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West York rises to occasion, knocks off Rams


It was supposed to be Kennard-Dale’s night. Kyle Wooldridge dropped 40 points on nine 3-pointers and had his team leading at halftime in front of its home crowd.

West York watched shot after shot fall for Wooldridge, but stuck with its gameplan: pressure the Kennard-Dale offense all over the court.

“We wanted to make it a full court game,” West York head coach Bill Ackerman said. “With guys like Wooldridge and Freese, they’re going to do their thing in the halfcourt, as you could see.”

The Bulldogs’ defense pressed from the opening possession into the second half, forcing 25 Rams’ turnovers en route to a 76-68 win Tuesday night. Much of the defensive success came in the form of Ian Lalic, who scored 18 points and came up with a handful of crucial steals in the second half.

“That’s Ian. He really creates things offensively, especially defensively, and he makes things happen and we needed that,” Ackerman said. “I thought he did a phenomenal job of disrupting them and playing the kind of defense I expect from him.”

Lalic said West York (3-0) knew it could continue pressuring Kennard-Dale (1-2) after a few early turnovers.

“We were very successful,” Lalic said. “That’s why we kept pressing them the entire game.”

The Bulldogs led by five points going into the second quarter, when Wooldridge started to find his mark from long distance. He hit five 3-pointers in the quarter and scored 19 of the Rams’ 26 points to give his team the 40-36 lead.

“We knew he falls in love with the 3,” Ackerman said. “We knew that once he hit a couple, he’d really fall in love with it and he certainly did with good reason. He’s a heck of a player and once he gets on a roll, you see what happens.”

The big quarter helped Wooldridge to 40 points, but he said he’s aiming higher next time. He wants to break John Gemmill’s school record of 47 points in a game.

“I’m going to try to get 48," Wooldridge said. “I’m going to try to beat him.”

Kenton Meckley had 16 points for West York, which gets its first win since taking the York Suburban tip-off tournament.

West York 76, Kennard-Dale 68 

West York (76)

Hawkins 1, 0-0, 2, Bailey 3, 2-5, 9, Cains 3, 0-0, 6, Kenton Meckley 6, 4-5, 16, Dellorfano 2, 2-2, 6, Ian Lalic 7, 3-5, 18, Frey 2, 0-0, 4, Sarver 0, 1-2, 1, Darian McCauley 5, 3-9, 14. Totals — 29, 15-28, 76.

Kennard-Dale (68)

Jenkins 2, 0-0, 5, Deppen 2, 1-3, 5, Potts 0, 0-0, 0, Thomas 0, 0-0, 0, Adam Freese 4, 1-2, 11, Lowe 2, 0-0, 5, Williams 1, 0-1, 2, Osborne 0, 0-0, 0, Carlile 0, 0-0, 0, Kyle Wooldridge 15, 1-1, 40. Totals — 26, 3-7, 68.

West York _ 19 _ 17 _ 19 _ 21 _ — _ 76 

Kennard-Dale _ 14 _ 26 _ 11 _ 17 _ — _ 68  

3-point goals — WY- 3 (Bailey 1, Lalic 1, McCauley 1), KD- 13 (Wooldridge 9, Freese 2, Lowe 1, Jenkins 1).

JV Score ­— West York 42, Kennard-Dale 38