Eagles Soar Past Wawasee Warriors
December 21, 2016 at 5:18 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
Wawasee’s slow start included a stretch where it turned the ball over on five straight possessions. The Warriors spotted the Eagles a 10-0 lead and didn’t score until Ryan Edington came off the bench and hit a three with 1:10 left in the first quarter.
Defense was a good-news, bad-news situation. The good news was the Warriors held Valparaiso recruit Parker Hazen without a field goal and to just three points. The bad news is guard Jordan Bechtold was able to drive the lane almost at will. He either shot the ball or dished it to junior Hammad Qureshi. The Columbia City duo shared game-high honors with 21 points each.
“We’ve been in (a slow start) situation before, so I wasn’t really concerned,” Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham said. “We just didn’t do enough good things tonight.”
“We got some looks (at the basket) that we probably could’ve hit, but the story comes down to their guard play vs. our guard play, and Bechtold getting in the lane as much as he did.
“We held Hazen down, but we’re taking a guy off (Qureshi) to play on the back side of Hazen, so it’s kind of ‘pick your poison’ a little bit. I told them ‘if you don’t contain penetration in to the lane, and you’re backing off an inside guy, it’s a recipe for disaster,’ And we didn’t contain penetration very well tonight.”
When Hazen and Qureshi found themselves in foul trouble, Wawasee’s comeback hopes were thwarted by frigid shooting from the field. While Qureshi and Bechtold hit nine shots each, Wawasee made just 12 baskets and 37 percent of its shots the entire night. Senior Trevon Coleman had half of the Warriors’ field goals, and finished with 15 points.
“I’m from the school that if you’re not hitting your shots, you need to find better ones,” Everingham said. “We failed to get the ball inside to Trevon for the most part, and we’ve gotta get the ball in his hands more. He’s been a very consistent player for us. But we’re really struggling to have the confidence to throw that post feed. So it’s something we have to work on.”
Wawasee’s season record fell to 4-3, including some very dramatic wins over Manchester and Whitko. Everingham said while the Warriors have made progress, they could use a break. Wawasee’s next game is Tuesday at Mishawaka Marian.
“I’m still very pleased with where we’re at. I like how we’ve progressed. Obviously the last two games let us know we’ve got a long way to go,” he said.
“We need to rest. We’ve had last-second shots, we’ve had a double-overtime game, and we’ve had two (games) now where we’re facing a little bit of adversity. There’s a lot of energy and emotion that goes into the preseason, and now here’s a chance to take a little bit of a break. We’re going to take four days off, and when we get back we’ll dig in on some things we need to improve on.”
COLUMBIA CITY 52, WAWASEE 34
W 5 9 6 14 – 34
CC 12 12 21 17 – 52
Wawasee – Cayden Wegener 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Schlabach 0-3 3-3 3, Tyler Smith 1-5 0-5 2, Jairus Boyer 2-4 1-1 5, Jacob Hand 0-3 0-0 0, Bennett Hoffert 0-1 1-2 1, Ryan Edington 3-6 0-0 8, Trevon Coleman 6-9 2-6 15, Tim Conley 0-0 0-0 0, Dalton Pearish 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-32 7-17 34.
Columbia City – Garrett Roehling 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Christen 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Bechtold 9-12 2-4 21, Brenden Slagel 0-1 0-0 0, Mitchell Wilson 2-3 2-2 7, Parker Hazen 0-2 3-4 3, Max Bedwell 0-0 0-0 0, Hammad Qureshi 9-9 3-4 21. Totals 20-36 3-4 52.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 3 (Edington 2, Coleman), Columbia City 2 (Bechtold, Wilson); Rebounds – Wawasee 12 (Hand 3), Columbia City 18 (Bechtold 4, Qureshi 4); Turnovers – Wawasee 12, Columbia City 14; Fouls – Wawasee 20, Columbia City 18; Technical Foul – Qureshi; Fouled out – Hazen, Qureshi; Records: Wawasee 4-3, Columbia City 2-5.
