Whitko Opens Season With Loss To Rival Columbia City
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Outmanned, as Whitko’s tallest player is 6-foot-3 and Columbia City has five that height and taller, Wessel slowed the game down and it worked – for a half.
Getting Columbia City (1-0) to shoot more three-pointers than coach Chris Benedict would have liked, the visiting Eagles led just 18-14 at the half against the Wildcats (0-1), but found its groove in the second half en route to a 49-31 victory.
“We just understood that their talent was better than our talent and we needed to (slow down the game) to win,” Wessel said. “We did a very nice job in the first quarter of taking care of the ball. We got some good shots and stopped them a few times in the second quarter, but turned it over a few times, which cost us the lead. In the third quarter, I thought we got tired and began to turn the ball over a little bit.”
Also in the third quarter, Columbia City began feeding the ball inside to 6-6 sophomore Brachen Hazen, who finished the game with a 15 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.
“Offensively in the first half, I felt like we were really impatient,” Benedict said. “We shot a lot from the outside and really didn’t go inside. Our possessions in the first half, our longest one was 15 seconds. By doing that, you wear yourself down by playing so much defense. It just wears on your mind a little bit. I felt like the guys settled down in the second half, getting the ball inside. Defensively, we were also a little better.”
Defensively, Columbia City held Whitko scoreless from the 6:27 mark of the second quarter until 3:28 was left in the third quarter, which was a goaltending call on Hazen.
During Whitko’s extended scoring drought, Columbia City scored 14 points, turning a 14-10 deficit into a 24-14 advantage.
A cause for Whitko’s inability to score may have been heavy minutes logged by its guards, as seniors Dylan Cumberland and Seth Patrick, as well as freshman Nate Walpole, played all 32 minutes.
But with so few guys in the program, the heavy minutes won’t be changing anytime soon.
“It’s just something we’re going to have to battle through,” Wessel said. “We only have 13 total kids in the program, so we’re going to have to battle conditioning against every team. We’ll get used to it and be fine. They’re tough kids.”
Cumberland and Walpole also carried Whitko’s offensive load, as the two combined to shoot 31 of the team’s 33 shots, scoring 29 of the Wildcats’ 31 total points.
Cumberland scored a game-high 16 points and also had six steals, while Walpole scored 13 points, making 4 of 8 three-point attempts, in his first varsity game.
Cumberland entered the season as Whitko’s only player with any real varsity experience and showed it against Columbia City.
“I thought he was really good with the ball,” Benedict said of the 6-foot point guard. “He can penetrate, get to the rim and knocked down a three at the end. The big thing with him is, he’s played a lot of minutes. With a young team, he’s going to have to lead them through and that’s just part of it.”
As the leader of the team, Wessel was also pleased with the effort of Cumberland in the season opener.
“He worked his butt off in the summer and fall to really improve and he really showed that tonight,” Wessel said. “He did a good job of leading us. He led us in scoring and did a better job of taking care of the ball than he did last year.”
Columbia City and Whitko have been meeting annually since 1971, with Columbia City holding a 32-28 advantage in the series, with the biggest margin of victory coming last season in Columbia City, as the Eagles won 69-26.
The series has gone back and forth, with Columbia City controlling it between 1971 and 1977, going 11-2, while also winning 17 of the last 20 meetings.
Benedict coached the Eagles to those 17 wins and has a 17-0 record against Whitko, as he left Columbia City to coach Valparaiso during the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Despite his domination of Whitko, as well as a 323-154 overall coaching record, Benedict knows what Wessel is going through right now and believes the Whitko program will be bounce back.
“Scott’s a real good coach,” he said. “He’s doing what he has to do to make his team successful. He gave his guys a chance tonight. That first-half game plan was a really good game plan. They stayed in (the game) and made us nervous.”
With the Whitley County game over, Benedict and the Eagles now turn their attention to Saturday’s home game against Warsaw, which fell 54-52 at Tippecanoe Valley Wednesday night.
