#1 ranked Wayzata Boys Basketball (12-0) beat a resilient Buffalo Bison (8-3) team in an exciting Lake Conference match-up hosted at the Wayzata High School on Friday night, highlighted as youth night.
In front of a packed house, Wayzata got out to relatively quick lead while demonstrating a well-rounded offensive strategy.
In the first half alone Christian Wiggins and Wyatt McBeth each had 8 points, while Jackson McAndrew notched 7.
One standout moment during that first half was by Isaac Olmstead, who made his defender fall down while driving to the top of the key, stopping, and draining a three pointer to make it 21-7 in favor of Wayzata.
Head Coach Bryan Schnettler talked about his shifty guard after the game, “Isaac has a special ability to score the ball and make his teammates better. He is one of the best passers I have ever coached and when you combine that with his ability to shoot you get someone who is very hard to guard.”
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The Trojans took a strong lead at halftime, with a score of 41-26.
Despite Wayzata’s initial dominance, the Bison showcased their determination, employing long-range shooting to net 10 three-pointers throughout the game.
Near the midway point of the second half, Jackson McAndrew decided to take over, making a number of strategic plays and moves to widen the gap in favor of the Trojans.
McAndrew’s versatile performance included three-point shooting, post-up plays, dunks, and successful free throws.
To illustrate the difference, McAndrew had 5 points in the first half and 18 points in the second half.
His outstanding efforts led Wayzata to a commanding victory, even as the Bison continued to somewhat hang around with three-pointers in the second half; until a full court press late in the game finalized the Bison loss.
Coach Schnettler was very pleased with the defensive effort after the game, “Our guys played very hard tonight. We took 2 charges and forced 4 shot clock violations. It was fun to watch our guys compete.”
The game, held on youth night, provided fans with an entertaining display of skill and determination from both teams as well as a three-point shooting contest at half time and an opportunity to get autographs from the team after the game.
Wayzata’s balanced attack, strong defense, and McAndrew’s standout second half performance ultimately secured their 12th consecutive win of the season.
McAndrew led all scorers with 23 points, including 5 three-pointers.
Wyatt McBeth scored 10 points, Michael Saphir had 9, Evan Johnson and Drew Nepstad had 4 points each, Nicklaus Hein had 3, Brayden Sandmann had 2 points, as did Daniel Grubesic.
Isaac Olmstead had 13 points including 3 three-pointers, Christian Wiggins also had 13 points including 2 three-pointers.
Announced attendance was 13,871.
Wayzata’s next game is Tuesday, January 16th at Eden Prairie (6-8).
