Weiser men lose to Fruitland in first conference game

The Weiser Wolverine men’s basketball team hosted the Fruitland Grizzlies in their first conference game of the 2020-21 season on Jan. 12.
 The rivalry between both teams makes the conference pairing a highly anticipated game where the stands are packed with students and fans for both teams. This time the teams played for a greatly reduced crowd which included six Weiser cheerleaders. This was the first game they were allowed to cheer for their team.      
 The game started out slow with several loose balls and missed shots by both teams.    
 Wolverine Sam Kerner, scored first when he went to the free throw line after he was fouled. Making one, Weiser had a one-point lead.   
 Fruitland soon scored on an offensive rebound and put back.
 Weiser had a few trips down the court before they settled in scoring their first field goal with a three-pointer by Eli Ruiz with 1:49 left in the first.
 After that the Wolverines took control of the scoring. Brett Spencer hit his first three of the night to give Weiser the lead 8-6.
 Under a minute to go in the first, Spencer with an offensive rebound scored two making the score  Weiser 10, Fruitland 6. The first quarter ended without any additional scoring.
 Fruitland started with the ball in the second, but turned it over. Weiser’s Willy Shirts capitalized on the mistake and made a left-handed 18 footer.
 The Wolverines were excited and used a swarming defense that Fruitland could not get past, causing the Grizzlies to take a 30-second timeout with 7:22 still to go in the second.
 Each team slowly added points with Weiser staying five to six points ahead of Fruitland.
 The game moved fast, both Weiser and Fruitland had turnovers and missed shots. Spencer got hot and coming off of a screen in the corner, made his second three-pointer of the quarter.
 At the other end, Fruitland scored three on a bucket where they were fouled and then made the free throw.
 Ruiz connected with Spencer with 2:30 left in the second helping him score another three.
 Kerner playing great defense had a steal, passed it up to Ruiz who increased Weiser’s lead to eight points.
 At this point Fruitland stepped up their defensive game and had a couple of stops slowing the Wolverine scoring streak.

Ruiz added his own three-pointer on an assist from Kerner to end the first half, Weiser 30, Fruitland 23.
 Both teams came out of the locker room ready to play. Evenly matched and with under four minutes left to play Weiser had maintained the six to seven point lead.
 Fruitland ramped up their offensive game for the remainder of the third quarter. Capitalizing on a couple of Wolverine mistakes, the Grizzlies continued to score. With 2:24 left the game was tied at 41.
 With less than 10 seconds to go, Fruitland found their post under the basket and took the lead to end the third, Weiser 41, Fruitland 43.
 Fruitland was on the move offensively and continued to add points to their score.
 Weiser was unable to stop them and struggled to score and found themselves in an eight-point hole with 6:30 left to play.     
 The Wolverines regrouped and were able to cut into the Grizzly lead with a deep two-pointer by Shirts. Next trip down Brayden Walker took the ball in for a lay-in making it a six point game
 The Grizzlies took control again and the game ended with Weiser 58, Fruitland 69.
 Weiser scoring: Spencer 27, Ruiz 16, Shirts 8, Kerner 5, Walker 2.