“It’s a highly competitive game, year in and year out,” he said about facing Warsaw, which hasn’t begun a season 0-2 since 1987. “We’re going to compete hard. I think we’ll play a lot better. I’m sure they’ll come ready to play. (Warsaw coach) Doug (Ogle) always has them ready to play. They’re always fundamentally sound. It will be a good game.”
Whitko is also in action Saturday, travelling to Leo where it will face a much different opponent than it did in the opener.
“It will be a total turnaround from tonight,” Wessel said. “Columbia City’s going to do their light pressure and Leo’s going to pressure and pressure and pressure and shoot threes. It’s going to be a big switch for us. We’re going to need to adjust.”
COLUMBIA CITY 49, WHITKO 31
C 10 8 11 20 – 49
W 11 3 6 11 – 31
CC – Matt Benedict 1-3 6-6 8, Brachen Hazen 7-10 1-1 15, Mason Coverstone 6-12 0-0 14, Justin Bachelder 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Mosher 0-1 0-0 0, Cooper Parish 2-5 0-0 6, Tyler Green 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Hazen 2-4 0-1 4. Totals 19-36 7-8 49.
Whitko – Nate Walpole 5-14 0-1 13, Seth Patrick 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Cumberland 6-17 3-6 16, Danny Zawlocki 1-2 0-0 2, Ian Keirn 0-0 0-0 0, Roger Helblig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-33 3-7 31.
Three-pointers – CC 4-13 (Coverstone 2, Parish 2), Whitko 4-13 (Walpole 3, Cumberland); Team Fouls – CC 15, Whitko 14; Turnovers – CC 19, Whitko 17; Rebounds – CC 25 (B. Hazen 12), Whitko 13 (Zawlocki 4); Assists – CC 5 (Benedict 2, B. Hazen 2), Whitko 2 (Cumberland 2); Steals – CC 8 (Benedict 3), Whitko 9 (Cumberland 6); Blocks – CC 6 (B. Hazen 3), Whitko 0
Records: CC 1-0, Whitko 0-1
JV – CC 59, Whitko 15
Whitko – Devon Adkins 8, Kyle Whepley 4, Alex Robbins 3[[In-content Ad]]
Outmanned, as Whitko’s tallest player is 6-foot-3 and Columbia City has five that height and taller, Wessel slowed the game down and it worked – for a half.
Getting Columbia City (1-0) to shoot more three-pointers than coach Chris Benedict would have liked, the visiting Eagles led just 18-14 at the half against the Wildcats (0-1), but found its groove in the second half en route to a 49-31 victory.
“We just understood that their talent was better than our talent and we needed to (slow down the game) to win,” Wessel said. “We did a very nice job in the first quarter of taking care of the ball. We got some good shots and stopped them a few times in the second quarter, but turned it over a few times, which cost us the lead. In the third quarter, I thought we got tired and began to turn the ball over a little bit.”
Also in the third quarter, Columbia City began feeding the ball inside to 6-6 sophomore Brachen Hazen, who finished the game with a 15 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.
“Offensively in the first half, I felt like we were really impatient,” Benedict said. “We shot a lot from the outside and really didn’t go inside. Our possessions in the first half, our longest one was 15 seconds. By doing that, you wear yourself down by playing so much defense. It just wears on your mind a little bit. I felt like the guys settled down in the second half, getting the ball inside. Defensively, we were also a little better.”
Defensively, Columbia City held Whitko scoreless from the 6:27 mark of the second quarter until 3:28 was left in the third quarter, which was a goaltending call on Hazen.
During Whitko’s extended scoring drought, Columbia City scored 14 points, turning a 14-10 deficit into a 24-14 advantage.
A cause for Whitko’s inability to score may have been heavy minutes logged by its guards, as seniors Dylan Cumberland and Seth Patrick, as well as freshman Nate Walpole, played all 32 minutes.
But with so few guys in the program, the heavy minutes won’t be changing anytime soon.
“It’s just something we’re going to have to battle through,” Wessel said. “We only have 13 total kids in the program, so we’re going to have to battle conditioning against every team. We’ll get used to it and be fine. They’re tough kids.”
