Gould’s Game Winner Leads Warsaw Past Elkhart
January 31, 2021 at 11:48 p.m.
Gould’s Game Winner Leads Warsaw Past Elkhart
By Anthony Anderson-
Gould executed a spin move in the lane and put in a baby hook as Warsaw earned a scintillating 57-56 boys high school basketball victory over Elkhart on Saturday night at North Side Gym.
While the Lions (9-9) were taking an immediate timeout following Gould’s basket, the Tigers (10-7) were inserting the 6-foot-11 Brath into the lineup for the first time all evening to defend the inbound pass.
It worked. Elkhart’s Donovan Johnson tried to heave the ball long, but Brath tipped the throw out of harm’s way.
The clock expired and Brath’s teammates swarmed him for his 2.1 seconds of action.
“He doesn’t play much, and sometimes never, but when you got a 6-12 guy — I call him 6-12 — you put him on the ball in that situation and it’s kind of hard to get clean looks,” Warsaw coach Matt Moore said. “That helped us win the game, and we’ll take it.”
Actually, it was the second time Warsaw won in exactly that fashion, with Brath doing the same thing in the Tigers’ 50-49 overtime victory over Lake Central in mid-December.
“Unfortunately, with no timeouts left, I can’t take another one,” Lions coach Kyle Sears said of countering Brath’s presence, “but it was a good call on their part. I thought we could get it over him. It was close.”
Warsaw won a third straight game for the first time this season.
Gould poured in 23 points for the second-best output of his career and his 11th straight double-digit game.
“You gotta dance with who brung you, and Jaxon Gould, he’s young, but he’s doing a lot of things well,” Moore said of his 6-2 guard. “We’re gonna get him looks, and he comes through when he needs to.”
On Saturday, he did so repeatedly.
There were six lead changes in the final 2:45, and all three in the Tigers’ favor were Gould-plated. He hit both ends of a one-and-one at 2:01 to go for a 53-52 lead, scored on a dip-under move at 32 seconds remaining for a 55-54 lead, then delivered the game-winner.
“You knew that was going to him,” Sears said. “He was hot, he was doing some nice things. We switched on the screen and we probably should’ve trapped — it’s one of those things I’ll probably go back and watch 20 times to figure out what we should’ve done — but we switched. He probably got deeper than I would’ve liked, but give the kid credit for finishing a tough shot.”
Gould, who scored 16 second-half points, made 9-of-15 from the field and 4-of-6 at the line to go with nine rebounds.
Junior Judah Simfukwe added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Jackson Dawson grabbed 12 boards to pace Warsaw to its 40-23 domination on the glass.
Bishop Walters converted 3-of-4 from 3-point range for the Tigers, nailing one in each of the final three quarters. Drew Heckaman blocked four shots.
Warsaw blasted out of the gate like it might cruise, building a 20-6 lead by the opening minute of the second period, before Elkhart’s vaunted trapping defense began reversing momentum.
The Tigers finished with 10 turnovers in the second quarter alone and 15 for the first half.
The Lions, who won the second period 23-11, took their first lead all night at 29-28 on a Johnson basket with five seconds left before the break.
“You’re down one at halftime and you’ve turned the ball over 15 times — we’ll take that,” Moore said. “We were celebrating that actually. You can find a lot of negatives, but we try to find the positives, and we treated that as one.”
Ultimately, and highly abnormally, Warsaw prevailed despite committing 23 turnovers to just five for the opponent.
“We just tried to slow our guys down,” Moore said of trimming the turnovers to eight during the second half. “The tendency is to get sped up and dribble, but we did a better job with composure, slowing down, meeting passes and playing through the physical part.”
Warsaw took a seven-point lead midway through the third quarter at 40-33, but Elkhart battled back again, going up 52-51 at 2:45 remaining in the fourth for the first of those half-dozen lead changes down the stretch.
The Tigers won on the same floor they’ll return to during the first week of March for the Elkhart Sectional.
“That’s big,” Moore said. “We have a lot of guys that aren’t battled-tested. They don’t know what playing in the sectional feels like, and to come over here in this circumstance and win a hard game, we hope we can celebrate the same way in five weeks.”
