Wawasee Boys Win First Regional Title
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NAPPANEE - The public address announcer requested fans stay off the court, but on a day when Wawasee's varsity boys basketball team couldn't be denied, neither were its fans.
Following a 73-64 upset of Class 3A No. 2 Bellmont in the championship game of the NorthWood Regional Saturday evening, the Warriors' large fan base rushed the court and celebrated the historic moment.
A program that had never even won a game in regional competition, much less to cut down the nets as the champion, used dead-eye three-point shooting in the third quarter to build a lead and then a strong free throw shooting performance in the fourth to knock off the highly-touted Braves for the school's first-ever regional crown in boys basketball.
Kory Lantz, Ryan Kauchak, Michael Conrad and Andrew Mock, among others, already put their names in Wawasee sports lore with their run to the state finals in football this past fall; now they and their hardwood teammates can say they played for the first Wawasee boys baskeball team to advance to the Final Four.
"This is a big statement," Warrior senior guard Andrew Kaiser said of knocking off fifth-ranked Tippecanoe Valley 73-63 in the regional semifinal and then coming back and beating second-ranked Bellmont in the title tilt. "This puts us on the map. It's unexplainable, I'm just so happy. I'm speechless. This is the first regional championship in school history."
The nine-point win improved the Warriors to 20-6 on the season and advanced them to Saturday's Huntington Semistate game against fellow Northern Lakes Conference school Plymouth. Tipoff is set for approximately 3 p.m. The Class 2A northern semistate will be played at Huntington at 1 p.m., pitting Fort Wayne Harding against Glenn.
Plymouth, now on a 10-game win streak, advanced to the semistate by beating Hammond 56-36 and Twin Lakes 67-56 in the Plymouth Regional.
Plymouth and Wawasee played an epic high school basketball game Jan. 21 in Syracuse, with the now seventh-ranked Pilgrims winning 75-74 in triple overtime.
The Warriors played that game without Kaiser, the team's leading scorer, who missed five games in January with a broken hand.
When asked about the opportunity to play Plymouth in the semistate, Kaiser, who scored 30 points in Saturday evening's championship, was all smiles.
"I'm really looking forward to that game," said Kaiser. "It's great that we get another crack at them."
Top-ranked Washington, which boasts a 25-2 record and 6-foot-11 Notre Dame recruit/McDonald's All-American Luke Zeller, battles Indianapolis Roncalli (19-6) Saturday in the Seymour Semistate.
The winners battle for the Class 3A state championship March 26 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
"You can point to a lot of things in this game, but we hit some big shots when we needed to," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "It's an example of the kind of senior leadership we have."
Kaiser hit one of the first big shots of the game, drilling a three-pointer to end the first quarter, giving the Warriors an 18-17 advantage.
After trading basket after basket in the second stanza, with Wawasee taking a 33-30 advantage into the locker room, the Warriors broke out in the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Lantz with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter gave Wawasee a 49-38 lead, the biggest advantage for either team the entire game.
In the third quarter, it was as if the Warriors had a bigger hoop to shoot through.
Wawasee attempted seven three-pointers in the frame - six of them were nothing but net and played a big part in the Warriors taking a 55-45 advantage into the fourth quarter.
"During that quarter, the team had something in their eyes that said they were going to get it done," said Mishler. "They stepped up and hit big shots. That's the only way you win in a tournament. You have to play good defense and you have to play good fundamentals, but you also have to hit the big shots."
And Wawasee certainly did that in the third quarter.
While they were hot from the three-point arc in the third, in the fourth quarter the Warriors put on a free throw shooting clinic to finish off the Braves, whose season ended at 24-3.
Wawasee hit 14 of 15 charity tosses in the fourth quarter and 24 of 25 (96 percent) for the game.
Bellmont, on the other hand, was 9 of 13 at the free throw line for the game.
Against Tippecanoe Valley in the regional semifinal, the Warriors hit 32 of 37 free throws, while the Vikings hit 22 of 32.
"Our No. 1 goal this season was to make more free throws than our opponents attempted," said Mishler.
Kaiser, who was 8 of 14 from the field and 11 of 11 from the charity stripe, scored a game-high 30 points for the Warriors.
Lantz put together a second gutsy performance Saturday evening and scored 13 points for Wawasee.
Lantz, who scored eight points in the semifinal win over Valley, injured his knee in last week's sectional title game against Lakeland. His status for the regional was uncertain.
He came off the bench against Valley but started against the second-ranked Braves.
"I didn't think I was going to play today," said Lantz. "I honestly think it was some kind of miracle. It didn't really hurt. I'm not full strength, but it's like it was some kind of miracle from God."