Cumberland and Walpole also carried Whitko’s offensive load, as the two combined to shoot 31 of the team’s 33 shots, scoring 29 of the Wildcats’ 31 total points.
Cumberland scored a game-high 16 points and also had six steals, while Walpole scored 13 points, making 4 of 8 three-point attempts, in his first varsity game.
Cumberland entered the season as Whitko’s only player with any real varsity experience and showed it against Columbia City.
“I thought he was really good with the ball,” Benedict said of the 6-foot point guard. “He can penetrate, get to the rim and knocked down a three at the end. The big thing with him is, he’s played a lot of minutes. With a young team, he’s going to have to lead them through and that’s just part of it.”
As the leader of the team, Wessel was also pleased with the effort of Cumberland in the season opener.
“He worked his butt off in the summer and fall to really improve and he really showed that tonight,” Wessel said. “He did a good job of leading us. He led us in scoring and did a better job of taking care of the ball than he did last year.”
Columbia City and Whitko have been meeting annually since 1971, with Columbia City holding a 32-28 advantage in the series, with the biggest margin of victory coming last season in Columbia City, as the Eagles won 69-26.
The series has gone back and forth, with Columbia City controlling it between 1971 and 1977, going 11-2, while also winning 17 of the last 20 meetings.
Benedict coached the Eagles to those 17 wins and has a 17-0 record against Whitko, as he left Columbia City to coach Valparaiso during the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Despite his domination of Whitko, as well as a 323-154 overall coaching record, Benedict knows what Wessel is going through right now and believes the Whitko program will be bounce back.
“Scott’s a real good coach,” he said. “He’s doing what he has to do to make his team successful. He gave his guys a chance tonight. That first-half game plan was a really good game plan. They stayed in (the game) and made us nervous.”
With the Whitley County game over, Benedict and the Eagles now turn their attention to Saturday’s home game against Warsaw, which fell 54-52 at Tippecanoe Valley Wednesday night.
“It’s a highly competitive game, year in and year out,” he said about facing Warsaw, which hasn’t begun a season 0-2 since 1987. “We’re going to compete hard. I think we’ll play a lot better. I’m sure they’ll come ready to play. (Warsaw coach) Doug (Ogle) always has them ready to play. They’re always fundamentally sound. It will be a good game.”
Whitko is also in action Saturday, travelling to Leo where it will face a much different opponent than it did in the opener.
“It will be a total turnaround from tonight,” Wessel said. “Columbia City’s going to do their light pressure and Leo’s going to pressure and pressure and pressure and shoot threes. It’s going to be a big switch for us. We’re going to need to adjust.”
COLUMBIA CITY 49, WHITKO 31
C 10 8 11 20 – 49
W 11 3 6 11 – 31
CC – Matt Benedict 1-3 6-6 8, Brachen Hazen 7-10 1-1 15, Mason Coverstone 6-12 0-0 14, Justin Bachelder 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Mosher 0-1 0-0 0, Cooper Parish 2-5 0-0 6, Tyler Green 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Hazen 2-4 0-1 4. Totals 19-36 7-8 49.
Whitko – Nate Walpole 5-14 0-1 13, Seth Patrick 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Cumberland 6-17 3-6 16, Danny Zawlocki 1-2 0-0 2, Ian Keirn 0-0 0-0 0, Roger Helblig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-33 3-7 31.
Three-pointers – CC 4-13 (Coverstone 2, Parish 2), Whitko 4-13 (Walpole 3, Cumberland); Team Fouls – CC 15, Whitko 14; Turnovers – CC 19, Whitko 17; Rebounds – CC 25 (B. Hazen 12), Whitko 13 (Zawlocki 4); Assists – CC 5 (Benedict 2, B. Hazen 2), Whitko 2 (Cumberland 2); Steals – CC 8 (Benedict 3), Whitko 9 (Cumberland 6); Blocks – CC 6 (B. Hazen 3), Whitko 0
Records: CC 1-0, Whitko 0-1
JV – CC 59, Whitko 15
Whitko – Devon Adkins 8, Kyle Whepley 4, Alex Robbins 3[[In-content Ad]]
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