Abby topples Indians for first win

Falcon boys snap eight game skid

In the vast scheme of things it was just one game, but if you want an idea about how much Abbotsford’s 47-41 victory over Greenwood meant to the Falcons all you had to do was listen to the cheers coming from the locker room.

“It feels very good,” senior guard Bryce Draper said in the aftermath of Abby’s first win of the season. “It feels like a weight’s been lifted off my chest. A lot of the other guys feel the exact same way.”

Greenwood and Abby are on different spectrums in their seasons. The Indians suffered their first loss to Columbus Catholic a few days prior, but regrouped to defeat Neillsville to keep their hopes for the Eastern Cloverbelt title alive.

The Falcons have been competitive in every game they’ve played, but entered Monday’s non-conference home game winless, and on an eight game losing skid. Abbotsford knew it could play well, it was just a winning mind-set that had been absent.

“The mentality coming into the game was that winning was the only option,” Draper said. “The only thing we thought about was winning the game. You think about a loss, you’ve already accepted defeat, and therefore you’ve already lost.”

That mental composure was a vital ingredient in Abby’s victory, and allowed the Falcons to withstand multiple Greenwood comebacks.

Abbotsford was down for much of the first half, struggling to crack the riddle of Greenwood’s zone defense. Threes from Brandon Diedrich, Cade Faber and Hunter Soyk spaced the floor and allowed Faber and Mason Carpenter to find paydirt in the paint.

Faber led all players with 15, and Soyk and Carpenter finished with 11 and 12 points. Brandon Diedrich added eight points, and Adam Diedrich had one.

Those multiple offensive options got Abby back in the game. After being down 17-13 with 8:18 to play the Falcons snapped off a 10-0 run to take a 21-17 lead.

Greenwood came storming back, rattling off a 12-2 run that gave them a 29-25 lead going into the locker room, and interim head coach Brent Faber worried history was going to repeat itself.

“We played a good first half except for the last three minutes, and I was thinking ‘Don’t let it fall apart,’ but we made some adjustments at halftime that we thought would help us pull through the game and I guess it did.”

Faber knew Greenwood’s players loved to drive the ball and score inside. The Falcons also knew the Indians weren’t the best three point shooters, so they limited Greenwood’s touches in the paint.

“They really stepped it up, and having Greenwood’s Weston Schmitz in foul trouble really helped us out,” Faber said. “He’s probably their best player, so we concentrated on taking away lay-ups and points in the lane instead of worrying about the outside shots this time.”

Schmitz averages 19 points a game, and he appeared headed for a big night, scoring nine in the first half. Abby stifled Greenwood’s leading scorer in the second, holding Schmitz to two points.

Abby began the second half on a 9-4 run, and took a lead 34-33 with 10:33 to go. The game remained knotted at that score for what seemed an eternity, as neither side could get a shot to fall.

Greenwood broke through first, taking a 35-34 lead with 7:26 remaining. Fears that the Indians would pull away were put to bed when the Falcons drew several charges, crashed the glass, and went on a 9-2 run thanks to Cade Faber and clutch free throws from Soyk, that made it 43-35.

The Falcons took the air out of the ball, but missed lay-ups and turnovers allowing Greenwood to pull within three at 43-40. Abbotsford refused to panic, returning to their deliberate offense, and Greenwood was forced to foul, sending Abby to the charity stripe.

“The tempo was a big thing we wanted to control,” coach Faber said. “We wanted to slow it down when we had the big guys in, then speed it up when we had the guards in. It worked out well for us.”

Soyk knocked down five of six free throws, Brandon and Adam Diedrich added a few more. The minutes become seconds and smiles began to appear on the faces of players, parents and coaches.

Those emotions stayed bottled up until Abbotsford was in the locker room, where their exuberant shouts could no longer be kept silent.

“This game meant a lot because I feel it gives a lot of confidence to ourselves, especially our younger players . . . we’ve been sitting with this burden on us, being winless, and we haven’t gotten the most respect,” Draper said.

“I know how good we are, but nobody gave us respect for it because we didn’t have that win. Now we finally got that win and it feels amazing.”

PENETRATING THE LANE -Abbotsford’s Hunter Soyk puts on the brakes with a jump stop as he prepares to go up for two. Soyk took a nasty spill in the second half, but shook it off to knock down five of his six free throw attempts as he finished 11 points on Monday, and Abby earned its first win of the season.STAFF PHOTOS/ROSS PATTERMANN