South Whitey- Friday night was Senior Night at Whitko High school.

The student body, along with parents and fans alike, saluted the boys basketball team for their years of service to their high school. The players responded by going out and hanging with 15-2 Southwood for most of the game before falling 66-57.

The game started with a jumper by Whitko's Shane Henderson. The students then proceeded to throw rolls of toliet paper onto the floor. This is a tradition on Senior Night at Whitko. It took a few minutes for the toliet paper to be cleaned up off the floor. Despite the stoppage in play, Whitko remained hot as the Wildcats started the game with an 8-2 run.

The Knights answered right back, however, as they rattled off seven straight points to get back into the game.

Whitko maintained its intensity as it mounted another run to push the first-quarter lead to 19-11. Henderson paced the Wildcats early as he scored seven of the team's 21 first-quarter points, giving them a three-point lead at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter saw Whitko's hot shooting taper off as it could manage only six points in the quarter. While the Wildcats were unable to connect from the field they were able to keep Southwood from getting hot.

Southwood tried to push the ball up and down the floor but was unsuccessful as Whitko's transition defense forced the Knights into half-court sets.

This not only stifled the Southwood offense as a whole, but especially leading scorer Paul Wright. While Wright did score 13 first-half points he wasn't able to create scoring opportunites for the rest of his team.

That would quickly change as the third quarter arrived. The Knights came quickly out of the blocks and put a 15-4 run together. Not only did Southwood begin to creep ahead on the scoreboard, it did the same in the rebounding department. The Knights' Nick Dawson was a one- man wrecking crew on the boards as he pulled down 16 in the game. Dawson, along with the rest of Southwood's frontline began to give Southwood second-chance points as they started to pull away.

Both teams would trade baskets to end the quarter as the Wildcats trailed 51-38 going into the fourth quarter. Whitko would get as close as 10 points but would not draw any closer until an Adam Wendel three with a couple of seconds left sailed through the nets.

The loss drops Whitko to 6-11 on the season with a 1-5 TRC record. Whitko travels NorthWood on Tuesday.

Southwood 66 Whitko 57

Southwood 18 11 22 15 - 66

Whitko 21 6 11 19 - 57

Whitko FG FT R A S Pts.

A. Wendel 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 3

Waybright 0-0 2-4 0 0 2 2

Henderson 5-7 2-2 2 0 3 14

Mohr 3-10 2-2 1 1 2 9

Wendel 0-1 2-2 0 0 2 2

Gonzalez 5-9 0-0 4 2 6 10

Martin 4-4 1-2 0 0 3 10

Grant 0-3 5-7 1 0 8 5

Goble 0-1 2-2 0 0 0 2

Totals 18-36 16-22 8 3 26 57

Southwood FG FT R A S Pts.

Ehert 1-3 0-0 0 2 3 3

Perigo 1-1 1-2 1 0 2 3

D.J. Marshall 1-4 2-3 2 1 3 4

Wright 2-5 0-0 0 0 3 6

Dawson 4-11 2-2 0 0 16 10

Zellers 0-4 2-2 0 0 3 2

C. Marshall 2-8 0-0 1 1 0 6

P. Wright 13-20 3-4 0 1 4 32

Totals 24-56 10-13 4 5 34 66

Three-point goals -ÊWhitko 5-7. (Henderson 2-3, A. Wendel 1-1, Mohr 1-1, Martin, 1-1.)Southwood 7-14., (P. Wright 3-7, T. Wright 2-3, C. Marshall 1-2, Ehert 1-2.) Turnovers -Whitko 10, Southwood 6. Total fouls - Whitko 11 Southwood 18.

JV: Whitko 52 , Southwood 51

Whitko leading scorer: Goble 18. Southwood leading scorers. Justin Jones and Brady Elzroth 14. [[In-content Ad]]