What a difference three weeks can make.After losing to St. Charles West by 36 on Feb. 2, the Warrenton boys basketball team nearly pulled off the insurmountable task of beating the longtime GAC power last Wednesday.Coach Mike Uffmann began to believe a little more with each moment that passed, down to the final missed three-pointer during an eventual 55-54 defeat.Trailing by three with 6.4 seconds left, the Warriors turned to senior Alec Tonioli, who had just knocked down a trey on the previous possession. He faked his defender to create an open look, but this time his shot from the right wing fell short.“Those are situations we go over in practice every day,” said Uffmann. “On that last possession we knew Alec was the guy we wanted to take the last shot. He did a great job of pump-faking and getting his defender up, but the shot just didn’t go in for us.”Senior Craig Vardiman was able to secure the rebound and putback at the buzzer, adding the finishing touches to his career-best night. He set a new single-game record with 35 rebounds, while scoring 26 points on 12 of 19 shooting.“We had long possessions and got high-quality shots,” said Uffmann. “We really pounded the ball inside to Craig. They weren’t doubling him, so he had single coverage all night, and he took advantage of it.”Uffmann says the Warriors tried not to let the previous meeting have a psychological impact on how they approached the rematch.“That was the worst week of basketball we’ve played all season,” said Uffmann. “We had six games in eight days and were shorthanded with sickness.”With a deeper arsenal at its disposal, Warrenton quickly became the aggressor on Wednesday, imposing its will against St. Charles West underneath the basket.“We really needed a quick start for confidence,” said Uffmann.The Warriors led 16-12 after one quarter and scored two unanswered buckets to open the second to go ahead by eight. St. Charles West had no answer for Vardiman, who scored 17 points by halftime.“After the first quarter, seeing their attitudes and confidence when they came off the court. They were saying, ‘we’ve got this.’ So that kind of tells me they believed we really did have a chance.”But St. Charles West had an equally unstoppable weapon in Logan Gonce, who dropped a game-high 29 points — 12 over his season average. He helped rally his team back to notch the game at 28-28 at the break.“He’s a matchup nightmare,” said Uffmann. “The whole time we were wanting to hedge, but if he finds just a little seam, he’ll get into the lane.”Junior Braydan Chmiel, who has been the Warriors’ go-to-guy when it comes to shutting down opposing offensive threats, met his match with Gonce. He was able to get to the free throw line frequently, knocking down 12 of 14 attempts.St. Charles West began the third quarter on a terror, going ahead by seven, but the Warriors exhibited an unusual resilience.“We’ve been a great second-half team, so sitting tied at halftime, we’re thinking, ‘man, we’ve got this,’” said Uffmann. “But we ended up getting tight in the third quarter.”Warrenton managed just three field goals in the third period, one of those a timely three-pointer from Chmiel to ignite a run that carried into the fourth quarter.St. Charles West attempted to hold the ball for the final 1:30 of the game, forcing the Warriors to foul. Down by five, Tonioli gave his team new life by hitting a three-pointer with 10.4 seconds left, but the opposition managed to inch away at the free-throw line.Uffmann has been coaching the senior class since they were freshman, never once testing St. Charles West prior to Wednesday.“I can’t remember a time before when they didn’t turbo-clock us,” said Uffmann. “This shows not only how far this senior class has come in this season, but even from their freshman season.”Tonioli finished with 18 points and six rebounds.VARDIMAN GRABS SCHOOL-RECORD 35 REBOUNDSDerrick Forsythe photo.