Hauser’s Waylon Harper shoots a 3-pointer against Milan Feb. 20 at Hauser High School.
Waylon Harper has been the spark the Hauser boys basketball team has needed.
Harper has been the sixth man for the Jets this season and has been efficient on offense, defense and shooting the basketball. Hauser will look to win its second straight regional when it takes on South Decatur at 1 p.m. Saturday at Seymour.
The one stat for Harper that’s improved is his 3-point shooting. He is shooting 42% from behind the arc and has made 36 total triples, both ranked second on the team.
“Obviously, the 3-point shooting is something the coaches wanted me to do, and then also giving it my all on defense because not every night your shot is going to fall,” Harper said. “It’s mainly focusing on the defensive end and giving it my all rebounding. It’s kind of doing the dirty work, the work that doesn’t get seen or show up on the stat sheet. I’m always willing to play whenever and wherever because sometimes when I’m in, I’ll be playing the 5 (center position) and setting screens.”
Harper is averging 5.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game for the Jets (24-2).
Hauser coach Trent Moorhead said Harper is one of the steadier guys on the team.
“He’s a very smart basketball player and has a high basketball IQ,” Moorhead said. “He does great in the classroom, and I think that contributes to him knowing where to be on the floor, knowing how to get open offensively to take really good shots and knowing how to protect himself defensively and get into positions where he’s going to be able to succeed defensively, rebound the basketball and run the floor for an opportunity to catch a pass that he can turn into a made shot for us.
“Whether he was coming off a game where he’s hit five 3s or coming off a game where he didn’t score at all, you wouldn’t know at practice the next day,” he added. “He’s going to show up and have a great attitude. He’s going to be positive, he’s going to be there to support his teammates and he’s going to work incredibly hard. That’s what has made Waylon so fun to coach and a fantastic kid. You couldn’t ask for a kid better than Waylon Harper.”
An advantage the Jets have is the decade-long team chemistry. Unlike some bigger schools that have had players on different elementary and middle school teams growing up, it was not the case with Harper and the rest of the senior class who have spent the majority of the past 10 years together.
“I think it really gives us a big chemistry advantage,” Harper said. “It helps knowing where people are. Some people’s roles have changed from when we were younger, like with me when I was mainly a post guy. But everyone is tight together, and we’re all good friends, so that’s helps with everything.”
Harper hopes that chemistry will play out Saturday in capturing Hauser’s first back-to-back boys basketball regional titles since 2005 and 2006. The Mid-Hoosier Conference foes battled each other in the regular season Feb. 3 with the Jets winning 69-40 over the Cougars.
“We’ve got to focus on one game at a time, with the next opponent being South Decatur, then we can figure out the next opponent if we move on,” Harper said. “We’ve just got to focus and be prepared. We’re going to do a whole new scouting report on them, and we’ll watch film on them this week. We’ll stayed locked in and focused just on that team.”
Harper and rest of the senior class has four games maximum left together. Regardless of how the season ends, he’s proud to have been a Jet.
“I’m proud with my season, and I’m proud of the team’s season that we’ve had,” Harper said.
