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By Matt Michelone
For the Mirror
WILLIAMSBURG -- From the moment the ball was tipped on Friday night, anything that could've gone wrong for the Williamsburg boys basketball team did go wrong.
West Branch hit the ground running -- forcing several turnovers -- and knocked down several big shots en route to a 27-9 outburst in the first quarter. That led to the Warriors sinking the Blue Pirates, 65-38.
"We obviously were not prepared to play, and that's clearly on me," Williamsburg coach Jeff Detwiler said. "I've got to do a better job of getting these guys ready. West Branch came out, and they were ready to go. We did not have the mental toughness that we should've. We've got to get better, and I've got to get better. We weren't looking to attack. We were playing timid at times, and we were not ready to play."
Owen Koleno sparked much of the first-quarter explosion. At one point, he picked up a bonus free throw and drained his own putback as he scored 14 of his game-high 22 points.
Koleno also had a lot of help from Lucas Colton who scored nine in the early frame before finishing the evening with 19 points.
"Last couple of games we've had slow, slow starts, and we really re-emphasized that, especially down here," West Branch coach Danny Clark said. "We wanted a quick start. The last three games we were down double digits in the first quarter and we came back, and won those games except for (River Valley). When you dig yourself a hole sometimes, it's hard to get out of it. I'm proud of how our guys responded. Our guys were up and ready for this one. We have a very resilient team. We know Williamsburg can match up athletically against us."
Williamsburg was also plagued by shooting woes going without a bucket for about four minutes at one point. Logan Brantner ended that drought with a layup on his way to scoring a team-high 12 points.
"We had guys passing up some shots," Detwiler said. "We wanted to attack the basket which we did at times, but at other times we were very stagnant on offense. We're going to have to change some things, change some things in the rotation probably and keep working."
Things slowed down in the second as the Warriors took a 38-19 lead going into the half. However their offense fired on all cylinders coming out of the locker room as Dylan McGonigal buried three 3-pointers and Colton added one of his own.
"Luke's in a different position this year for us," Clark said. "It's a process for him, and that was a big jump for him today. He's one of our biggest leaders, such a good kid. He deserved that game. Owen's dominant underneath. If he misses a shot, him and Joel (Evans) are always usually there."
West Branch went on to outscore Williamsburg 23-8 in the third quarter, as the third of McGonigal's triples set off the running clock en route to a 61-27 advantage heading into the fourth.
Detwiler believes that this setback can serve as a growing moment for his Blue Pirates ahead of their trip to rival Bellwood-Antis on Tuesday.
"When you give up 27 in the first quarter, you're not ready to play basketball," he said. "We're going to get after in the next couple of days and hopefully turn things around."
WEST BRANCH (65): Colton 8 0-0 19, Evans 3 1-2 7, McGonigal 3 0-0 9, Koleno 10 2-4 22, E. Emigh 1 0-4 2, Gibson 1 0-0 3, Liptak 0 0-0 0, Lennen 0 0-0 0, E. Emigh 0 1-2 1, Danko 0 0-0, Fluck 1 0-4 2. Totals 27 4-11 65.
WILLIAMSBURG (38): Isenberg 0 0-0 0., Brantner 4 3-4 12, Brumbaugh 2 3-4 8, Reffner 3 1-3 7, Parks 1 0-0 2, Harper 0 0-2 0, Uplinger 3 0-0 9, Neri 0 0-0 0, Becker 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 7-13 38.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
West Branch 27 11 23 4 - 65
Williamsburg 9 10 8 11 - 38
3-point field goals: West Branch 7 (Colton 3, McGonigal 3, Gibson), Williamsburg 5 (Brantner, Brumbaugh, Uplinger)
Records: West Branch (4-1), Williamsburg (2-2).
Officials: Mike Price, Justin Fischer, Johnny Sloas
JV: Williamsburg, 43-26. High scorers - Conner Danko, Justin Esper, WB, 6; Dayne Mock, WIL, 12.