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PORTLAND—Suffice it to say that Waynflete junior Jed Alsup was excited to play a game at home.
Monday afternoon, in the Flyers’ bandbox gymnasium on Spring Street, Alsup and his teammates made quick work of visiting rival North Yarmouth Academy.
Waynflete forced eight first quarter turnovers and opened up a 10-3 lead, as Alsup had four points, three rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
The Flyers only allowed two second period points, but due to some uncharacteristic poor shooting, weren’t able to put it away, extending the advantage to just 20-5 at halftime.
Waynflete then ended all doubt in the third quarter, as Alsup scored 11 points, helping key a 27-0 run that ended all doubt, and the Flyers took a 41-9 lead to the final stanza, where they closed out a 49-16 victory.
Alsup led the way with a career effort, 26 points, 14 rebounds and five steals, and Waynflete improved to 2-1 on the young season, while dropping the Panthers to 0-3.
“I feel like the last couple games, we were finding our rhythm and our chemistry,” Alsup said. “Today’s win was a good morale booster.”
Home sweet home
Waynflete reached the Class C South quarterfinals in Augusta a year ago and has high hopes this winter.
After letting a fourth quarter lead slip away in a 58-53 loss at Poland in the opener, the Flyers handled host Sacopee Valley (62-31) in their most recent outing.
NYA, under new coach Alan Molnar, started with an 80-20 setback at St. Dom’s, then fell at Hall-Dale (56-27).
Last year, Waynflete captured both meetings, 49-28 at home and 50-32 in Yarmouth.
Monday, the Panthers looked for their first win over the Flyers in Portland since 2017 (41-37) and just their third total over the past 16 seasons, but instead, Waynflete improved to 29-2 in the rivals’ last 31 meetings.
It took two minutes for the Flyers to go in front to stay, but they would do so when Alsup hinted at big things to come with a layup after a steal.
Sophomore JJ Carlo added a driving layup, Alsup scored on a putback and in transition, Carlo fed senior Lucas McChesney for a layup and an 8-0 advantage with 2:51 left in the first quarter.
NYA broke through 17 seconds later, when senior Jesse Mutagoma buried a 3-pointer, but a floater from Carlo made it 10-3 after eight minutes.
Waynflete’s defense was smothering in the stanza, forcing eight turnovers, and the Flyers wouldn’t let up in the second period either.
After Alsup drove for a layup, junior Mercy Nkulu went coast-to-coast for a layup and a 14-3 advantage with 6:33 left in the half.
Fifteen seconds later, NYA freshman Daniel Smith passed to sophomore William Wignall for a layup, but the Panthers wouldn’t score again until deep into the third quarter.
After Carlo scored on a leaner, Alsup scored on a putback, then McChesney set up Alsup for a layup and a 20-5 halftime advantage.
Alsup led the way in the first half with 10 points, seven rebounds (six of which came on the offensive glass) and two blocked shots.
Waynflete then pulled away in the third period, as Alsup put on a show.
First, Alsup took a pass from McChesney and made a layup. After a steal, Alsup was fouled and sank one of two attempts, then after a layup after a steal from Nkulu, a layup after a steal from Carlo and a layup from junior Malcolm O’Wril, Alsup drained a 3-ball to make it 32-5.
The Flyers kept pouring it on, as Alsup stole the ball and set up Carlo for a layup, then Alsup took a feed from junior Jules Kirby in transition and buried a 3, Alsup set up McChesney for a fastbreak layup, then with 2:08 remaining in the frame, Alsup’s runner made it 41-5.
“I was just aggressive on offense and played in rhythm with my teammates and they found me,” said Alsup. “I feel like when I crash the boards and get some early rebounds, my game begins to jell.”
Eleven seconds later, a leaner from freshman Lado Loboka ended Waynflete’s 27-0 run and a 12 minute, 21 second scoring drought, then Loboka scored on a putback, but the Flyers were in command, up, 41-9, heading to the fourth quarter.
There, Carlo got things started with a 3 and after NYA got a driving bank shot from sophomore Liam O’Shea, Alsup hit a 3, then he stole the ball and with no one in his way, drove in and soared for a dunk.
“I had to go for it,” Alsup said. “It was just instinct.”
That proved to be Waynflete’s final points and down the stretch, the Panthers got a 3 from Loboka (set up by Mutagoma) before a Loboka putback put the finishing touches on the Flyers’ 49-16 victory, a win that took exactly an hour in the making.
“We came together as a team in the second half and that’s when we took off,” Alsup said. “We’re always fired up to see NYA. It’s a fun matchup and a fun rivalry game.”
“I kind of got after them at halftime and I was glad to see how they responded,” longtime Waynflete coach Rich Henry said. “We realized couldn’t settle for two passes and a 3. The kids did a better job of that and we picked it up on defense. The press gets them going.”
Alsup put on a show, not only scoring 26 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, but also producing five steals, three blocks and a pair of assists.
“Jed did a little of everything,” Henry said. “Going into the game, his energy was really high and his level of engagement was really high. He carried our team for the better part of the game.”
Carlo also wound up in double figures with 13 points (to go with seven steals, five rebounds and two assists). McChensey (three assists) and Nkulu (four rebounds and three steals) had four points apiece and O’Wril finished with two points (two rebounds and two steals).
Waynflete won the rebounding battle, 46-32, made 1-of-2 free throws and overcame 21 turnovers, with most of those coming long after the game had been decided.
NYA was paced by Loboka, who had nine points off the bench. Loboka also had five rebounds and three steals. Mutagoma added three points (to go with six steals and four rebounds) and O’Shea (four rebounds) and Wignall each had two.
The Panthers turned the ball over 21 times and missed both free throw attempts.
“The message I just told them was that we started November 18th and we’re almost a month in and we just have to keep moving forward a little at a time,” Molnar said. “We’re talking a lot about leadership and development.”
Three days away
NYA tries again for its first victory Thursday at Traip Academy. The Panthers go to Madison Saturday.
“It’s not about wins and losses right now, it’s about our process,” Molnar said. “Hopefully the outside world will see that success in the win column sometime soon.”
Waynflete stays home to take on Class B South contender Yarmouth Thursday and faces Boothbay in an interclass battle Saturday.
“The first game was rough, but we’ve built off that game and we learned from it and it helped us grow,” Alsup said. “We played Yarmouth in the preseason and they got us good. I think we’ve gotten better since the preseason. We’re prepared to go hard in practice. We just have to be locked in and ready.”
“We have a lot of work to do,” Henry said. “We have a big test coming up in a couple days. We have to take care of the ball and start playing as a group and not as individuals looking for stats. I’ve watched and played enough basketball to know when guys are into ‘me and not we,’ and we had a lot of ‘me ball’ and we have to get back into ‘we ball.’
“These guys are great to work with and are a lot of fun. We just have to put a few things together.”
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