By: Joel Bryant

A last-second layup from Heritage’s 6 foot 5 freshman Jayden Gardner made all the difference for the Huskies in their 47-45 victory over rival Wakefield on Wednesday night.

Coming into the game, the Huskies boasted a 10-6 overall record while the Wolverines were sitting with a mere 2-12 record.  The game, however, would not be a walk in the park like many assumed it would be.  Wakefield presented a significant challenge to the Huskies and it took each member of the team to pitch in everything they had to seal the victory.

Early on, the Huskies struggled with an enormous amount of turnovers.  When a team has 23 turnovers, they will have a tough time with any opponent they face, and that showed against Wakefield.

After only being up 5 at the half, the Huskies came out strong in the 3rd quarter.  With zero turnovers in the first 3 minutes of the second half, Heritage jumped out to a 35-24 lead. From here, unfortunately, the turnovers started happening all over again and allowed Wakefield to cut the lead to 39-36 before the quarter’s end.

Wakefield heated up in the 4th and ended up taking a 45-41 lead with one minute left. From here, senior DeSean Mosby hit two free throws to cut the lead in half and freshman Jarren McAllister hit a pull-up jumper to tie the game with 30 seconds to go.  After forcing a Wakefield turnover with 10 seconds left, the Huskies took advantage of the opportunity and sealed the victory thanks to a clutch layup from Gardner.

The game-winner gave Gardner 16 points on the night as the freshman continues to impress. Fellow freshman Jarren McAllister pitched in 9 points as well as a solid defensive performance to make sure the Huskies came away with their 11th win.