Whitko Shoots Down Rival Eagles
November 25, 2016 at 5:17 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
The red-hot shooting allowed the Wildcats to overcome foul trouble and hold off the host Eagles 60-41 in the season opener for both teams.
The outcome was a far cry from Whitko’s last visit to Columbia City two years ago; a hard-to-forget 73-16 loss when the talent levels of both teams was far apart.
Whitko opened a 29-15 lead at halftime on the strength of four three-pointers from River West, three from Nate Walpole and two from center Spencer Sroufe, plus two Walpole free throws. Whitko didn’t have a two-point bucket until the third quarter.
While first-year head coach Eli Henson said he wasn’t aware of the game score from 2014, Wildcat fans were all smiles in showing their appreciation.
“We’re a different team,” Henson said. “Coming in to this, I just wanted us to be competitive. If we won, we won. If we lost and we were competitive, I’m walking out of here proud of my guys.
“I didn’t expect them to come out like that. They wanted it. You could tell they wanted it. Every time when we got up by 10, they’d make a little run and we matched everything they were bringing at us. And we just kept going.”
The ‘Cats found themselves in some foul trouble when Sroufe and Brian Colins picked up their third fouls before halftime, and West was saddled with a pair of violations. Sroufe picked up his fourth midway through the third quarter, but came back in the fourth to get four rebounds and keep the Eagles from mounting a comeback.
“Spencer started off awesome, hitting a couple of threes, then he picked up a couple of cheap ones. I told him ‘when you get in foul trouble, you have to play smart.’ I thought he did a hell of a job in the second half of playing straight up instead of going for blocks. We were in major foul trouble in the first half, and our whole goal was just to get to halftime and survive. We were able to do that by 14 points, so I was pretty confident, knowing Spencer and Colin were fresh.”
Walpole kept the Eagles at bay with 14 of his game-high 30 points in the final period. West finished with 15 and Sroufe had 11 points.
“When you have a guard who can handle the ball late in the game, like Nate, you feel good about your chances when you’re up double digits. He’s a 90 percent free throw shooter. Between him and River, we want the ball in their hands,”?Henson said.
Parker Hazen, Columbia City’s highly-touted big man, finished with 17 points, including three power dunks that got the crowd excited. But the rest of the Eagles shot just 21 percent from the field.
Whitko takes a 1-0 record into its Three Rivers Conference opener at Wabash Dec. 2.
Columbia City travels to Warsaw Saturday night.
WHITKO 60, COLUMBIA CITY 41
W 15 14 15 16 – 60
CC 7 8 15 11 – 41
Whitko – Alex Bechtold 1-4 0-0 2, Colin Craig 0-2 0-2 0, Alex Robbins 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Walpole 8-13 11-13 30, River West 5-9 0-1 15, Brian Collins 0-0 2-2 2, Spencer Sroufe 4-9 0-0 11. Totals 18-37 13-18 60.
Columbia City – Garrett Roehling 1-3 0-0 3, Ethan Christen 1-4 1-2 3, Jordan Bechtold 2-9 2-2 6, Mitchell Wilson 1-6 0-0 3, Parker Hazen 6-11 2-3 17, Noah Wigent 1-8 2-2 5, Hammad Quershi 2-7 0-1 4. Totals 14-48 7-10 41.
Three-pointers – Whitko 11 (West 5, Walpole 3, Sroufe 3), Columbia City 6 (Hazen 3, Roehling, Wilson, Wigent); Rebounds – Whitko 26 (Sroufe 7), Columbia City 24 (Hazen 6, Wigent 6); Turnovers – Whitko 19, Columbia City 12; Fouls – Whitko 15, Columbia City 21; Fouled out – Roehling, Wigent; Records: Whitko 1-0, Columbia City 0-1.
