Panthers Survive Late Meltdown
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NAPPANEE -ÊIt isn't a good idea for any Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball team to dig itself too big of a hole at the beginning of the conference season.
Not in a tough and rugged conference like this one.
Heading into Saturday's NLC clash between Wawasee and NorthWood at the Panther Pit, each team was trying to pick up its first conference win and trying to avoid going 0-2 in conference play.
"We really feel like we should beat anyone on our schedule,' Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said. "You have to play four solid quarters to win in this league.'
After three quarters of looking like the Panthers would pick up their first win in the conference, the Panthers crumbled in the fourth, and the Warriors looked to pick up a huge win in a very tough environment.
After struggling badly, the Panthers got some key baskets late and held off the pesky Warriors 69-63.
"Give Wawasee a lot of credit, they did a lot of nice things tonight,' NorthWood coach Dan Gunn said. "We would have liked to play better, but a win is a win in this conference."
Wawasee came out with a lot of early intensity. Travis Klenke opened the game with a three for the Warriors that gave them the early 3-0 lead. The Panthers then outscored the Warriors 10-2 over the next three minutes to take a 10-5 lead, prompting Mishler to call an early timeout.
"We got into a rhythm early in the game,' Mishler said. "We always preach that we need to be the aggressor out there. I was pleased with our intensity on defense.'
The timeout helped the Warriors, as they scored the next four points to cut the lead to 10-9 with 2:47 in the quarter.
NorthWood got a big lift from guard Ryan Bradley in the first quarter. He lit the Warriors up for 13 first-quarter points and 19 first-half points, enabling the Panthers to keep the lead.
"We knew we couldn't leave him alone,' Mishler said. "I don't know why he had so many open looks. We can't leave a shooter open like that.'
The Panthers used three-pointers late in the first quarter to build an 21-11 lead after the first quarter. Besides Bradley's three treys, Rory Clouse connected on two.
"We got some good looks in the first quarter and our shots were falling,' Gunn said.
If the Warriors were going to get back into the game, they had to start the second quarter with a sense of urgency playing on the road. The Warriors responded to the challenge, outscoring the Panthers 10-2 in the first two minutes of the second quarter to cut the lead to 23-21.
"Wawasee did a nice job of passing the ball to the open guy, and they got right back in the game,' Gunn said.
After the big Warrior run, the Panthers would go on a big run of their own. In the next four minutes, the Panthers went on a 12-0 run to up the lead to 35-21 with 1:49 left before halftime.
"We had a lot of chances in this game,' Mishler said. "The game is a matter of inches, good decision making and we didn't do enough to win the game.'
The Warriors cut the gap to 35-30 at half, thanks to another 9-0 run to end the half.
The Panthers started off the third quarter scoring the first four points to take a nine-point lead at 39-30. Robbie Lightfoot and Willy Will hit easy lay-ups for the points.
The quarter went back and forth throughout. The Panthers took their biggest lead of the game at 57-42 with 49 seconds left after a lay-up by Bradley.
"We had a nice run at the end of the third that gave us a little breathing room,' Gunn said.
Heading into the fourth quarter down 12 at 57-45, the Warriors had a lot of catching up to do in a short amount of time. The Warriors stepped up their defensive pressure and the Panthers looked like they could just step on the floor in the fourth and go through the motions in the final frame and pick up the win.
The Warriors opened the fourth with a huge 11-0 run to cut NorthWood's lead to one at 57-56 with 3:51 to play. The Warriors got great play form Brent Doty and Brian Adkins. Doty had some key steals and points while Adkins hit a big three in the frame.
After a NorthWood miss at the line, the Warriors tied the game on a free throw by Andrew Packer.
Another NorthWood turnover gave the ball back to the Warriors with a chance to take their first lead of the game. Travis Klenke got fouled with 2:08 to play and hit one free throw to give the Warriors a 58-57 lead.
"Our defensive intensity got us back into the game in the fourth. We forced some turnovers and some bad shots,' Mishler said.
After not scoring for the first 6:13 in the final quarter, the Panthers finally scored on a Clouse lay-up to give the lead back to the Panthers at 59-58 with 1:47 to play. After a Warrior miss, Clouse again scored to up the lead to 61-58 with 59 seconds left.
The game came down to making plays in the clutch. The Warriors' comeback fell short as the Panthers hit some key free throws down the stretch to hold off the tenacious comeback by the Warriors.
"We ended up making some key plays at the end of the game,' Gunn said. "Wawasee fought us to the end, they played hard.'
