Warriors Three-Mendous In Win Over Whitko
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE - Saturday night's contest between Whitko and Wawasee in boys basketball action saw an inordinate amount of play stoppage due to tangled nets. When the nets weren't tangled, they were being scorched by the host Warriors. Wawasee connected on 10 three-pointers en route to a 78-48 spanking of Whitko.
The Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 3-0 with a three-pointer of their own by 6-foot-4 senior Nate Alspaugh. Wawasee quickly responded when senior Kory Lantz tickled the twine from beyond the arc.
Dan Rupley gave Whitko its final lead of the game with 6:28 left in the first quarter when the 6-4 senior hit one of two free throws.
From the point until the one-minute mark of the opening period, Wawasee went on a 16-0 run.
Junior Brad Smith stopped the bleeding for Whitko with a two-pointer.
The Warriors reeled off another huge run of 16-2 over most of the second quarter to take a 43-10 lead.
Wawasee connected on nine three-pointers in the first half to jump out to its 33-point first half lead.
Seniors Kory Lantz and Austin Kaiser combined for six of those trifectas.
The prolific senior duo along with fellow upperclassmen Ryan Kauchak and Austin Gerber, have made a concerted effort of late to end the season strong.
Over the past four games, Wawasee has averaged 70 points per contest while holding opponents to just 47 points per game. That sort of execution has Wawasee head coach Phil Mishler feeling pretty good as his team heads toward sectional play.
"It makes it nice. These guys have come out and really wanted to do well and put away their senior season with a high note," said Mishler.
And while the present crop of Warrior basketball players looks poised to the tournament, the future of Wawasee basketball was front and center for much of the second half.
Sophomores Andrew Mock and Lance Zimmerman scored 10 and 12 points respectively as the duo, along with Joe Leach and Brandon Geiger, saw extended playing time. Junior starter Michael Conrad rounded out the group that may be the starting five for Mishler next season.
But after Saturday night's contest, Mishler wanted to talk about the four seniors who helped the fifth-year coach build his program.
"These kids set the foundation a few years ago and now they're really starting to build a tradition here. They have put an extremely high mark of where the expectations should be. They have shown class not only on the court but off the court," said Mishler.
On the other sidelines, Whitko head coach Larry Lael is in his first year at the helm of the Wildcats and still experiencing growing pains.
"They're awfully good first of all and I knew they were going to be. They've got a couple seniors who can really play. We didn't handle their pressure very well. That was obvious," said Lael.
The Wildcats committed 22 turnovers with many coming from Wawasee's half court trap.
"The kids came back in the second half. We talked about that at halftime. When you get down like that, you have two ways to go. You can get down on yourself or fight back and we fought back," said Lael.
While Wawasee scored 27 points in the first quarter, it took Whitko to the 6:53 mark of the fourth quarter to reach that mark when Dan Rupley hit a jumper.
The Warriors, 14-5 overall, travel to Columbia City Tuesday at 7:45 p.m.
Whitko, 4-15 overall, ends the regular season at NorthWood Friday for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff.
WAWASEE 78, WHITKO 48
Whitko 6 7 11 24 - 48
T. Valley 27 16 17 18 - 78
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
*Alspaugh 2-9 2-2 2 0 8
*Smith 3-11 1-2 1 1 7
*Spangle 3-5 2-2 3 0 9
*Coats 5-8 2-2 11 1 13
*Rupley 1-3 1-2 3 0 3
Rowland 1-4 2-2 2 0 4
Kurtz 1-3 2-2 1 0 4
Carroll 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Boggs 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 16-44 12-14 25 2 48
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
*Lantz 5-15 0-0 3 3 14
*Kaiser 8-11 2-2 5 3 21
*Gerber 1-2 2-2 0 2 4
*Conrad 0-2 0-0 4 0 0
*Kauchak 3-3 2-2 1 1 8
Zimmerman 6-8 0-0 7 0 12
Mock 3-6 2-2 1 0 10
Leach 2-2 0-0 3 2 5
Geiger 0-1 2-2 0 0 2
Richardson 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Ballentine 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Adams 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 28-51 12-12 24 11 78
Three-point goals - Whitko 4-13 (Alspaugh 2-5, Spangle 1-1, Coats 1-1,, Rowland 0-2, Smith 0-4); Wawasee 10-20 (Lantz 4-8, Kaiser 3-5, Mock 2-4, Leach 1-1, Richardson 0-1, Conrad 0-1. Turnovers - Whitko 22, Wawasee 9. Team Fouls - Whitko 13, Wawasee 16. Fouled out - Rupley (Whitko)
JV -ÊWhitko 40, Wawasee 33 [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE - Saturday night's contest between Whitko and Wawasee in boys basketball action saw an inordinate amount of play stoppage due to tangled nets. When the nets weren't tangled, they were being scorched by the host Warriors. Wawasee connected on 10 three-pointers en route to a 78-48 spanking of Whitko.
The Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 3-0 with a three-pointer of their own by 6-foot-4 senior Nate Alspaugh. Wawasee quickly responded when senior Kory Lantz tickled the twine from beyond the arc.
Dan Rupley gave Whitko its final lead of the game with 6:28 left in the first quarter when the 6-4 senior hit one of two free throws.
From the point until the one-minute mark of the opening period, Wawasee went on a 16-0 run.
Junior Brad Smith stopped the bleeding for Whitko with a two-pointer.
The Warriors reeled off another huge run of 16-2 over most of the second quarter to take a 43-10 lead.
Wawasee connected on nine three-pointers in the first half to jump out to its 33-point first half lead.
Seniors Kory Lantz and Austin Kaiser combined for six of those trifectas.
The prolific senior duo along with fellow upperclassmen Ryan Kauchak and Austin Gerber, have made a concerted effort of late to end the season strong.
Over the past four games, Wawasee has averaged 70 points per contest while holding opponents to just 47 points per game. That sort of execution has Wawasee head coach Phil Mishler feeling pretty good as his team heads toward sectional play.
"It makes it nice. These guys have come out and really wanted to do well and put away their senior season with a high note," said Mishler.
And while the present crop of Warrior basketball players looks poised to the tournament, the future of Wawasee basketball was front and center for much of the second half.
Sophomores Andrew Mock and Lance Zimmerman scored 10 and 12 points respectively as the duo, along with Joe Leach and Brandon Geiger, saw extended playing time. Junior starter Michael Conrad rounded out the group that may be the starting five for Mishler next season.
But after Saturday night's contest, Mishler wanted to talk about the four seniors who helped the fifth-year coach build his program.
"These kids set the foundation a few years ago and now they're really starting to build a tradition here. They have put an extremely high mark of where the expectations should be. They have shown class not only on the court but off the court," said Mishler.
On the other sidelines, Whitko head coach Larry Lael is in his first year at the helm of the Wildcats and still experiencing growing pains.
"They're awfully good first of all and I knew they were going to be. They've got a couple seniors who can really play. We didn't handle their pressure very well. That was obvious," said Lael.
The Wildcats committed 22 turnovers with many coming from Wawasee's half court trap.
"The kids came back in the second half. We talked about that at halftime. When you get down like that, you have two ways to go. You can get down on yourself or fight back and we fought back," said Lael.
While Wawasee scored 27 points in the first quarter, it took Whitko to the 6:53 mark of the fourth quarter to reach that mark when Dan Rupley hit a jumper.
The Warriors, 14-5 overall, travel to Columbia City Tuesday at 7:45 p.m.
Whitko, 4-15 overall, ends the regular season at NorthWood Friday for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff.
WAWASEE 78, WHITKO 48
Whitko 6 7 11 24 - 48
T. Valley 27 16 17 18 - 78
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
*Alspaugh 2-9 2-2 2 0 8
*Smith 3-11 1-2 1 1 7
*Spangle 3-5 2-2 3 0 9
*Coats 5-8 2-2 11 1 13
*Rupley 1-3 1-2 3 0 3
Rowland 1-4 2-2 2 0 4
Kurtz 1-3 2-2 1 0 4
Carroll 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Boggs 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 16-44 12-14 25 2 48
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
*Lantz 5-15 0-0 3 3 14
*Kaiser 8-11 2-2 5 3 21
*Gerber 1-2 2-2 0 2 4
*Conrad 0-2 0-0 4 0 0
*Kauchak 3-3 2-2 1 1 8
Zimmerman 6-8 0-0 7 0 12
Mock 3-6 2-2 1 0 10
Leach 2-2 0-0 3 2 5
Geiger 0-1 2-2 0 0 2
Richardson 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Ballentine 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Adams 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 28-51 12-12 24 11 78
Three-point goals - Whitko 4-13 (Alspaugh 2-5, Spangle 1-1, Coats 1-1,, Rowland 0-2, Smith 0-4); Wawasee 10-20 (Lantz 4-8, Kaiser 3-5, Mock 2-4, Leach 1-1, Richardson 0-1, Conrad 0-1. Turnovers - Whitko 22, Wawasee 9. Team Fouls - Whitko 13, Wawasee 16. Fouled out - Rupley (Whitko)
JV -ÊWhitko 40, Wawasee 33 [[In-content Ad]]