Sroufe Lifts Whitko Over Wawasee In OT
December 11, 2017 at 5:56 p.m.
Sroufe Lifts Whitko Over Wawasee In OT
By Mark [email protected]
In a grind-it-out scenario, the Wildcats’ Spencer Sroufe thrived with 19 points and 13 rebounds, leading his team to a 44-43 overtime win over visiting Wawasee in a non-conference boys basketball game Saturday night.
The end of regulation bore an eerie resemblance to Wawasee’s game with Manchester eight days earlier, with the Warriors holding the ball the last minute in a tie game and calling multiple timeouts with 11 seconds to go.
Jacob Hand got the inbound pass between the circles and drove down the lane. There the similarities ended.
Hand’s layup was tipped away by the 6-foot-7 Sroufe, sending the game into the extra period.
Sroufe got the first bucket of the extra period, then hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to four.
“I thought that was a big game for Spencer’s confidence,” said Whitko coach Eli Henson. “He had really been struggling the last three games. To get him going like that, our whole game plan was we’re getting it inside to him.”
Wawasee continued to run its pass-the-ball-often offense, and a trey by Hand brought the Warriors within one midway through the overtime. Down the stretch Whitko hit five of six free throws to salt the game away. Hand’s trey as time expired accounted for the final score. He finished with a game-high 20 points for Wawasee.
“That’s a big win for us because we were really struggling,” the Wildcats’ Henson said. “We lost three in a row, and games where we just weren’t playing well overall on both ends of the floor.”
“They were telling me ‘coach, we gotta find a way to speed ‘em up.’ But right now, early on in the season, I think a slow-down tempo is a great game for us. It helps us work on our defense and be tougher. We knew it was going to be a physical game. Wawasee likes a slow, physical game. But right now that may be the best tempo for us, because the things we need to get done are getting done in a game like that.
“It was a big win for us to grind it out in the fourth quarter and find a way to win in overtime.”
Wawasee coach Jon Everingham said his team’s big man in the middle, Trevon Coleman, had his playing time limited by a “coach’s decision.”
“The bottom line is the reason I coach is to take young men and turn them into men,” Everingham said. “Sometimes there are lessons to be learned and that’s what we are doing.
“We do sacrifice some playing time from time to time. Trevon is a great kid and he’s going to respond well from this.”
Nevertheless, Everingham knows playing a slower pace lends itself to close, low-scoring games. At the moment he feels that gives the Warriors their best shot at victory.
“We need to be able to get the ball into the paint,” said Everingham. “We just have to develop. We had some things planned for the man-to-man and they came out in a zone, and we didn’t get a chance to show what we had for the man-to-man. I feel good about our team. We need to stay really competitive. If we win games this year, it’s going to be by five points or less. We just need to learn how to make plays down the stretch. Drag them out to deep water and make a play late in the game. There’s some learning involved in that. We have to learn how to do that.
“When we win game this year, typically they will be by five points or less. But as long as they go in the win column, that works for us.”
Wawasee won the junior varsity game 53-40 over Whitko. Chris Strombeck, Evan Eshbach and Marshal Miller had 10 points each for the Warriors, and Devin Blaine paced the Wildcat JV with 10 points.
The Warriors (1-3) have their first shot at ending their 42-game Northern Lakes Conference losing streak Friday night at Warsaw. The Tigers bring in a 21-game conference winning streak.
Whitko (3-3) hosts Tippecanoe Valley in Three Rivers Conference play Friday. Last year the two teams played four overtimes before Valley won 96-92.
WHITKO 44, WAWASEE 43 (OT)
WA 12 10 6 6 9 – 43
WH 9 12 7 6 10 – 44
Wawasee – Cayden Wegener 1-0 0-0 2, Austin Miller 1-4 0-0 3, Bennett Hoffert 1-7 0-0 3, Jairus Boyer 3-10 0-1 7, Jacob Hand 8-13 2-3 20, Aaron Evans 2-5 0-0 3, Marshal Miller 1-1 0-0 3, Trevon Coleman 0-0 0-0 0, Zak Linnemeier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-42 2-4 43.
Whitko – Brett Sickafoose 3-9 0-0 8, Shad Ebbinghouse 0-0 0-0 0, Micah Cokl 0-5 0-0 0, Cade Bechtold 0-1 0-0 0, River West 2-9 2-2 8, Spencer Sroufe 8-14 3-4 19. Totals 15-43 9-11 44.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 7 (Hand 2, A. Miller, Hoffert, Boyer, Evans, M. Miller), Whitko 5 (Sickafoose 2, West 2, Collins); Rebounds –Wawasee 26 (Hand 9), Whitko 31 (Sroufe 13); Turnovers – Wawasee 10, Whitko 6; Fouls – Wawasee 13, Whitko 9; Fouled out – none; Records: Wawasee 1-3, Whitko 3-3
JV – Wawasee 53, Whitko 40
Wawasee – Chris Strombeck 10, Evan Eshbach 10, Marshal Miller 10, Blake Albright 8, Michael Hammer 6, Damen Conley 6, Ethan Hardy 3
Whitko – Devin Blaine 10, Kylar Bryant 7, Luis Stanley 6, Micah Cokl 5, Drake Lewis 4, Clayton Ebbinghouse 4, Austyn McDaniel 3, Cameron Sapp 1
Latest News
E-Editions
In a grind-it-out scenario, the Wildcats’ Spencer Sroufe thrived with 19 points and 13 rebounds, leading his team to a 44-43 overtime win over visiting Wawasee in a non-conference boys basketball game Saturday night.