Now Warsaw shifts its focus to trying to move into first place in the Northern Lakes Conference when it hosts Mishawaka on Thursday. The Cavemen (10-1) are 4-0 in the league to the Tigers’ 4-1.
WARSAW 57, ELKHART 56
WARSAW: Jackson Dawson 1-5 1-2 3, Russ Winchester 0-3 1-2 1, Ben Bergen 3-8 0-0 6, Judah Simfukwe 4-10 5-5 13, Jaxon Gould 9-15 4-6 23, Drew Heckaman 0-3 2-2 2, Bishop Walters 3-4 0-0 9, Caleb Sands 0-0 0-0 0, Graydon Brath 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-48 (.417) 13-17 (.765) 57.
ELKHART: Luke Teich 2-9 1-2 5, Malachi Emmons 5-9 0-0 10, Donovan Johnson 6-13 2-2 14, D’Arjon Lewis 2-7 1-3 5, Cam’Ron Daniels 4-12 3-6 11, Damarion Anderson 1-3 2-4 4, Erick Nocentelli 2-4 0-2 5, Rodney Gates 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 23-58 (.397) 9-18 (.500) 56.
Warsaw;17;11;16;13;—;57
Elkhart;6;23;12;15;—;56
3-point goals: Warsaw (4-12) — Walters 3-4, Gould 1-3; Elkhart (1-8) — Nocentelli 1-1. Rebounds: Warsaw (40) — Dawson 12, Simfukwe 10, Gould 9; Elkhart (23) — Teich 5, Daniels 4. Assists: Warsaw (7) — Bergen 2, Gould 2; Elkhart (8) — Johnson 2, Daniels 2. Steals: Warsaw (3) — Gould 2; Elkhart (13) — Lewis 3, Daniels 3. Total fouls: Warsaw 16, Elkhart 16. Fouled out — none. Turnovers: Warsaw 23, Elkhart 5.
Records: Warsaw 10-7, Elkhart 9-9.
JV: Warsaw 43, Elkhart 31. Top scorers: Warsaw — Kyle Dawson 12, Jeremiah Dawson 10; Elkhart — Rodney Gates 11.
Gould executed a spin move in the lane and put in a baby hook as Warsaw earned a scintillating 57-56 boys high school basketball victory over Elkhart on Saturday night at North Side Gym.
While the Lions (9-9) were taking an immediate timeout following Gould’s basket, the Tigers (10-7) were inserting the 6-foot-11 Brath into the lineup for the first time all evening to defend the inbound pass.
It worked. Elkhart’s Donovan Johnson tried to heave the ball long, but Brath tipped the throw out of harm’s way.
The clock expired and Brath’s teammates swarmed him for his 2.1 seconds of action.
“He doesn’t play much, and sometimes never, but when you got a 6-12 guy — I call him 6-12 — you put him on the ball in that situation and it’s kind of hard to get clean looks,” Warsaw coach Matt Moore said. “That helped us win the game, and we’ll take it.”
Actually, it was the second time Warsaw won in exactly that fashion, with Brath doing the same thing in the Tigers’ 50-49 overtime victory over Lake Central in mid-December.
“Unfortunately, with no timeouts left, I can’t take another one,” Lions coach Kyle Sears said of countering Brath’s presence, “but it was a good call on their part. I thought we could get it over him. It was close.”
Warsaw won a third straight game for the first time this season.
Gould poured in 23 points for the second-best output of his career and his 11th straight double-digit game.
“You gotta dance with who brung you, and Jaxon Gould, he’s young, but he’s doing a lot of things well,” Moore said of his 6-2 guard. “We’re gonna get him looks, and he comes through when he needs to.”
On Saturday, he did so repeatedly.
There were six lead changes in the final 2:45, and all three in the Tigers’ favor were Gould-plated. He hit both ends of a one-and-one at 2:01 to go for a 53-52 lead, scored on a dip-under move at 32 seconds remaining for a 55-54 lead, then delivered the game-winner.