Bradley led the Panthers with 23 points while Clouse added 20 points. Even on an off night for Will, he still chipped in 14.
Andrew Packer and Brian Adkins led the Warriors with 14 points each.
Packer added 14 rebounds. Klenke poured in 10 points.
NorthWood (5-2, 1-1) travels to Northridge on Friday while Wawasee (3-6, 0-2) travels to Elkhart Memorial on Friday.
NorthWood 69, Wawasee 63
Wawasee (3-6) 21 14 22 12 - 69
NorthWood (5-2) 11 19 15 18 - 63
Wawasee FG-A FT-A R A S PTS
Packer (C) 5-10 4-6 14 0 4 14
Adkins (G) 5-11 2-2 2 3 2 14
Klenke (F) 4-11 1-5 3 1 1 10
Specicher (G) 3-5 0-0 1 2 1 9
Doty (F) 3-5 0-2 1 1 3 6
Farrell 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
VanLue 3-5 0-0 2 2 2 7
Beasley 1-4 0-1 2 0 0 3
Popenfoose 0-0 0-0 2 1 0 0
Totals 24-51 7-16 28 10 13 63
NorthWood FG-A FT-A R A S PTS
Bradley (G) 10-17 0-1 3 3 1 23
Clouse (C) 7-13 3-3 4 0 2 20
Will (F) 5-10 4-5 7 2 4 14
Lightfoot (G) 4-5 1-2 4 2 3 9
Reynolds (G) 1-3 1-2 3 3 1 3
Clem 0-5 0-0 1 0 1 0
Klotz 0-4 0-0 3 0 1 0
Totals 27-57 9-13 25 10 13 69
Three-point goals: Wawasee 8-17 (Brent Doty 0-1, Travis Speicher 3-3, Travis Klenke 1-4, Justin VanLue 1-2, Brian Adkins 2-4, Scott Beasley 1-3. NW 6-12 (Robbie Lightfoot 0-1, Ryan Bradley 3-4, Rory Clouse 3-5, Sean Clem 0-2). Turnovers - Wawasee 15, NorthWood 15. Total Fouls: Wawasee 17, NorthWood 14. Fouled Out: None
JV: Wawasee 44, NorthWood 41 [[In-content Ad]]
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NAPPANEE -ÊIt isn't a good idea for any Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball team to dig itself too big of a hole at the beginning of the conference season.
Not in a tough and rugged conference like this one.
Heading into Saturday's NLC clash between Wawasee and NorthWood at the Panther Pit, each team was trying to pick up its first conference win and trying to avoid going 0-2 in conference play.
"We really feel like we should beat anyone on our schedule,' Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said. "You have to play four solid quarters to win in this league.'
After three quarters of looking like the Panthers would pick up their first win in the conference, the Panthers crumbled in the fourth, and the Warriors looked to pick up a huge win in a very tough environment.
After struggling badly, the Panthers got some key baskets late and held off the pesky Warriors 69-63.
"Give Wawasee a lot of credit, they did a lot of nice things tonight,' NorthWood coach Dan Gunn said. "We would have liked to play better, but a win is a win in this conference."
Wawasee came out with a lot of early intensity. Travis Klenke opened the game with a three for the Warriors that gave them the early 3-0 lead. The Panthers then outscored the Warriors 10-2 over the next three minutes to take a 10-5 lead, prompting Mishler to call an early timeout.
"We got into a rhythm early in the game,' Mishler said. "We always preach that we need to be the aggressor out there. I was pleased with our intensity on defense.'
The timeout helped the Warriors, as they scored the next four points to cut the lead to 10-9 with 2:47 in the quarter.
NorthWood got a big lift from guard Ryan Bradley in the first quarter. He lit the Warriors up for 13 first-quarter points and 19 first-half points, enabling the Panthers to keep the lead.
"We knew we couldn't leave him alone,' Mishler said. "I don't know why he had so many open looks. We can't leave a shooter open like that.'
The Panthers used three-pointers late in the first quarter to build an 21-11 lead after the first quarter. Besides Bradley's three treys, Rory Clouse connected on two.
"We got some good looks in the first quarter and our shots were falling,' Gunn said.
If the Warriors were going to get back into the game, they had to start the second quarter with a sense of urgency playing on the road. The Warriors responded to the challenge, outscoring the Panthers 10-2 in the first two minutes of the second quarter to cut the lead to 23-21.
"Wawasee did a nice job of passing the ball to the open guy, and they got right back in the game,' Gunn said.