The end of regulation bore an eerie resemblance to Wawasee’s game with Manchester eight days earlier, with the Warriors holding the ball the last minute in a tie game and calling multiple timeouts with 11 seconds to go.
Jacob Hand got the inbound pass between the circles and drove down the lane. There the similarities ended.
Hand’s layup was tipped away by the 6-foot-7 Sroufe, sending the game into the extra period.
Sroufe got the first bucket of the extra period, then hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to four.
“I thought that was a big game for Spencer’s confidence,” said Whitko coach Eli Henson. “He had really been struggling the last three games. To get him going like that, our whole game plan was we’re getting it inside to him.”
Wawasee continued to run its pass-the-ball-often offense, and a trey by Hand brought the Warriors within one midway through the overtime. Down the stretch Whitko hit five of six free throws to salt the game away. Hand’s trey as time expired accounted for the final score. He finished with a game-high 20 points for Wawasee.
“That’s a big win for us because we were really struggling,” the Wildcats’ Henson said. “We lost three in a row, and games where we just weren’t playing well overall on both ends of the floor.”
“They were telling me ‘coach, we gotta find a way to speed ‘em up.’ But right now, early on in the season, I think a slow-down tempo is a great game for us. It helps us work on our defense and be tougher. We knew it was going to be a physical game. Wawasee likes a slow, physical game. But right now that may be the best tempo for us, because the things we need to get done are getting done in a game like that.
“It was a big win for us to grind it out in the fourth quarter and find a way to win in overtime.”
Wawasee coach Jon Everingham said his team’s big man in the middle, Trevon Coleman, had his playing time limited by a “coach’s decision.”
“The bottom line is the reason I coach is to take young men and turn them into men,” Everingham said. “Sometimes there are lessons to be learned and that’s what we are doing.
“We do sacrifice some playing time from time to time. Trevon is a great kid and he’s going to respond well from this.”
Nevertheless, Everingham knows playing a slower pace lends itself to close, low-scoring games. At the moment he feels that gives the Warriors their best shot at victory.
“We need to be able to get the ball into the paint,” said Everingham. “We just have to develop. We had some things planned for the man-to-man and they came out in a zone, and we didn’t get a chance to show what we had for the man-to-man. I feel good about our team. We need to stay really competitive. If we win games this year, it’s going to be by five points or less. We just need to learn how to make plays down the stretch. Drag them out to deep water and make a play late in the game. There’s some learning involved in that. We have to learn how to do that.
“When we win game this year, typically they will be by five points or less. But as long as they go in the win column, that works for us.”
Wawasee won the junior varsity game 53-40 over Whitko. Chris Strombeck, Evan Eshbach and Marshal Miller had 10 points each for the Warriors, and Devin Blaine paced the Wildcat JV with 10 points.
The Warriors (1-3) have their first shot at ending their 42-game Northern Lakes Conference losing streak Friday night at Warsaw. The Tigers bring in a 21-game conference winning streak.
Whitko (3-3) hosts Tippecanoe Valley in Three Rivers Conference play Friday. Last year the two teams played four overtimes before Valley won 96-92.
WHITKO 44, WAWASEE 43 (OT)
WA 12 10 6 6 9 – 43
WH 9 12 7 6 10 – 44
Wawasee – Cayden Wegener 1-0 0-0 2, Austin Miller 1-4 0-0 3, Bennett Hoffert 1-7 0-0 3, Jairus Boyer 3-10 0-1 7, Jacob Hand 8-13 2-3 20, Aaron Evans 2-5 0-0 3, Marshal Miller 1-1 0-0 3, Trevon Coleman 0-0 0-0 0, Zak Linnemeier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-42 2-4 43.
Whitko – Brett Sickafoose 3-9 0-0 8, Shad Ebbinghouse 0-0 0-0 0, Micah Cokl 0-5 0-0 0, Cade Bechtold 0-1 0-0 0, River West 2-9 2-2 8, Spencer Sroufe 8-14 3-4 19. Totals 15-43 9-11 44.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 7 (Hand 2, A. Miller, Hoffert, Boyer, Evans, M. Miller), Whitko 5 (Sickafoose 2, West 2, Collins); Rebounds –Wawasee 26 (Hand 9), Whitko 31 (Sroufe 13); Turnovers – Wawasee 10, Whitko 6; Fouls – Wawasee 13, Whitko 9; Fouled out – none; Records: Wawasee 1-3, Whitko 3-3
JV – Wawasee 53, Whitko 40
Wawasee – Chris Strombeck 10, Evan Eshbach 10, Marshal Miller 10, Blake Albright 8, Michael Hammer 6, Damen Conley 6, Ethan Hardy 3
Whitko – Devin Blaine 10, Kylar Bryant 7, Luis Stanley 6, Micah Cokl 5, Drake Lewis 4, Clayton Ebbinghouse 4, Austyn McDaniel 3, Cameron Sapp 1
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092