NorthWood Starters Finish Off Wawasee
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NAPPANEE - The NorthWood Panthers proved that you don't necessarily need a bench to be successful Friday night. NorthWood's starters scored all 34 of the Panthers' first-half points and 58 of their 66 total points in a 66-46 win over Wawasee.
Nic Bradley and Bobby Brown scored 16 points each, and Eric Zell had 15 points as the Panthers improved to 3-3 in the Northern Lakes Conference.
"Bradley did a nice job for us and had one of his better games," NorthWood coach Dan Gunn said. "Zell played well in the post and did a good job on Stipp."
Wawasee's starters, on the other hand, struggled to find the shooting touch and combined to score just 14 points. Chris Lambert came off the bench to lead the Warriors with 13 points, and Jordan Bender added 10, also as a non-starter.
"We came out flat, and they jumped on us early," Wawasee head coach Jerry Davis said. "They shot the ball well in the first quarter. We got down early, and we couldn't come back."
NorthWood made 67 percent of its shots in the first quarter and only missed five attempts in that time span. Even more impressive, though, was the fact that the Panthers got offensive rebounds on four of the misses and had easy layups on most of those. That translated into a 22-9 lead after eight minutes of action.
In the second quarter, NorthWood extended the lead to 16 points right away, but Bender came up with five points as the Warriors got back to 13 points at 27-14.
But NorthWood closed out the period with a 7-2 run for a 34-16 halftime lead.
The third quarter opened with a quick six-point Panther spurt to make the score 40-16, but Wawasee came back with seven straight points from Lambert and the Warriors seemed to have a bit of life left.
But once again, NorthWood responded with a basket to break the run, and Wawasee never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
"A lot of times when you make a spurt like that, it takes a lot of energy out of you," Davis said. "It wasn't anything that we sustained, and they came right back and got back on top of us."
In the end, it was the rebounding that made the difference. NorthWood outrebounded Wawasee 11-5 on the offensive glass and 35-19 overall. In the first quarter, when the game was really put out of reach, the Panthers won the battle of the boards 9-3.
"We talked about how important (rebounding) was going to be," Gunn said. "I was leery of Wawasee's size. If Brody Stipp's 6-3 (as he's listed), I'm 5-10. I know that they're a good rebounding team."
The Panthers played well both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
NorthWood shot 54 percent for the game while holding Wawasee to just 38 percent. Wawasee turned the ball over 14 times while forcing only eight turnovers on the game.
Wawasee (3-14, 1-5) will be at Westview on Thursday. NorthWood (11-5, 3-3) will play at Mishawaka today. [[In-content Ad]]
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NAPPANEE - The NorthWood Panthers proved that you don't necessarily need a bench to be successful Friday night. NorthWood's starters scored all 34 of the Panthers' first-half points and 58 of their 66 total points in a 66-46 win over Wawasee.
Nic Bradley and Bobby Brown scored 16 points each, and Eric Zell had 15 points as the Panthers improved to 3-3 in the Northern Lakes Conference.
"Bradley did a nice job for us and had one of his better games," NorthWood coach Dan Gunn said. "Zell played well in the post and did a good job on Stipp."
Wawasee's starters, on the other hand, struggled to find the shooting touch and combined to score just 14 points. Chris Lambert came off the bench to lead the Warriors with 13 points, and Jordan Bender added 10, also as a non-starter.
"We came out flat, and they jumped on us early," Wawasee head coach Jerry Davis said. "They shot the ball well in the first quarter. We got down early, and we couldn't come back."
NorthWood made 67 percent of its shots in the first quarter and only missed five attempts in that time span. Even more impressive, though, was the fact that the Panthers got offensive rebounds on four of the misses and had easy layups on most of those. That translated into a 22-9 lead after eight minutes of action.
In the second quarter, NorthWood extended the lead to 16 points right away, but Bender came up with five points as the Warriors got back to 13 points at 27-14.
But NorthWood closed out the period with a 7-2 run for a 34-16 halftime lead.
The third quarter opened with a quick six-point Panther spurt to make the score 40-16, but Wawasee came back with seven straight points from Lambert and the Warriors seemed to have a bit of life left.
But once again, NorthWood responded with a basket to break the run, and Wawasee never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
"A lot of times when you make a spurt like that, it takes a lot of energy out of you," Davis said. "It wasn't anything that we sustained, and they came right back and got back on top of us."
In the end, it was the rebounding that made the difference. NorthWood outrebounded Wawasee 11-5 on the offensive glass and 35-19 overall. In the first quarter, when the game was really put out of reach, the Panthers won the battle of the boards 9-3.
"We talked about how important (rebounding) was going to be," Gunn said. "I was leery of Wawasee's size. If Brody Stipp's 6-3 (as he's listed), I'm 5-10. I know that they're a good rebounding team."
The Panthers played well both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
NorthWood shot 54 percent for the game while holding Wawasee to just 38 percent. Wawasee turned the ball over 14 times while forcing only eight turnovers on the game.
Wawasee (3-14, 1-5) will be at Westview on Thursday. NorthWood (11-5, 3-3) will play at Mishawaka today. [[In-content Ad]]