Second half surge leads Wingate to comfortable win over Many Farms

WINGATE, N.M. – Second half surge leads Wingate to comfortable win over Many Farms

The Bears had three players in double figures with a fourth scoring nine points as Wingate posted a 70-49 win over Many Farms in an interstate basketball game.

The Bears led 39-30 at break, but their depth proved to be too much for Many Farms to handle.

“I think in the first half, we were cold,” Wingate senior Clarence Whitehair said. “We were trying to get going, but we were being clumsy with the ball.”

In the second half, though, the Bears polished its game by putting up 31 more points while holding Many Farms to 19 second-half points.

“We improved our shots and that is when we started to make a run on them,” Whitehair said.

The Wingate senior led the Bears with a team-best 18 points while Arwin Thompson added 15 and Matthew Whitehair (Clarence’s younger brother) chipped in 14.

The Bears also received nine markers from junior post Eric Woodman.

“We had to wake up,” Matthew Whitehair said of the difference in the two halves. “We basically had do what we normally do, and just trust each other.”

The Bears opened the second half on a 12-4 run as Clarence Whitehair’s jumper earned the home team a 49-30 cushion with 3:19 to go in the third stanza.

At the end of the third stanza, Wingate led 54-36 as Bears head coach Al Martinez substituted freely.

“We should have brought more pressure,” first-year Many Farms coach Jeremy Begay said. “We did OK in that first half, but in the second half my boys got tired. Wingate has a reliable bench and they used that to their advantage.

“I’m limited with what I have,” he added. “I can probably go eight deep. Other than that, I have freshmen and sophomore who are still developing playing at the varsity level.”

The Lobos did have a bright spot in junior Kaleb Harvey, who finished with a game-best 27 points.

“Kaleb is unique player,” Begay said. “He’s really dependable, not only offensively, but defensively, too. In every game, he’s been playing every minute for us just to keep the momentum going for us.

“It’s really rare to come across a player that can play from the one position to the five position,” the Many Farms coach added. “He’s been averaging a double-double every night. He’s been averaging 25 points per game and at least 10 boards a game.”

With his production, Begay has noticed that other teams in Arizona has keyed in on guarding Harvey.

“Our 2A North Region teams knows Kaleb Harvey, so they’ve been double-teaming him, sometimes triple-teaming him,” Begay said. “He’s a smart player. He knows when the double team comes, and he takes the ball back out. And when someone’s open, he makes that pass.

“He’s a team player,” Begay said.

And while most people know about his offensive production, Harvey has been a stalwart on the defensive end. Against Wingate, he finished with four clean blocks.

“It’s going good so far,” Harvey said of his season. “I feel like I’ve gained a lot of experience from last year. I picked up more skills during the offseason, so my game is still growing day by day.”

And while he can shoot beyond the 3-point arc, Harvey prefers to score most of his points 10 feet from the basket.

“Most of my points come from midrange,” Harvey said. “I rarely shoot from the outside, so a majority of my points come from the paint.”

Many Farms will make the trip to Flagstaff to play 2A North opponent Northland Prep Academy today. On Tuesday, Jan. 21, the Lobos will host St. Johns.

Wingate will host Zuni on Friday night as the Bears opened the District 1-3A season with Crownpoint on Wednesday night. The final score for that contest was not available as the paper went to press.

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