NAPPANEE -ÊWhen Wawasee boy's basketball coach Phil Mishler found out his team would face Northridge on Friday night in round two of the Northern Lakes Conference/Lake City Bank Holiday Tourney, he wasn't surprised.

"Northridge is a very good team," said Mishler. "They are a lot like us in that they have good strong post people and good perimeter people who can shoot."

While the Raiders do have some similarities to the Warriors, they didn't have enough Friday night as Wawasee picked up a 56-44 win to put the Warriors into Saturday's final game.

"We played really well tonight," said Mishler. "Northridge gave us all we could handle. My hat is off to Coach Austin and his team on an excellent effort."

For a while the game looked as though it might be a battle of the big men as early scoring came in the paint through much of the first quarter.

It remained a defensive battle as Wawasee led just 9-6 by the end of the first quarter. Both teams put 10 points on the scoreboard in the second period, giving the Warriors a 19-16 halftime lead.

Northridge scored the first basket of the third but the quarter belonged to Wawasee.

The Warriors hit three treys in the period, one each by Ben Knisley, Kyle Lantz and Stephen Conrad to outscore the Raiders 17-10.

Soon the Warriors stretched the lead to 36-26.

Ben Knisley opened the fourth with a basket as he drove in on Eric Eaton. Then a basket from Kory Lantz stretched the lead to 14, 40-26.

From there on it was a matter of Wawasee taking care of the ball and hitting free throws to seal the victory.

"If we hadn't hit our free throws down the stretch it could have been a different game," said Mishler. "Northridge started fouling early on in the fourth and our kids responded well."

The Warriors converted 16 of 18 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to secure the win and a date with undefeated Concord in the Northern Lakes Conference/Lake City Bank Holiday Tournament final game on Saturday.

One of Wawasee's strengths this season has been balanced scoring, and Friday night was no different. Kory Lantz led the Warriors with 15 points, followed by Clint Custer with 14 and Knisley with 13. Kyle Lantz added nine and Stephen Conrad had three as the five starters were the only Warriors in the scorebook.

"I felt really good about how our guys came out tonight and really worked as a team defensively," said Mishler. "I was really concerned about how we were going to handle Eaton inside and still contest the three-point shot. We communicated really well tonight and put a lot of pressure on the ball. I thought we did a really nice job defensively throughout the entire game. Our senior leadership really paid off."

The Wawasee boys will play Concord in tonight's final at NorthWood High School. The game will begin after the Wawasee girls take on the Warsaw girls at NorthWood at 6 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]