Senior Austin Gerber, who scored seven points in Wawasee's third-quarter run, finished with nine points, while Conrad had seven, Kauchak and Mock six each and Joe Leach two.
Bellmont cut the Warriors' lead to three, 55-52, with 6:13 to play, but Kaiser converted a field goal attempt and then an old-fashioned three-point play after the Braves' Aaron Richie hit a free throw.
Bellmont got no closer than five, 69-64, in the final minute of play.
And when the horn finally sounded, the public address announcer's request for fans to stay off the floor was completely ignored.
Some clad with Indian-style headwear and a number with their faces, legs and arms painted green, a large number of Warrior fans rushed the court and celebrated with their team.
Fans and players jumped up and down as the lyrics to "Shout" blared through the P.A. system, and then later "We Are The Champions."
Adam Arnold, a 6-7 Division I recruit, led Bellmont with 28 points. Richie, also a 6-7 Division I recruit, added 16.
WAWASEE 73, BELLMONT 64
Bellmont 17 13 15 19 - 64
Wawasee 18 15 22 18 - 73
Bellmont FG FT R S Pts.
* Richie 6-11 3-4 5 1 16
* Ndlnger 2-2 0-0 2 0 4
* Arnold 11-15 4-6 9 0 28
*Rbrtson 1-2 2-2 0 0 4
* Schultz 3-6 0-1 3 1 6
Terveer 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Schmidt 2-4 0-0 0 0 6
Oelting 0-2 0-0 2 0 0
Lehman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Miller 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Freeman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 25-45 9-13 22 2 64
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
* Lantz 4-11 3-4 4 1 13
* Kaiser 8-14 11-11 2 2 30
* Gerber 3-6 2-2 2 1 9
* Conrad 1-4 4-4 3 1 7
*Kauchak 1-4 4-4 6 1 6
Mock 2-4 0-0 1 1 6
Leach 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Zmmrman 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 20-45 24-25 18 9 73
Three-point goals - Bellmont 5-15 (Arnold 2-4, Scmidt 2-4, Richie 1-3, Terveer 0-2, Oelting 0-1, Miller 0-1), Wawasee 9-22 (Kaiser 3-6, Lantz 2-6, Mock 2-3, Conrad 1-4, Gerber 1-3). Turnovers - Bellmont 13, Wawasee 6. Fouls - Bellmont 21, Wawasee 15. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]
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NAPPANEE - The public address announcer requested fans stay off the court, but on a day when Wawasee's varsity boys basketball team couldn't be denied, neither were its fans.
Following a 73-64 upset of Class 3A No. 2 Bellmont in the championship game of the NorthWood Regional Saturday evening, the Warriors' large fan base rushed the court and celebrated the historic moment.
A program that had never even won a game in regional competition, much less to cut down the nets as the champion, used dead-eye three-point shooting in the third quarter to build a lead and then a strong free throw shooting performance in the fourth to knock off the highly-touted Braves for the school's first-ever regional crown in boys basketball.
Kory Lantz, Ryan Kauchak, Michael Conrad and Andrew Mock, among others, already put their names in Wawasee sports lore with their run to the state finals in football this past fall; now they and their hardwood teammates can say they played for the first Wawasee boys baskeball team to advance to the Final Four.
"This is a big statement," Warrior senior guard Andrew Kaiser said of knocking off fifth-ranked Tippecanoe Valley 73-63 in the regional semifinal and then coming back and beating second-ranked Bellmont in the title tilt. "This puts us on the map. It's unexplainable, I'm just so happy. I'm speechless. This is the first regional championship in school history."
The nine-point win improved the Warriors to 20-6 on the season and advanced them to Saturday's Huntington Semistate game against fellow Northern Lakes Conference school Plymouth. Tipoff is set for approximately 3 p.m. The Class 2A northern semistate will be played at Huntington at 1 p.m., pitting Fort Wayne Harding against Glenn.
Plymouth, now on a 10-game win streak, advanced to the semistate by beating Hammond 56-36 and Twin Lakes 67-56 in the Plymouth Regional.
Plymouth and Wawasee played an epic high school basketball game Jan. 21 in Syracuse, with the now seventh-ranked Pilgrims winning 75-74 in triple overtime.
The Warriors played that game without Kaiser, the team's leading scorer, who missed five games in January with a broken hand.
When asked about the opportunity to play Plymouth in the semistate, Kaiser, who scored 30 points in Saturday evening's championship, was all smiles.
"I'm really looking forward to that game," said Kaiser. "It's great that we get another crack at them."
Top-ranked Washington, which boasts a 25-2 record and 6-foot-11 Notre Dame recruit/McDonald's All-American Luke Zeller, battles Indianapolis Roncalli (19-6) Saturday in the Seymour Semistate.
