Wayne coupled its rebounding prowess with a strong zone defense to frustrate Springfield in a 55-42 victory to start 2026 in Greater Western Ohio Conference play.
“I thought our guys were really, really aggressive,” Wayne head coach Nathan Martindale said. “We didn’t make every put back, but our mentality was spot on. We kept attacking and we kept getting offensive rebounds.”
Credit: Steven Wright
Springfield got a stop on its first defensive possession of the third quarter, but were few afterward. An 11-0 run by Wayne (7-1, 4-1) opened its lead from five to 14 midway through the quarter.
Wayne senior Alphonso Ward grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds and made putback layups and senior Sean Heisle drove for another layup in transition as Springfield head coach Matt Yinger tried calling multiple timeouts to stop the bleeding.
“We’ve got to do a much better job of being physical and tough, and making sure we get those defensive rebounds and secure those 50-50 balls,” Yinger said.
Springfield (4-4, 2-3) had a mini-spurt in the fourth quarter to get its deficit down to seven with 5:29 remaining after senior Sherrod Lay hit a three from the corner as part of his 20-point night.
Wayne immediately created a response as senior Isaiah Thompson finished a basket as he was fouled on the other end. Springfield didn’t score again over the next three minutes as Wayne’s defense didn’t allow anything easy near the basket.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
“The senior class stepped up big and they were tough as nails,” Martindale said. “Kaden Post, Isaiah Thompson, Alphonso Ward, Sean Heisle, Sante Jones. Those are the guys that deserve the credit. They were really big for us.”
Springfield jumped out to a 10-5 lead with a good offensive start. The lid closed as the period ended and it didn’t get better. The Wildcats shot 3-for-19 from three in the game. Wayne only made two shots from beyond the arc, but controlled the inside game on both ends.
“They’ve done a really nice job lately of locking into the scouting report, making sure they know what their assignment is and making sure they know exactly how we want to guard people as a group,” Martindale said. “We couldn’t hear very well tonight. It’s a loud environment. I tried to get one guy’s attention, they try to echo everything else and that was phenomenal what they did. They did a masterful job of that.”
Wayne limited Springfield to two points over the final 6:32 of the first half. An 11-2 run culminated with a driving layup by sophomore Dontay Chivers after Wayne held the ball for most of the final minute of the quarter.
Yinger said despite his team taking a second straight defeat, he is seeing his group take steps forward each time on the floor as they come together as a group and try to overcome injury woes.
“There’s some guys that, quite frankly, got to be a little tougher and more physical and we’ve been challenging them to do that,” he said. “They understand that assignment and being first-year varsity players there’s sometimes a learning curve with that physicality and toughness but overall, we keep teaching and preaching that let’s continue to believe in one another and let’s continue to trust our process.”
Wayne had three score in double figures. Post got 13, hitting the Warriors two 3-pointers. Thompson and Chivers eac scored 11.
Only four players in total scored for the Wildcats. In addition to Lay’s 20, senior Charles Cunningham had eight points after going 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
Wayne has won six straight after dropping its GWOC opener to Fairmont on Dec. 5.
The Warriors next host Springboro on Tuesday. Springfield returns to action with a home game against Fairmont also on Tuesday.
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