WARSAW AT VALPARAISO

TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Saturday at Valparaiso

COACHES: Al Rhodes (Warsaw), Bob Punter (Valparaiso)

RECORDS: Warsaw 6-1, Valparaiso 2-2

LAST GAME: Warsaw 72, FW North 65; Valparaiso 72, Elk. Memorial 65

MATCHUP: ...A new addition to the Warsaw schedule takes place on Saturday when Valparaiso takes the place of Anderson on the slate. The Vikings, two years removed from a state runner-up finish, are a young team dominated by juniors. The Vikings play one of the toughest early schedules around with games against Gary Roosevelt, Merrillville and Warsaw. The tough part for the Tigers will be getting back up emotionally after a big Northern Lakes Conference game a day earlier against Northridge. Six-foot-five junior Darren Kahl leads the Vikings with 20 ppg. Brian Phillips, another 6-5 junior, adds 12.5, and 6-3 senior Joe Nixon averages 12 ppg.

GAME TALK:

Rhodes... "I know they are an excellent rebounding team. They have done a tremendous job on the boards. ... Really though it is difficult to get ready for the Saturday game. All our thoughts are on Northridge (tonight). I thought we improved from the Huntington North weekend to the Wawasee weekend. If we can get our players to concentrate for the full 32 minutes, we will be better. Our first half against Fort Wayne North (on Saturday) was some of our best basketball of the year. If we can get that kind of execution and decision making for longer periods of time, we would take a big jump as a team."

Punter... "We are going to be looking for everything against Warsaw. From what I have been able to gather, they run a lot of offensive and defensive sets. We will have to be on our toes. We have to be playing with our heads screwed on so we don't get caught napping and give up easy baskets. ... We are really young with only three seniors and seven juniors. We may be a year away from being pretty good. Our leading scorers are all juniors. We have a very tough schedule. We will have our hands full this weekend (with No. 10 Merrillville on Friday)."

WAWASEE AT SB RILEY

TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Saturday at South Bend

COACHES: Jerry Davis (Wawasee), Bob Berger (Riley)

RECORDS: Wawasee 2-2, Riley 3-2

LAST GAME: Warsaw 51, Wawasee 48; Riley 76, Glenn 48

MATCHUP:... One of Riley's wins came at Merrillville, who has Mr. Basketball candidate Jamaal Davis. Riley is led by Cephus Phillips, who averages 17.2 ppg. Guard Ryan Mikel leads Wawasee with 15.8 ppg. Brody Stipp adds 12.0 ppg and Jay Haugh 11.6 ppg.

GAME TALK:

Davis... "Riley is probably as an athletic of a team that we will face this year. They are super quick and attack the glass, run, press and shoot the three. This being our first (double weekend), we're looking for quality minutes from our bench. We have kids on our bench who can score. We have been sticking primarily with a six- or seven-man rotation, but we'll go a little deeper this weekend. If they (reserves) don't do any more than rebound and defend, I will be happy."

Berger... "I think they have great patience as a basketball team. They know what they want to do, and they want to control the tempo of the game. They want to get that high-percentage shot, and that is something we will have to deal with. We can't let them get into that real groove they want to get into. We are going to have to do some things like putting pressure on people and pressing totally to uptempo it a little bit. ... We started very slowly with two losses and now we have won our last three. I hope we can go from there and keep getting stronger. We hope that trend can continue through the whole season."

COLUMBIA CITY AT MANCHESTER

TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Saturday at North Manchester

COACHES: Chris Benedict (Col. City), Gary Goshert (Manchester)

RECORDS: Col. City 4-1, Manchester 4-1

LAST GAME: Col. City 65, Angola 60; Manchester 70, Homestead 63

MATCHUP:...The Squires recorded a big win Saturday over Homestead. Whitko played Homestead earlier this season and lost 104-77, and Wildcat coach Dave Henson said afterward the Spartans were one of the top five teams on Whitko's schedule. Six-foot-four senior center Chris Joy leads Columbia City with 15.2 ppg and 7.0 rebounds per game. Guard Matt Moore scores 12.8 ppg and leads the Eagles with 8.0 assists per game. Guard Eric Swan leads Manchester with 14 ppg, while center Chris Enyeart adds 13.8 ppg. Scot Croner scores 12 ppg. Enyeart leads Manchester with 6.2 rpg, and teammate Rex Reimer leads the Squires with 5.4 apg.

GAME TALK:

Benedict... "When I saw that (Homestead/Manchester) score, I was kind of surprised. I thought Homestead's inside players would give Manchester much more problems. Manchester is not very big. Manchester has five players who can handle the ball and shoot the ball. They have kids who believe in themselves, who expect to win ... We were happy and fortunate to get out with the win against Angola. We travel to Bellmont tonight. We're concerned with keeping people fresh. Manchester spreads you out on offense and tries to drive to the basket. I think Manchester's perimeter shooting will be a big key. If they continue to get open looks, they will knock them down. Our big thing is pressuring their shots and making sure we give them just one shot each time down the floor."

Goshert... "I think they have some quality players as far as kids being able to score. They have two 6-4 kids (Joy, Jason Elkins) who are pretty strong inside. They have (Dave) Richmond, a 6-3 kid who is a pretty good athlete. They have quick guards and good perimeter shooters. They're difficult to defend inside and outside. We expect a down-to-the-wire game. Offensively, they have good spacing, which gives people room to maneuver ... Homestead is a good team, so we're pretty pleased with what took place. We can use that for momentum, and hopefully we gain confidence from that win. Offensively, we played pretty good last week, but still need to be able to sustain some things for four quarters." [[In-content Ad]]