By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports editor
In a night filled with emotions, the Waterford Union High School boys basketball team made sure it came ready to play.
With archrival Union Grove in town for Tuesday night’s “Coaches vs. Cancer” game, the Wolverines took a six-point lead after the first quarter, an 11-point lead at the half and cruised home to a 68-42 win over the Broncos.
The win improved Waterford to 8-3 in the Southern Lakes Conference and 11-6 overall. The loss dropped Union Grove to 7-3 in the SLC, leaving BHS on top of the SLC with a 9-2 record.
The win by the Wolverines creates an interesting situation at the top of the SLC. While Burlington has a one-game lead, the Demons have three games remaining – at home against Badger and Delavan-Darien and on the road at Wilmot.
Waterford, meanwhile, travels to Delavan-Darien tonight, then hosts Elkhorn and travels to Westosha Central for the final game of the regular season.
The Broncos have four games left because of a weather delay – two games against Badger (home and away), plus home games against Wilmot and Elkhorn.
Any way you look at it, the SLC race is definitely still up for grabs.
However, as much as that was an issue, what mattered more Tuesday night was the Wolverines paying tribute to long-time area coach David Hanson, who is fighting prostate cancer. The team donated some of the proceeds from t-shirt sales to Hanson, and presented the coach – whose son, Erik, is on the Waterford squad – with an autographed basketball and football jersey from the school’s state runner-up run this fall.
“The vast majority of my thought process was that the event was put together in the right way,” said Waterford coach Mickey Mala. “But it was also an important basketball game.
“At no point, did we lose focus … we had a job to be done.”
When it came to the game, the Wolverines were in control from the beginning. Chris Benavides had nine first-quarter points, just three short of Union Grove’s team total for the quarter.
In the second, Waterford put another 18 points on the board – and then went on a 20-9 run in the third to put the game out of reach. The Wolverines hit nine baskets compared to just four for Union Grove, with six different players scoring.
The evening turned out to be fairly balanced for the Wolverines, with everyone contributing. Jake Steffens led the way with 14 points, while Benavides added 13 and Brandon Schindler 11. Dustin Schindler pitched in eight points, while Greg Steffens had six and Mason Bagley five.
Benavides led the team with eight rebounds, while Brandon Schindler pitched in seven.
On Feb. 2, Waterford defeated Wilmot 62-47.
The Wolverines led by eight after the first quarter and 29-20 at the half. Waterford slowly extended the lead over the final two quarters.
Dustin Schindler led the Wolverines with 17 points, while Jake Steffens added 13 and Brandon Schindler 12.
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