“You knew that was going to him,” Sears said. “He was hot, he was doing some nice things. We switched on the screen and we probably should’ve trapped — it’s one of those things I’ll probably go back and watch 20 times to figure out what we should’ve done — but we switched. He probably got deeper than I would’ve liked, but give the kid credit for finishing a tough shot.”
Gould, who scored 16 second-half points, made 9-of-15 from the field and 4-of-6 at the line to go with nine rebounds.
Junior Judah Simfukwe added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Jackson Dawson grabbed 12 boards to pace Warsaw to its 40-23 domination on the glass.
Bishop Walters converted 3-of-4 from 3-point range for the Tigers, nailing one in each of the final three quarters. Drew Heckaman blocked four shots.
Warsaw blasted out of the gate like it might cruise, building a 20-6 lead by the opening minute of the second period, before Elkhart’s vaunted trapping defense began reversing momentum.
The Tigers finished with 10 turnovers in the second quarter alone and 15 for the first half.
The Lions, who won the second period 23-11, took their first lead all night at 29-28 on a Johnson basket with five seconds left before the break.
“You’re down one at halftime and you’ve turned the ball over 15 times — we’ll take that,” Moore said. “We were celebrating that actually. You can find a lot of negatives, but we try to find the positives, and we treated that as one.”
Ultimately, and highly abnormally, Warsaw prevailed despite committing 23 turnovers to just five for the opponent.
“We just tried to slow our guys down,” Moore said of trimming the turnovers to eight during the second half. “The tendency is to get sped up and dribble, but we did a better job with composure, slowing down, meeting passes and playing through the physical part.”
Warsaw took a seven-point lead midway through the third quarter at 40-33, but Elkhart battled back again, going up 52-51 at 2:45 remaining in the fourth for the first of those half-dozen lead changes down the stretch.
The Tigers won on the same floor they’ll return to during the first week of March for the Elkhart Sectional.
“That’s big,” Moore said. “We have a lot of guys that aren’t battled-tested. They don’t know what playing in the sectional feels like, and to come over here in this circumstance and win a hard game, we hope we can celebrate the same way in five weeks.”
Now Warsaw shifts its focus to trying to move into first place in the Northern Lakes Conference when it hosts Mishawaka on Thursday. The Cavemen (10-1) are 4-0 in the league to the Tigers’ 4-1.
WARSAW 57, ELKHART 56
WARSAW: Jackson Dawson 1-5 1-2 3, Russ Winchester 0-3 1-2 1, Ben Bergen 3-8 0-0 6, Judah Simfukwe 4-10 5-5 13, Jaxon Gould 9-15 4-6 23, Drew Heckaman 0-3 2-2 2, Bishop Walters 3-4 0-0 9, Caleb Sands 0-0 0-0 0, Graydon Brath 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-48 (.417) 13-17 (.765) 57.
ELKHART: Luke Teich 2-9 1-2 5, Malachi Emmons 5-9 0-0 10, Donovan Johnson 6-13 2-2 14, D’Arjon Lewis 2-7 1-3 5, Cam’Ron Daniels 4-12 3-6 11, Damarion Anderson 1-3 2-4 4, Erick Nocentelli 2-4 0-2 5, Rodney Gates 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 23-58 (.397) 9-18 (.500) 56.
Warsaw;17;11;16;13;—;57
Elkhart;6;23;12;15;—;56
3-point goals: Warsaw (4-12) — Walters 3-4, Gould 1-3; Elkhart (1-8) — Nocentelli 1-1. Rebounds: Warsaw (40) — Dawson 12, Simfukwe 10, Gould 9; Elkhart (23) — Teich 5, Daniels 4. Assists: Warsaw (7) — Bergen 2, Gould 2; Elkhart (8) — Johnson 2, Daniels 2. Steals: Warsaw (3) — Gould 2; Elkhart (13) — Lewis 3, Daniels 3. Total fouls: Warsaw 16, Elkhart 16. Fouled out — none. Turnovers: Warsaw 23, Elkhart 5.
Records: Warsaw 10-7, Elkhart 9-9.
JV: Warsaw 43, Elkhart 31. Top scorers: Warsaw — Kyle Dawson 12, Jeremiah Dawson 10; Elkhart — Rodney Gates 11.
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