Memorial Pulls Away From Wawasee Warriors
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
But like boiling water tossed onto wintry pavement, Wawasee seemed to freeze very quickly, hitting only two more shots from the field in the first quarter and scoring no points at all in the second stanza.
While the Warriors escaped the shooting deep freeze for a while, drawing to within five at the end of third period, Memorial scored 28 fourth-quarter points to pull away for a 64-44 win in Northern Lakes Conference action.
After Memorial tied the game at 13, Wawasee recovered enough to take an 18-15 lead when Alex Clark hit a driving layup through the middle of the Memorial defense as time expired in the first quarter.
The Crimson Chargers used their athleticism to employ a press that allowed them to get back in the game, then shut out Wawasee for 10 minutes of game time.
“I thought we came out, handled the press well early, we were moving the ball (well),” said Warrior head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “I always thought it’s kind of tough, especially against a team like this that’s really good offensively, to get off to a good start, because they can come back and put a few (baskets) together. Then we start to tighten up and try to get that lead back. I thought we did that in the second quarter when they went on a little bit of a run.”
After halftime, Memorial got a little sloppy on defense, allowing Wawasee to slowly chip away like an ice sculptor. When David Rocha hit a trey to cut the Crimson Chargers’ lead to five, the Warriors had hope.
The Crimson Chargers took back that hope with a barrage of shots from a variety of places. Eight different Memorial players scored in the decisive final period.
For the second straight week, the Warriors were in the game at the end of three quarters, (down one point at NorthWood last Friday) and in both cases the home team pulled away late.
“I was really happy that when we came back out of the locker room we kept calm and climbed right back into it,” Witorowski said. “This is the second week in a row where we’ve been in a good position in the third quarter and then just don’t really perform like we can at all, on either end, in the fourth quarter. Obviously that’s when games are finalized, that’s when they’re won, and we haven’t been tough enough in the fourth quarter the last two weeks. We’ve gotta get that changed.”
Memorial had its biggest advantage in the paint, where they outscored Wawasee 38-14 on the offensive end, and altered Warrior shots on defense, finishing with six blocks. Memorial hit 50 percent of its shots overall, while Wawasee struggled to get to 25 percent.
Wiktorowski said there’s been a great emphasis on finishing strong in the past week.
“That’s the No. 1 thing we’ve been working on in practice all this week, is finishing, finishing, finishing,” he said. “Now some of that is we were trying to press and they are very athletic, and that gave them some advantages. And they took better advantage of their advantages and finished when we did not. We weren’t hitting shots, we weren’t finishing, we didn’t knock down free throws like we can, and it’s pretty difficult to go and finish games like that.”
After playing four games on the road, and no home games since Dec. 19, Wiktorowski said the Warriors will look to build on the first half of the season. They will take a 5-6 overall record, and an 0-3 Northern Lakes Conference mark, into Friday’s home game with Plymouth.
“We’ve had a rough stretch where we’ve played (four) games in a row on the road against really high quality opponents. At times we’ve done some good things, sometimes we’ve struggled, and now we enter into the second half of the season, we get back at home after a long stretch, and we’ve got to continue what we started earlier in the season when we made our gym a tough place to play.”
Memorial’s Dimitri Giger had a double-double with 16 and 11 rebounds. Jaylin Rhodes had 14 points and Cameron Maxwell 10 for the Chargers.
Wawasee was led by Alex Clark and Aaron Voirol, who scored 11 points each. Gage Reinhard added eight points, and Stori Bright seven for the Warriors.
ELKHART MEMORIAL 64, WAWASEE 44
W 18 0 13 13 – 44
EM 15 13 8 28 – 64
Warsaw – Gage Reinhard 3-11 1-2 8, Alex Clark 4-11 2-3 11, Stori Bright 3-8 1-2 7, Aaron Voirol 2-7 5-6 11, Jeffrey Moore 1-8 0-0 3, Jake Hutchinson 0-0 0-0 0, Cayden Wegener 0-0 0-0 0, David Rocha 1-2 0-0 3, Jayce Boatwright 0-5 1-2 1, Allen Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Hatfield 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Beer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-55 10-15 44.
Memorial – Dimitri Giger 7-13 2-3 16, Jon Bailey 2-6 2-2 6, Michael O’Toole 2-5 0-0 4, Cameron Maxwell 3-8 2-4 10, Darrius Baker 2-4 0-0 4, Chris Kale 1-2 0-0 2, Mytchell Sellers 0-0 0-0 0, A.J. Gary 2-4 0-1 6. Jaylin Rhodes 6-7 2-4 14, Mikal McGuire 0-1 0-0 0, Scottie Clark 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 26-52 8-14 64.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 6 (Voirol 2, Reinhard, A. Clark, Rocha, Moore), Memorial 4 ()Maxwell 2, Gary, S. Clark); Rebounds – Wawasee 25 (Bright 9), Memorial 33 (Giger 11); Assists – Wawasee 7, Memorial 10; Turnovers – Wawasee 10, Memorial 11; Steals – Wawasee 3, Memorial 6; Fouls – Wawasee 17, Memorial 12; Fouled out – Voirol; Records – Wawasee 5-6 (0-3 NLC), Memorial 8-5 (2-0 NLC)
JV – Memorial 62, Wawasee 41
Wawasee – Stephon Miller 16, Aaron Beer 13, Chase Rookstool 6, Cayden Wegener 5, Parker Hatfield 1[[In-content Ad]]
But like boiling water tossed onto wintry pavement, Wawasee seemed to freeze very quickly, hitting only two more shots from the field in the first quarter and scoring no points at all in the second stanza.
