Mattoon, Ill. – After scoring 51 points in the first half on the road at Lake Land, the talk in the Wabash Valley locker room on Friday night was not all about the offense.
Instead, coach Mike Carpenter pushed his team on defense "to make their shots tougher" in the second half.
Which the Warriors certainly did.
"We really wore (Lake Land) down in the second half," Carpenter said. "That was fueled by our defense."
At one point in the final frame, the Warriors went on a 19-2 run, highlighted by five buckets from beyond the arc line, to effectively finish Lake Land off.
The 110-83 win was the third in a row for the Warriors since dropping their season opener at Highland.
Lake Land fell to 1-1 with the loss. They won their season opener last week over Kankakee, 105-103.
WVC had its best shooting night of the season to date, connecting on 12 3-point field goals. TreyVon Smith bagged five of them, with Joshua Jones, Jr. and Simon Wilson landing two each.
Smith is "such a good, smooth shooter. Our guys try to find him," said Carpenter, who also lauded the return of Jones, who had missed the last two games.
But the veteran coach, with 282 career wins now behind him, was also impressed with the number of open looks the shooters got "off good passes," or that led to "driving into the paint."
Smith finished game-high with 24 points. Issac Stanback added 18 points, Jones 14 and Jamison Epps 12 points.
Lake Land led only briefly, for a three-minute stretch of the first half, with their margin being no larger than three points. A 3-ball by Stanback put the Warriors back on top for good at 36-34. WVC led at halftime, 51-42.
Laker guard Everett Stubblefield, who scored 31 points on opening night, was held more in check by the Warriors. He still led the hosts with 19 points.
Wabash Valley may have finally exorcised its' demons at the free throw line. The Warriors hit their first 11 attempts against Lake Land and finished 20-of-23 on the night.
That was in stark contrast to the 15 free throws they missed in a five-point loss at Highland, and the two-of-10 finish at the stripe against Spoon River, otherwise marring the first win of the season.
"We know we should be 4-0" if not for free throws, according to Carpenter, who added the better touch as of late "is like a weight off their shoulders."
WVC plays its Great Rivers Athletic Conference opener on Monday night at home against Shawnee (0-1). The tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. or 20 minutes after the women's game which starts at 5:30 p.m.
Lake Land hosts Lincoln Trail on Monday night.
GAME NOTES... Carpenter announced prior to the game on social media that he planned to play some 1-3-1 zone defense during the game in honor of iconic college basketball coach John Chaney, who used the 1-3-1 with much success at Temple University and elsewhere. Chaney died earlier Friday at the age of 89.