Churchill Halts Wootton's Win Streak With 51-40 Road Win

On a night where Wootton never seemed to find a rhythm offensively, the Patriots dropped their first game since Dec. 19., falling to the visiting , 51-40, before a capacity crowd on Friday night.

It wasn't as though the Patriots didn't have their chances.

When Chris Bohlen watches the game film, the Wootton basketball coach knows there will be moments that will make him cringe. 

"Churchill outplayed us in every aspect of the game," Bohlen said. "There's no secret about it. They manhandled us on the boards, they did a great job pushing the tempo, and they shot the ball extremely well. We had our opportunities, we just couldn't capitalize on them."

And despite trailing the entire game, the Patriots (8-3) still had the game within reach midway through the fourth quarter, trailing by eight points with 2:07 remaining. It was the closest it had been since the start of the second half and it looked as though Wootton was sourcing energy from its home crowd, clawing its way back from a 14-point deficit just moments before to make it 46-38.

But as had been the case all night, Wootton couldn't take advantage of several scoring chances late and Churchill (7-3) closed out the game with five straight points before Wootton scored on a basket as time expired.

"We couldn't finish plays, we couldn't make baskets and we couldn't rebound when we needed to," Bohlen said. "We're definitely a tempo team. When we can't get things going and have to grind it out, against a good team, they're going to take advantage."

Wootton's season-high five game win streak was halted in the losing effort while Churchill was able to get the bad taste out of its mouth after Tuesday's loss to Whitman. It was the Bulldogs' fifth win in their last six games. 

"I thought our guys did a nice job bouncing back after a tough loss Tuesday," Churchill Coach Matt Miller said after the game. "Wootton's a very formidable opponent. Our guys dug in and found a way to make it happen, even though we cooled down there in the fourth quarter. It's always big when you get a chance to beat a cross-town rival. There's definitely a mutual respect between the two programs."

Sam Edens led all scorers with 16 points, 12 of which came in the first half. The senior forward has now scored in double-digit figures in every game since the season opener. After the game, Edens, who averages 14.3 points per game, echoed his coach's sentiments about the win.

"It was huge," Edens said. "The loss on Tuesday brought us down. But we got back up against our cross-town rival. Everything seemed to really work for us, especially in the first half and we were happy to get out with a win."

If everything was working well for Churchill's leading scorer, the opposite can be said for Wootton's. Willis Ibeh, like the rest of his teammates, never got into a comfortable tempo, Bohlen said after the game. And the result -- just six points -- was Ibeh's worst scoring performance since the season-opening loss at Paint Branch. 

It was just the second time since that Dec. 9 game where Ibeh didn't score at least 10 and he had been averaging 18 points-per-game over his last three. Collectively, it was also Wootton's lowest offensive output since the season opener. And Bohlen expects more from his team as the season progresses.

"We have to expect more out of ourselves as far as our level of execution, our intensity and our focus," Bohlen said. "I thought we were very undisciplined tonight but it's a great opportunity to have this game on Jan. 6. We have two months of basketball left to try to fix those things."

Chad Rudden led all Wootton scorers with 10 while Dominique Williams added 11 for Churchill to compliment Edens.

Churchill and Wootton will face each other again on Jan. 27.