The winners battle for the Class 3A state championship March 26 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
"You can point to a lot of things in this game, but we hit some big shots when we needed to," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "It's an example of the kind of senior leadership we have."
Kaiser hit one of the first big shots of the game, drilling a three-pointer to end the first quarter, giving the Warriors an 18-17 advantage.
After trading basket after basket in the second stanza, with Wawasee taking a 33-30 advantage into the locker room, the Warriors broke out in the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Lantz with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter gave Wawasee a 49-38 lead, the biggest advantage for either team the entire game.
In the third quarter, it was as if the Warriors had a bigger hoop to shoot through.
Wawasee attempted seven three-pointers in the frame - six of them were nothing but net and played a big part in the Warriors taking a 55-45 advantage into the fourth quarter.
"During that quarter, the team had something in their eyes that said they were going to get it done," said Mishler. "They stepped up and hit big shots. That's the only way you win in a tournament. You have to play good defense and you have to play good fundamentals, but you also have to hit the big shots."
And Wawasee certainly did that in the third quarter.
While they were hot from the three-point arc in the third, in the fourth quarter the Warriors put on a free throw shooting clinic to finish off the Braves, whose season ended at 24-3.
Wawasee hit 14 of 15 charity tosses in the fourth quarter and 24 of 25 (96 percent) for the game.
Bellmont, on the other hand, was 9 of 13 at the free throw line for the game.
Against Tippecanoe Valley in the regional semifinal, the Warriors hit 32 of 37 free throws, while the Vikings hit 22 of 32.
"Our No. 1 goal this season was to make more free throws than our opponents attempted," said Mishler.
Kaiser, who was 8 of 14 from the field and 11 of 11 from the charity stripe, scored a game-high 30 points for the Warriors.
Lantz put together a second gutsy performance Saturday evening and scored 13 points for Wawasee.
Lantz, who scored eight points in the semifinal win over Valley, injured his knee in last week's sectional title game against Lakeland. His status for the regional was uncertain.
He came off the bench against Valley but started against the second-ranked Braves.
"I didn't think I was going to play today," said Lantz. "I honestly think it was some kind of miracle. It didn't really hurt. I'm not full strength, but it's like it was some kind of miracle from God."
Senior Austin Gerber, who scored seven points in Wawasee's third-quarter run, finished with nine points, while Conrad had seven, Kauchak and Mock six each and Joe Leach two.
Bellmont cut the Warriors' lead to three, 55-52, with 6:13 to play, but Kaiser converted a field goal attempt and then an old-fashioned three-point play after the Braves' Aaron Richie hit a free throw.
Bellmont got no closer than five, 69-64, in the final minute of play.
And when the horn finally sounded, the public address announcer's request for fans to stay off the floor was completely ignored.
Some clad with Indian-style headwear and a number with their faces, legs and arms painted green, a large number of Warrior fans rushed the court and celebrated with their team.
Fans and players jumped up and down as the lyrics to "Shout" blared through the P.A. system, and then later "We Are The Champions."
Adam Arnold, a 6-7 Division I recruit, led Bellmont with 28 points. Richie, also a 6-7 Division I recruit, added 16.
WAWASEE 73, BELLMONT 64
Bellmont 17 13 15 19 - 64
Wawasee 18 15 22 18 - 73
Bellmont FG FT R S Pts.
* Richie 6-11 3-4 5 1 16
* Ndlnger 2-2 0-0 2 0 4
* Arnold 11-15 4-6 9 0 28
*Rbrtson 1-2 2-2 0 0 4
* Schultz 3-6 0-1 3 1 6
Terveer 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Schmidt 2-4 0-0 0 0 6
Oelting 0-2 0-0 2 0 0
Lehman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Miller 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Freeman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 25-45 9-13 22 2 64
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
* Lantz 4-11 3-4 4 1 13
* Kaiser 8-14 11-11 2 2 30
* Gerber 3-6 2-2 2 1 9
* Conrad 1-4 4-4 3 1 7
*Kauchak 1-4 4-4 6 1 6
Mock 2-4 0-0 1 1 6
Leach 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Zmmrman 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 20-45 24-25 18 9 73
Three-point goals - Bellmont 5-15 (Arnold 2-4, Scmidt 2-4, Richie 1-3, Terveer 0-2, Oelting 0-1, Miller 0-1), Wawasee 9-22 (Kaiser 3-6, Lantz 2-6, Mock 2-3, Conrad 1-4, Gerber 1-3). Turnovers - Bellmont 13, Wawasee 6. Fouls - Bellmont 21, Wawasee 15. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]