40-36 lead with 4:21 left. Wolford and Alexander then traded buckets before Wolford scored again with 3:19 to go, bringing the deficit to 42-40.
After a basket from Gunnar Myers with 2:13 left made it a 44-40 count, Alexander spent much of the next two minutes at the free throw line where he’d go 5-of-6.
Jackson had an answer every time down the floor and even managed to force a 49-49 tie with just 49.2 seconds left, thanks to a 3 from Carroll.
But in the end, the night belonged to Alexander.
The youngster took the basketball down the floor and, eventually, penned history with a jumper that wasn’t supposed to happen — and one that will be talked about for years to come.
“We fought in the first round against [Washington] Court House and won a close game,” Bradley said. “We had talked all year about winning one of those and getting a taste of that. Here it is again tonight. It was a close game and we found a way to win it. Once you experience that, you can take that next step. I feel like this group is starting to figure it out.”
Following Alexander’s 22-point outing was Hurt, who added 11 points to the team’s totals. Sawyer Myers finished with nine points, and Carroll led the team with eight rebounds.
As for the Ironmen, Wolford ended with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists, Jenkins added 13 points and three helpers, and Carroll ended the evening with 13 points.
As Jackson’s season comes to an end, Waverly will advance to a Division IV district championship game at 8 p.m. on Thursday at Ohio University.
The Tigers will face off with Unioto, who beat Fairfield Union to advance.
“We talked about our goal being thirty-two minutes to get to the Convo,” Bradley said. “The only team that separated us from that was ourselves. I’m a firm believer that basketball is played against basketball. We’ve seen everything we need to see. We just need to go handle it. Opponents and situations aside, we just have to fall back to what we know. We’ll enjoy the win and we’re excited about going to the Convo. But at the same time, we understand that we want to go there and compete. We aren’t satisfied with just getting to play on that floor.
“As soon as the tournament started, we told our kids that our record is 0-0,” Bradley added. “We’ve just been working to stay together as long as we can. Not to be cliche, but we’ve got another week together now. We’ve got two seniors that are all about Waverly and they deserve to be in the gym as long as they can. This group has pulled together for that cause.”
BOX SCORE
Waverly: 12-9-12-18 — 51
Jackson: 7-14-11-17 — 49
Waverly: 20-35 FG, 6-9 FT, 5-8 3pt., 18 rebounds (Carroll 8), 11 turnovers, 6 assists (Alexander 4). Scoring: Alexander 22, Hurt 11, S. Myers 9, G. Myers 5, Carroll 2, Hobbs 2.
Jackson: 17-41 FG, 10-13 FT, 5-22 3pt., 20 rebounds (Woodard 4, Seimetz 4), 9 turnovers, 10 assists (Jenkins 3, Seimetz 3, Wolford 3). Scoring: Wolford 15, Jenkins 13, Carroll 13, Woodard 8.
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