WAYNESBORO – The Waynesboro Indians varsity basketball team continued its early-season surge on Friday after defeating James Buchanan 70-42 in a Mid-Penn Colonial Division game to improve its record to 8-0.
In a game that saw 13 players get playing time and included a fitting tribute to senior Evan Stein, who suffered a season-ending injury in the season opener against New Oxford, it was all good in the proverbial neighborhood for head coach Tom Hoffman’s team in the friendly confines of the home gymnasium.
Thanks to James Buchanan’s cooperation, Stein made an uncontested layup before exiting the game.
“Hopefully it meant something to Evan, because he means a lot to us,” said Hoffman. “(James Buchanan) is a class act. They’ve had a run of a couple things with injuries and illness, a guy or two who didn’t come out that they were counting on. It’s a roller coaster at the high school level.
“Evan has probably played James Buchanan kids since he was in seventh grade.”
Stein was to be a significant contributor this season, according to Hoffman. His absence shook up the longtime coach’s approach to the season.
“We were going into the season calling it the Iron Six,” Hoffman said. “We knew what our six guys could do. We weren’t sure what the other guys could do. It was certainly a blow. He could come in and if a post guy got in foul trouble or jammed a finger or something he would come in and play one of the guard spots and then Ryan (Shaffer) would jump to the post. If it was for a wing, he would be fine. If it was for the point guard, Michael Young would go and play the point. If Cooper (Hough) got in foul trouble, Evan would have played the wing. It was just six guys who were pieces to a puzzle and that went out the window the very first game.”
Stein’s opening points for Waynesboro were followed by a furious paced contest by the Indians, who punished the Rockets in transition with layup after layup and even a couple crowd-pleasing dunks by senior Jaylon Bean.
Bean finished the game with 12 points, all from the field. He was credited with two steals and perhaps underperformed on the boards as he had an uncharacteristically low three rebounds.
Then again, rebounds were at a premium since Waynesboro didn’t need many second-chance points and, at the other end, James Buchanan committed 20 turnovers. The Tribe made 16 defensive rebounds and 13 offensive rebounds.
Backup Grant Thompson led the team with six boards. Thompson, who also scored eight points, was one of a “fresh five” who logged significant minutes in the third quarter after Waynesboro took a 46-17 lead after the first 16 minutes.
James Buchanan did a much better job on defense when forcing Waynesboro to settle in its halfcourt offense. Using a zone defense, the Rockets managed to stall things a bit, but as the Indians seven other opponents have discovered, Waynesboro’s ability to score points is hard to contain and impossible to stop.
In addition to Thompson, Alex Torbica, Kellan Smith, Jevon McIver and Will Campbell held their own against the Rockets starters. Waynesboro started subbing the starters back in the game towards the end of the third period, and the Tribe led 58-25 heading into the fourth quarter.
Tanyon Shaull led Waynesboro in points with 15. Shaffer had 10 points and Young added seven points.
In all, 13 different players scored for the home team. McIver’s points came on a three-point field goal, while Thompson was a work horse in the paint, fighting for rebounds and loose balls while making four field goals from within a few feet of the cylinder.
Waynesboro will hope to continue its impressive start next week at the 21st annual Sauve Bros. Holiday Basketball Tournament on Dec. 27 and 28. The Indians will play host Mechanicsburg on Tuesday with a tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
