Belleville, Ill. – Wabash Valley ripped off the first nine points of the second half to take a deep bite out of the halftime deficit it faced against Southwestern Illinois on Wednesday night.
Three baskets from Deshaun Nettles to open the half – on a power move, an inside shot and a rebound tip -- followed by a 3-point field goal from Trevon Hamilton, and suddenly the margin to overcome was down to 13 points.
However, that was as close as the Warriors would get. Southwestern rebuilt the margin to the 22 points it was at halftime and went from there to post an 81-53 Great Rivers Athletic Conference win in Belleville.
The loss ended a three-game win streak for the Warriors, dropping them to 9-7 on the season, and 4-5 in the GRAC. The homestanding Blue Storm, while making amends for an 89-86 overtime loss at WVC on Mar. 1, improved to 9-8 and 5-6.
"I don't care what level of basketball it is, if the other team shoots it like that, and you can't put the ball in the basket, you aren't winning," said Warrior coach Mike Carpenter.
And shoot it Southwestern most certainly did. The Blue Storm had eight 3-pointers by halftime, and seven different players had reached the scoring column in the first eight minutes of the game.
The score was 12-2 five minutes in, but it did not stop there. Southwestern guard Walter Johnson, who finished game-high with 20 points, hit three straight triples in short order to balloon the lead to 29-12 at the 10-minite mark, and the dye had been cast.
It was 49-27 at intermission.
Carpenter was at least buoyed by what he saw in the second half.
"We were much better defensively in the second half, but when we struggle like that offensively, it is hard to win in this league," he said.
Nettles led Wabash Valley with 19 points. Jejuan Weatherspoon added 13.
The Warriors have three days to regroup before one of their biggest challenges of the season. Fourth-ranked John A. Logan (14-2, 9-1), owners of a three-game lead in the GRAC standings with only six games remaining, comes to Spencer Sports Center on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tipoff, the first of a three-game homestand for WVC.
The Storm rolls into Olney Central (11-6, 6-4) on Saturday.