
RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Oliver Adams scored 18 points on nine field goals without a miss to lead Woodlan to the ACAC boys’ tournament championship with a 48-34 win over Heritage at the South Adams Stardome Saturday.

The 6-8 senior center repeatedly posted up and used a variety of moves to score. Heritage tried to deny Adams the ball, but with his height and strength, that was a difficult task. And it was an even more difficult task to stop him when he did get it.
“Obviously, Oliver Adams was huge inside,” said Woodlan coach John Baker. “We knew that was our advantage. Oliver did a great job of establishing inside, and our guys did a good job of putting him in a position to be successful.”


The first quarter was a defensive struggle, and no one scored until Heritage point guard Taurean Brown hit two free throws at the 5:20 mark. It took almost another minute before anyone hit a field goal. In a sign of things to come, it was Adams who made it with a post move on the left block with 4:28 on the clock. That didn’t exactly open the scoring floodgates. It was still just 4-4 with 1:51 left. Then Heritage’s Lucas Taylor and Woodlan’s Jordan Halsey exchanged three-pointers in the last minute to make it 7-7 at the first stop.

Adams scored eight points in the second quarter, giving him 12 for the half, and Halsey and Mason Moore each hit a three to help the Warriors win the period, 17-9, and take a 24-16 lead.


The Warriors’ 6-7 senior swing man, Trey Yoder, who was named the Hilliard Gates Most Valuable Player of the tournament, got off to a slow start offensively, missing all six of his field goal attempts in the first half. He only scored seven points for the game, well below his 15.2 average, but Baker recognized that Yoder contributed in other ways.

“Trey did a great job rebounding,” he said. “He controlled the ball for us offensively. I think our guys know there are so many ways to factor into a ballgame besides scoring with the basketball. Trey did a lot of things for us.”
Braden Walter opened the third quarter with a three-pointer from the left wing to spark a 6-0 Heritage run, pulling the Patriots within two at 24-22 with 5:06 left.

Baker soon called a time out, and when play resumed the Warriors, behind three more inside buckets by Adams, outscored the Patriots 10-4 the rest of the period for a 34-26 advantage.
The fourth quarter was a time for a third Warrior senior to shine. Drew Fleek, a 6-1, 200-pound guard-forward, scored seven points on three powerful drives and a free throw to help Woodlan pull away to their final 14-point margin.

“I’m very proud of our guys,” Baker said as his players were cutting down the nets. “We started out (the season) 3-6, and things could have gone sideways pretty quickly there, but guys stayed engaged and true to each other, and tonight we’re champions.”
The Warriors’ last ACAC tournament title came in 2020.
Woodlan made 14-of-27 twos (52%), 4-of-15 threes (27%), and 8-of-13 free throws (62%). Heritage went 8-for-22 on twos (36%), 3-for-17 on threes (18%), and 9-for-17 on free throws (53%).
Woodlan scoring: Adams 18, Fleek 11, Yoder 7, Halsey 6, Moore 6.
Heritage scoring: Brown 14, Landon Lybarger 6, Walter 6, Lantae Cassel 4, Taylor 3, Tyler Ripple 1.

The win lifts Woodlan to 8-6. Heritage fell to 7-4. The teams will play a rematch at Heritage next Friday, January 24.
In the girls’ title game, the Bluffton Tigers overwhelmed the Southern Wells Raiders, 84-31. Isabella Stout, the tournament MVP, led all scorers with 26 points.