JV – Columbia City 46, Whitko 32
Whitko – Cody Swick 18, Micah Cokl 9, Cade Bechtold 2, Trae Arnold 2, Shad Ebbinghouse 1
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The red-hot shooting allowed the Wildcats to overcome foul trouble and hold off the host Eagles 60-41 in the season opener for both teams.
The outcome was a far cry from Whitko’s last visit to Columbia City two years ago; a hard-to-forget 73-16 loss when the talent levels of both teams was far apart.
Whitko opened a 29-15 lead at halftime on the strength of four three-pointers from River West, three from Nate Walpole and two from center Spencer Sroufe, plus two Walpole free throws. Whitko didn’t have a two-point bucket until the third quarter.
While first-year head coach Eli Henson said he wasn’t aware of the game score from 2014, Wildcat fans were all smiles in showing their appreciation.
“We’re a different team,” Henson said. “Coming in to this, I just wanted us to be competitive. If we won, we won. If we lost and we were competitive, I’m walking out of here proud of my guys.
“I didn’t expect them to come out like that. They wanted it. You could tell they wanted it. Every time when we got up by 10, they’d make a little run and we matched everything they were bringing at us. And we just kept going.”
The ‘Cats found themselves in some foul trouble when Sroufe and Brian Colins picked up their third fouls before halftime, and West was saddled with a pair of violations. Sroufe picked up his fourth midway through the third quarter, but came back in the fourth to get four rebounds and keep the Eagles from mounting a comeback.
“Spencer started off awesome, hitting a couple of threes, then he picked up a couple of cheap ones. I told him ‘when you get in foul trouble, you have to play smart.’ I thought he did a hell of a job in the second half of playing straight up instead of going for blocks. We were in major foul trouble in the first half, and our whole goal was just to get to halftime and survive. We were able to do that by 14 points, so I was pretty confident, knowing Spencer and Colin were fresh.”
Walpole kept the Eagles at bay with 14 of his game-high 30 points in the final period. West finished with 15 and Sroufe had 11 points.
“When you have a guard who can handle the ball late in the game, like Nate, you feel good about your chances when you’re up double digits. He’s a 90 percent free throw shooter. Between him and River, we want the ball in their hands,”?Henson said.
Parker Hazen, Columbia City’s highly-touted big man, finished with 17 points, including three power dunks that got the crowd excited. But the rest of the Eagles shot just 21 percent from the field.
Whitko takes a 1-0 record into its Three Rivers Conference opener at Wabash Dec. 2.
Columbia City travels to Warsaw Saturday night.
WHITKO 60, COLUMBIA CITY 41
W 15 14 15 16 – 60
CC 7 8 15 11 – 41
Whitko – Alex Bechtold 1-4 0-0 2, Colin Craig 0-2 0-2 0, Alex Robbins 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Walpole 8-13 11-13 30, River West 5-9 0-1 15, Brian Collins 0-0 2-2 2, Spencer Sroufe 4-9 0-0 11. Totals 18-37 13-18 60.
Columbia City – Garrett Roehling 1-3 0-0 3, Ethan Christen 1-4 1-2 3, Jordan Bechtold 2-9 2-2 6, Mitchell Wilson 1-6 0-0 3, Parker Hazen 6-11 2-3 17, Noah Wigent 1-8 2-2 5, Hammad Quershi 2-7 0-1 4. Totals 14-48 7-10 41.
Three-pointers – Whitko 11 (West 5, Walpole 3, Sroufe 3), Columbia City 6 (Hazen 3, Roehling, Wilson, Wigent); Rebounds – Whitko 26 (Sroufe 7), Columbia City 24 (Hazen 6, Wigent 6); Turnovers – Whitko 19, Columbia City 12; Fouls – Whitko 15, Columbia City 21; Fouled out – Roehling, Wigent; Records: Whitko 1-0, Columbia City 0-1.
JV – Columbia City 46, Whitko 32
Whitko – Cody Swick 18, Micah Cokl 9, Cade Bechtold 2, Trae Arnold 2, Shad Ebbinghouse 1
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