WORTHINGTON -- Worthington's boys' basketball coach Ron Vorwald had two things to tell Morgan Traylor after the Trojans defeated Redwood Valley 64-43 in the Section 3AA championship Thursday to punch their ticket to the state tournament.
"He told me I played outstanding and we're going to state," Traylor said. "It felt great."
Traylor averaged 11.6 points per game throughout the playoffs leading up to the section championship and 19 points in the two losses to Redwood Valley in the regular season. It was solid, but the Trojans would need more to advance to state.
"So much of our offense runs through Morgan as a passer, rebounder and scorer" Vorwald said. "We knew one going into the ballgame, one of the keys was to get Morgan going.
"We had to force (Redwood Valley's Mike Busack) to guard Morgan. We preached to Morgan to be aggressive offensively. He listened and went out and executed."
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Traylor doubled his playoff average, scoring 26 points, hauling in 12 rebounds and dishing out four assists and the Trojans cruised to its first state tournament in over a decade.
"I knew I had to play hard and if we lost this would be our last game," Traylor said. "If I didn't score offensively, Busack would double down in the post and that's our game. We try to get the ball in the post and he would sag off me."
Busack was forced to cover Traylor and he couldn't stop him. Busack -- RV's leading scorer -- never was in rhythm offensively also, scoring just eight points, all of which came in the first half.
"Morgan was outstanding in every facet of the game," Vorwald said. "He played the whole stretch and stayed out of foul trouble, which is key for him. He didn't leave his feet on defense and offensively he was finishing.
"He's shown spurts of that and he reached down and dug deep and just played lights out."
Even Traylor himself was not sure where the game came from.
"I don't really know (how I did it)," Traylor said. "I knew I had to play that way, so I just tried as hard as I could.
"I didn't really consider (I was a big reason we were going to state) until people told me how good I did after the game," Traylor said. "I approached the game differently. I drove the ball to the basket every chance I could."
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Traylor was called on by the Trojans and he answered. The game belonged to him and it was even hard to take him out.
"He didn't come out of the ball game until the very end," Vorwald said. "He played a complete game.
"He just played a total ball game. He was stellar in his performance. I don't know what else I can say about Morgan's game."
Thanks to Traylor, WHS will have more to say in the 3AA playoffs.
Daily Globe Sports Editor Chris Murphy can be reached at 376-7328.
