Silex proved it had done its research when it took the court Friday against the Wright City boys basketball team.It flustered the Wildcats into earning every point en route to a 55-45 victory, having to improvise after the Owls shut down their recently lethal outside shooting.“They covered our shooters and had a good gameplan against us to make sure we didn’t get any clean looks,” said Wright City Coach Rick Halteman. “It also didn’t help that we came out a little bit flat.”The Wildcats fell behind 9-1 and would claw back into contention by halftime, when the necessary adjustments were made to take over the game.“They were real aggressive attacking the basket and got us in foul trouble,” said Halteman. “They forced us to pick up a lot of fouls and got some points from the free-throw line.”It took Ty Davis six minutes to put Wright City on the board for the first time with a three-pointer, as he would do most of his damage in the final two frames. The senior scored 22 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, after shifting into the high post, where he presented an insurmountable problem for the Owls.But the comeback was slow and deliberate, with Wildcats having to step inside the arc and attack the basket.“In 3rd quarter we were able to pull away and win somewhat comfortably,” said Halteman. “It was tight for a while, but we were able to keep a safe distance.”Silex used its matchup zone to lock down Bret Noble, holding him to half of his recent average with only 10 points.“He was having a hard time getting off his shots, because they covered him so well,” said Halteman. The Owls recognized his presence as the Wildcats’ top outside threat.“We struggled a litte bit with their size and zone,” said Halteman. “They basically defended the perimeter really well and focused on stopping our three point shooters.”Moving their offense into the paint, the Wildcats notched the game at 20-20 by halftime.Wright City nearly doubled its production in the second half, scoring the first seven points of the third period.“We decided to move Ty to the high post, where he was able to be a lot more effective,” said Halteman. “We started getting better looks after that.”The Wildcats led by nine heading into the final quarter and would never relinquish their advantage.“We defended them well down the stretch and never really let it get close again,” said Halteman. “The guys did a good job of finishing strong.”Senior Christian Thompson added nine points for Wright City.DAVIS LEADS WILDCATSDerrick Forsythe photo.