After the big Warrior run, the Panthers would go on a big run of their own. In the next four minutes, the Panthers went on a 12-0 run to up the lead to 35-21 with 1:49 left before halftime.
"We had a lot of chances in this game,' Mishler said. "The game is a matter of inches, good decision making and we didn't do enough to win the game.'
The Warriors cut the gap to 35-30 at half, thanks to another 9-0 run to end the half.
The Panthers started off the third quarter scoring the first four points to take a nine-point lead at 39-30. Robbie Lightfoot and Willy Will hit easy lay-ups for the points.
The quarter went back and forth throughout. The Panthers took their biggest lead of the game at 57-42 with 49 seconds left after a lay-up by Bradley.
"We had a nice run at the end of the third that gave us a little breathing room,' Gunn said.
Heading into the fourth quarter down 12 at 57-45, the Warriors had a lot of catching up to do in a short amount of time. The Warriors stepped up their defensive pressure and the Panthers looked like they could just step on the floor in the fourth and go through the motions in the final frame and pick up the win.
The Warriors opened the fourth with a huge 11-0 run to cut NorthWood's lead to one at 57-56 with 3:51 to play. The Warriors got great play form Brent Doty and Brian Adkins. Doty had some key steals and points while Adkins hit a big three in the frame.
After a NorthWood miss at the line, the Warriors tied the game on a free throw by Andrew Packer.
Another NorthWood turnover gave the ball back to the Warriors with a chance to take their first lead of the game. Travis Klenke got fouled with 2:08 to play and hit one free throw to give the Warriors a 58-57 lead.
"Our defensive intensity got us back into the game in the fourth. We forced some turnovers and some bad shots,' Mishler said.
After not scoring for the first 6:13 in the final quarter, the Panthers finally scored on a Clouse lay-up to give the lead back to the Panthers at 59-58 with 1:47 to play. After a Warrior miss, Clouse again scored to up the lead to 61-58 with 59 seconds left.
The game came down to making plays in the clutch. The Warriors' comeback fell short as the Panthers hit some key free throws down the stretch to hold off the tenacious comeback by the Warriors.
"We ended up making some key plays at the end of the game,' Gunn said. "Wawasee fought us to the end, they played hard.'
Bradley led the Panthers with 23 points while Clouse added 20 points. Even on an off night for Will, he still chipped in 14.
Andrew Packer and Brian Adkins led the Warriors with 14 points each.
Packer added 14 rebounds. Klenke poured in 10 points.
NorthWood (5-2, 1-1) travels to Northridge on Friday while Wawasee (3-6, 0-2) travels to Elkhart Memorial on Friday.
NorthWood 69, Wawasee 63
Wawasee (3-6) 21 14 22 12 - 69
NorthWood (5-2) 11 19 15 18 - 63
Wawasee FG-A FT-A R A S PTS
Packer (C) 5-10 4-6 14 0 4 14
Adkins (G) 5-11 2-2 2 3 2 14
Klenke (F) 4-11 1-5 3 1 1 10
Specicher (G) 3-5 0-0 1 2 1 9
Doty (F) 3-5 0-2 1 1 3 6
Farrell 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
VanLue 3-5 0-0 2 2 2 7
Beasley 1-4 0-1 2 0 0 3
Popenfoose 0-0 0-0 2 1 0 0
Totals 24-51 7-16 28 10 13 63
NorthWood FG-A FT-A R A S PTS
Bradley (G) 10-17 0-1 3 3 1 23
Clouse (C) 7-13 3-3 4 0 2 20
Will (F) 5-10 4-5 7 2 4 14
Lightfoot (G) 4-5 1-2 4 2 3 9
Reynolds (G) 1-3 1-2 3 3 1 3
Clem 0-5 0-0 1 0 1 0
Klotz 0-4 0-0 3 0 1 0
Totals 27-57 9-13 25 10 13 69
Three-point goals: Wawasee 8-17 (Brent Doty 0-1, Travis Speicher 3-3, Travis Klenke 1-4, Justin VanLue 1-2, Brian Adkins 2-4, Scott Beasley 1-3. NW 6-12 (Robbie Lightfoot 0-1, Ryan Bradley 3-4, Rory Clouse 3-5, Sean Clem 0-2). Turnovers - Wawasee 15, NorthWood 15. Total Fouls: Wawasee 17, NorthWood 14. Fouled Out: None
JV: Wawasee 44, NorthWood 41 [[In-content Ad]]