JV – Wawasee 54, Columbia City 47
Wawasee – Austin Miller 17, Bennett Hoffert 12, Ryan Edington 10, Aaron Evans 7, Cayden Wegener 4, Zak Lineameter 2, Damien Conley 2
Wawasee’s slow start included a stretch where it turned the ball over on five straight possessions. The Warriors spotted the Eagles a 10-0 lead and didn’t score until Ryan Edington came off the bench and hit a three with 1:10 left in the first quarter.
Defense was a good-news, bad-news situation. The good news was the Warriors held Valparaiso recruit Parker Hazen without a field goal and to just three points. The bad news is guard Jordan Bechtold was able to drive the lane almost at will. He either shot the ball or dished it to junior Hammad Qureshi. The Columbia City duo shared game-high honors with 21 points each.
“We’ve been in (a slow start) situation before, so I wasn’t really concerned,” Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham said. “We just didn’t do enough good things tonight.”
“We got some looks (at the basket) that we probably could’ve hit, but the story comes down to their guard play vs. our guard play, and Bechtold getting in the lane as much as he did.
“We held Hazen down, but we’re taking a guy off (Qureshi) to play on the back side of Hazen, so it’s kind of ‘pick your poison’ a little bit. I told them ‘if you don’t contain penetration in to the lane, and you’re backing off an inside guy, it’s a recipe for disaster,’ And we didn’t contain penetration very well tonight.”
When Hazen and Qureshi found themselves in foul trouble, Wawasee’s comeback hopes were thwarted by frigid shooting from the field. While Qureshi and Bechtold hit nine shots each, Wawasee made just 12 baskets and 37 percent of its shots the entire night. Senior Trevon Coleman had half of the Warriors’ field goals, and finished with 15 points.
“I’m from the school that if you’re not hitting your shots, you need to find better ones,” Everingham said. “We failed to get the ball inside to Trevon for the most part, and we’ve gotta get the ball in his hands more. He’s been a very consistent player for us. But we’re really struggling to have the confidence to throw that post feed. So it’s something we have to work on.”
Wawasee’s season record fell to 4-3, including some very dramatic wins over Manchester and Whitko. Everingham said while the Warriors have made progress, they could use a break. Wawasee’s next game is Tuesday at Mishawaka Marian.
“I’m still very pleased with where we’re at. I like how we’ve progressed. Obviously the last two games let us know we’ve got a long way to go,” he said.
“We need to rest. We’ve had last-second shots, we’ve had a double-overtime game, and we’ve had two (games) now where we’re facing a little bit of adversity. There’s a lot of energy and emotion that goes into the preseason, and now here’s a chance to take a little bit of a break. We’re going to take four days off, and when we get back we’ll dig in on some things we need to improve on.”
COLUMBIA CITY 52, WAWASEE 34
W 5 9 6 14 – 34
CC 12 12 21 17 – 52
Wawasee – Cayden Wegener 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Schlabach 0-3 3-3 3, Tyler Smith 1-5 0-5 2, Jairus Boyer 2-4 1-1 5, Jacob Hand 0-3 0-0 0, Bennett Hoffert 0-1 1-2 1, Ryan Edington 3-6 0-0 8, Trevon Coleman 6-9 2-6 15, Tim Conley 0-0 0-0 0, Dalton Pearish 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-32 7-17 34.
Columbia City – Garrett Roehling 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Christen 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Bechtold 9-12 2-4 21, Brenden Slagel 0-1 0-0 0, Mitchell Wilson 2-3 2-2 7, Parker Hazen 0-2 3-4 3, Max Bedwell 0-0 0-0 0, Hammad Qureshi 9-9 3-4 21. Totals 20-36 3-4 52.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 3 (Edington 2, Coleman), Columbia City 2 (Bechtold, Wilson); Rebounds – Wawasee 12 (Hand 3), Columbia City 18 (Bechtold 4, Qureshi 4); Turnovers – Wawasee 12, Columbia City 14; Fouls – Wawasee 20, Columbia City 18; Technical Foul – Qureshi; Fouled out – Hazen, Qureshi; Records: Wawasee 4-3, Columbia City 2-5.
JV – Wawasee 54, Columbia City 47
Wawasee – Austin Miller 17, Bennett Hoffert 12, Ryan Edington 10, Aaron Evans 7, Cayden Wegener 4, Zak Lineameter 2, Damien Conley 2
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