JERRY CITY — A slight breeze could have been the difference Tuesday night.
With 15 seconds remaining in regulation and the scored tied at 49, Woodmore’s lone senior, Grant Weirich,
got the ball, drove through the lane, and pulled up an eight-foot shot as he faded away from the basket.

After completely circling the rim, the ball seeming stopped atop the rim for nearly three seconds before
it fell through with 2.9 seconds left, handing Elmwood (8-3, 4-1) its first league loss of the season.

“It was just a simple baseline clear-out,” Weirich said. “Donny Bowen comes up and sets a screen and we
try to find an open lane to dump it off if they (Elmwood) help out, and nobody came over so I just
pulled up a shot and got lucky.”
Woodmore improves to 6-5 overall and 4-2 in the SLL, but still remains behind Elmwood in the league race.
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GALLERY

“I thought we had some momentum right at the end of the game,” said Elmwood head coach Ty Traxler. “If a
stiff breeze blows that ball off the rim and we get to overtime, I really like our chances then because
I think we really battled to get back and tie it back up. But it wasn’t meant to be, for whatever
reason.”
Elmwood’s Kevin Hammer, who finished with a game-high 22 points, was responsible for two crucial lead
changes down the stretch as he hit two of his four 3-point baskets in the final 5:49 of the game. Both
shots from beyond the arc put the Royals up by one point at the time.
But the Wildcats weren’t to be denied, answering back with points of their own after each of the Hammer
scores.
Woodmore’s Jon Sandwisch hit his second 3-pointer of the game only 32 seconds after Hammer hit his final
three, giving Woodmore a 44-42 lead with 3:03 to play.
The Wildcats held onto the lead until Elmwood’s Jack Waldock tied the game 49-49 with a 3-point basket
with only 47 seconds left.
After Weirich’s heroic shot, TJ Waldock in-bounded to Jay Hannah, who’s shot went begging off the rim at
the buzzer, giving Woodmore the victory.
In a game that had 13 lead changes and five ties, neither team led the other by more than five points.

“Most of the credit goes to Woodmore,” said Traxler. “I thought they just played a perfect game.
Defensively they were able to slow us down a little bit with their zone. We didn’t get great ball
movement at times, but still I thought we were getting shots. Credit to them, they had a good game plan
and it worked.”
Elmwood played well defensively, forcing 17 turnovers with its full-court press defense. But Woodmore was
able to shoot 22-of-28 (79 percent) from the floor compared to Elmwood’s 45 percent shooting.
Elmwood was also out-rebounded 19-11 which didn’t allow it to get many second chance opportunities like
it has in previous games.
“We focused the last three days on rebounding the basketball and not giving them (Elmwood) second
opportunities, and then forcing them to beat us over the top with 3-pointers,” Woodmore head coach Brad
Sander said. “Because they are so good athletically and so strong, we didn’t want them to dribble-drive
on us. We wanted to force them to beat us from the outside.”
Woodmore’s 2-3 zone forced Elmwood into taking 16 shots from outside the 3-point line, making five of
them.
“This was a game we knew we’d have a hard time winning,” Traxler said. “We lost a game that we should
have won Saturday and then today is even bigger because it’s a league game. But we’ve got to move on. In
the grand scheme of things it was a two-point loss to a team that I think is going to be right there by
the time it comes down to it. We’ve got to stay positive as a team and this is a good time to bond
together.”
Elmwood won the junior varsity game 41-33. Zach Foster led the Royals with 18 points. Harrison Wooten led
Woodmore with 10.