While the Warriors escaped the shooting deep freeze for a while, drawing to within five at the end of third period, Memorial scored 28 fourth-quarter points to pull away for a 64-44 win in Northern Lakes Conference action.
After Memorial tied the game at 13, Wawasee recovered enough to take an 18-15 lead when Alex Clark hit a driving layup through the middle of the Memorial defense as time expired in the first quarter.
The Crimson Chargers used their athleticism to employ a press that allowed them to get back in the game, then shut out Wawasee for 10 minutes of game time.
“I thought we came out, handled the press well early, we were moving the ball (well),” said Warrior head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “I always thought it’s kind of tough, especially against a team like this that’s really good offensively, to get off to a good start, because they can come back and put a few (baskets) together. Then we start to tighten up and try to get that lead back. I thought we did that in the second quarter when they went on a little bit of a run.”
After halftime, Memorial got a little sloppy on defense, allowing Wawasee to slowly chip away like an ice sculptor. When David Rocha hit a trey to cut the Crimson Chargers’ lead to five, the Warriors had hope.
The Crimson Chargers took back that hope with a barrage of shots from a variety of places. Eight different Memorial players scored in the decisive final period.
For the second straight week, the Warriors were in the game at the end of three quarters, (down one point at NorthWood last Friday) and in both cases the home team pulled away late.
“I was really happy that when we came back out of the locker room we kept calm and climbed right back into it,” Witorowski said. “This is the second week in a row where we’ve been in a good position in the third quarter and then just don’t really perform like we can at all, on either end, in the fourth quarter. Obviously that’s when games are finalized, that’s when they’re won, and we haven’t been tough enough in the fourth quarter the last two weeks. We’ve gotta get that changed.”
Memorial had its biggest advantage in the paint, where they outscored Wawasee 38-14 on the offensive end, and altered Warrior shots on defense, finishing with six blocks. Memorial hit 50 percent of its shots overall, while Wawasee struggled to get to 25 percent.
Wiktorowski said there’s been a great emphasis on finishing strong in the past week.
“That’s the No. 1 thing we’ve been working on in practice all this week, is finishing, finishing, finishing,” he said. “Now some of that is we were trying to press and they are very athletic, and that gave them some advantages. And they took better advantage of their advantages and finished when we did not. We weren’t hitting shots, we weren’t finishing, we didn’t knock down free throws like we can, and it’s pretty difficult to go and finish games like that.”
After playing four games on the road, and no home games since Dec. 19, Wiktorowski said the Warriors will look to build on the first half of the season. They will take a 5-6 overall record, and an 0-3 Northern Lakes Conference mark, into Friday’s home game with Plymouth.
“We’ve had a rough stretch where we’ve played (four) games in a row on the road against really high quality opponents. At times we’ve done some good things, sometimes we’ve struggled, and now we enter into the second half of the season, we get back at home after a long stretch, and we’ve got to continue what we started earlier in the season when we made our gym a tough place to play.”
Memorial’s Dimitri Giger had a double-double with 16 and 11 rebounds. Jaylin Rhodes had 14 points and Cameron Maxwell 10 for the Chargers.
Wawasee was led by Alex Clark and Aaron Voirol, who scored 11 points each. Gage Reinhard added eight points, and Stori Bright seven for the Warriors.
ELKHART MEMORIAL 64, WAWASEE 44
W 18 0 13 13 – 44
EM 15 13 8 28 – 64
Warsaw – Gage Reinhard 3-11 1-2 8, Alex Clark 4-11 2-3 11, Stori Bright 3-8 1-2 7, Aaron Voirol 2-7 5-6 11, Jeffrey Moore 1-8 0-0 3, Jake Hutchinson 0-0 0-0 0, Cayden Wegener 0-0 0-0 0, David Rocha 1-2 0-0 3, Jayce Boatwright 0-5 1-2 1, Allen Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Hatfield 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Beer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-55 10-15 44.
Memorial – Dimitri Giger 7-13 2-3 16, Jon Bailey 2-6 2-2 6, Michael O’Toole 2-5 0-0 4, Cameron Maxwell 3-8 2-4 10, Darrius Baker 2-4 0-0 4, Chris Kale 1-2 0-0 2, Mytchell Sellers 0-0 0-0 0, A.J. Gary 2-4 0-1 6. Jaylin Rhodes 6-7 2-4 14, Mikal McGuire 0-1 0-0 0, Scottie Clark 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 26-52 8-14 64.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 6 (Voirol 2, Reinhard, A. Clark, Rocha, Moore), Memorial 4 ()Maxwell 2, Gary, S. Clark); Rebounds – Wawasee 25 (Bright 9), Memorial 33 (Giger 11); Assists – Wawasee 7, Memorial 10; Turnovers – Wawasee 10, Memorial 11; Steals – Wawasee 3, Memorial 6; Fouls – Wawasee 17, Memorial 12; Fouled out – Voirol; Records – Wawasee 5-6 (0-3 NLC), Memorial 8-5 (2-0 NLC)
JV – Memorial 62, Wawasee 41
Wawasee – Stephon Miller 16, Aaron Beer 13, Chase Rookstool 6, Cayden Wegener 5, Parker Hatfield 1[[In-content Ad]]
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