Whitko Wildcats Playing In Sectional With Ranked Teams
February 26, 2018 at 4:54 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
Henson and his team are using the “What have we got to lose?” approach. Henson is encouraging his players to believe, and to “leave it all on the court.”
The Wildcats, who went through the regular season with a 9-15 record and a 5-4 mark in the Three Rivers Conference, play in the six-team Class 2A sectional at Westview.
The buzz around the sectional isn’t about Whitko, defending champion Central Noble (12-10), Prairie Heights (8-14) or Bremen (5-17).
The storylines with Sectional 35 are centered around No. 2 Westview (23-1) and No. 3 LaVille (22-0).
The way the sectional is bracketed, though, Westview and LaVille would have to play each other before Saturday’s championship game, and Henson likes the draw the Wildcats got.
Whitko opens with Bremen on Tuesday at 6 p.m., followed by Prairie Heights and Westview.
Central Noble plays the Whitko/Bremen winner in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal game, followed by LaVille and Tuesday’s other winner.
The championship game is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to the North Judson Regional to play the winner of the South Adams Sectional.
“It was definitely a favorable draw for us,” said Henson. “We feel like we can beat Bremen, and the same with Central Noble.
“We’ve got some things we need to fix, hopefully we can improve our defense, that’s going to be a big component for us. If we can fix that, I feel like our offense kind of takes care of itself because we have a lot of guys that can score.”
Highlighting that list of scorers is 6-foot-3 senior River West, the Times-Union Area Player of the Year.
West averaged 20 points per game to go along with seven rebounds, two assists and nearly two steals.
In Whitko’s regular season finale, West scored 23 points and became just the third player in program history to top 1,500 career points, joining 2012 graduate Logan Irwin (2,230) and 2017 graduate Nate Walpole (1,977).
“I’m sure going into this teams are gonna be focused on River, so I’m hoping our other guys will be ready to step up, and I’m sure they will,” said Henson.
“Brett Sickafoose has had a good season. He’s been scoring about 16 or 17 points per game over the last 12 games. Micah Cokl can knock down some shots from the outside, and Brian Collins can knock down some shots.
“Those guys know that teams are going to focus on River. Especially with Spencer (Sroufe) out, teams are going to focus on River and try to do everything they can to try and take him away. Those other guys, I think, will do a good job stepping up for us.”
Sickafoose, a freshman, averages 12 points, three rebounds and two assists per game.
Sroufe, who has missed the last four games because of a health issue, averages 10 points, 10 rebounds and nearly four blocked shots per game.
Henson said Sroufe has been practicing with the team, but his availability for the state tournament is up in the air.
“It’s gonna be an even match, they’re a lot better than their record,” Henson said of Bremen. “Everything I’ve seen on film, they have a lot of good pieces. They’re big, and they can finish around the rim well, and without Spencer that’s one thing we don’t have right now is a lot of size.”
Without the 6-6 Sroufe the last four games, Whitko has gone 1-3.
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Henson and his team are using the “What have we got to lose?” approach. Henson is encouraging his players to believe, and to “leave it all on the court.”
The Wildcats, who went through the regular season with a 9-15 record and a 5-4 mark in the Three Rivers Conference, play in the six-team Class 2A sectional at Westview.
The buzz around the sectional isn’t about Whitko, defending champion Central Noble (12-10), Prairie Heights (8-14) or Bremen (5-17).
The storylines with Sectional 35 are centered around No. 2 Westview (23-1) and No. 3 LaVille (22-0).
The way the sectional is bracketed, though, Westview and LaVille would have to play each other before Saturday’s championship game, and Henson likes the draw the Wildcats got.
Whitko opens with Bremen on Tuesday at 6 p.m., followed by Prairie Heights and Westview.
Central Noble plays the Whitko/Bremen winner in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal game, followed by LaVille and Tuesday’s other winner.
The championship game is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to the North Judson Regional to play the winner of the South Adams Sectional.
“It was definitely a favorable draw for us,” said Henson. “We feel like we can beat Bremen, and the same with Central Noble.
“We’ve got some things we need to fix, hopefully we can improve our defense, that’s going to be a big component for us. If we can fix that, I feel like our offense kind of takes care of itself because we have a lot of guys that can score.”
Highlighting that list of scorers is 6-foot-3 senior River West, the Times-Union Area Player of the Year.
West averaged 20 points per game to go along with seven rebounds, two assists and nearly two steals.
In Whitko’s regular season finale, West scored 23 points and became just the third player in program history to top 1,500 career points, joining 2012 graduate Logan Irwin (2,230) and 2017 graduate Nate Walpole (1,977).
“I’m sure going into this teams are gonna be focused on River, so I’m hoping our other guys will be ready to step up, and I’m sure they will,” said Henson.
“Brett Sickafoose has had a good season. He’s been scoring about 16 or 17 points per game over the last 12 games. Micah Cokl can knock down some shots from the outside, and Brian Collins can knock down some shots.
“Those guys know that teams are going to focus on River. Especially with Spencer (Sroufe) out, teams are going to focus on River and try to do everything they can to try and take him away. Those other guys, I think, will do a good job stepping up for us.”
Sickafoose, a freshman, averages 12 points, three rebounds and two assists per game.
Sroufe, who has missed the last four games because of a health issue, averages 10 points, 10 rebounds and nearly four blocked shots per game.
Henson said Sroufe has been practicing with the team, but his availability for the state tournament is up in the air.
“It’s gonna be an even match, they’re a lot better than their record,” Henson said of Bremen. “Everything I’ve seen on film, they have a lot of good pieces. They’re big, and they can finish around the rim well, and without Spencer that’s one thing we don’t have right now is a lot of size.”
Without the 6-6 Sroufe the last four games, Whitko has gone 1-3.
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