Fast Start Helps Wawasee Win At Whitko
December 16, 2019 at 2:36 a.m.
SOUTH WHITLEY—Entering Saturday night’s non-conference matchup, both the Whitko Wildcats and Wawasee Warriors boys basketball teams sought to improve their .500 records.
In the first quarter, the visiting Warriors held on to a 17-3 lead and never looked back as they were able to fend off a late Whitko surge and defeat the Wildcats 63-55 in South Whitley.
Wawasee (3-2) opened up with an 11-0 run to set the pace early. The Warriors were propelled by the balanced attack of Keaton Dukes (15 points), Austin Miller (14 points) and Ethan Hardy (13 points).
“We made them look very good in the first quarter,” said Whitko head basketball coach Eli Henson. “When you have only one shot, and you’re down 11-0 to start and turning the ball over, it’s pretty easy to make teams look pretty good.”
Whitko (1-2) would outscore Wawasee 52-46 in the latter three quarters. The Wildcats’ Brett Sickafoose scored 14 of his 18 points in the 4th quarter and Drake Lewis chipped in with 15 points in the loss.
“We thought that the game would be a game of runs,” said Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham. “We had the first run, but we knew that [Whitko] is not the kind of basketball team that is not going to just roll over. The timing for them was almost perfect, because their big run was at the end, and we had just enough to hold on in the end.”
Big games loom next for both the Warriors and Wildcats. For Wawasee, they return to action on Friday night in the Tiger Den to face Warsaw.
“You never feel good going into the Tiger Den, so we’re not going to feel great, but we will feel prepared,” said Everingham. “I think we showed tonight that we can put together a game plan and know how we are going to attack their zone. We know it’s going to be extremely difficult next week, so we will wait to think about that and enjoy this win tonight.”
Whitko will next have to deal with an undefeated Prairie Heights team on Wednesday night.
“We have to get some things changed,” said Henson. “It might be a personnel change, it might be a style change. There’s no need to panic, but we just got to figure some stuff and get back to the drawing board.
“I just want us to show progress. Right now, we have to go back to that point where we can show that we can compete and that we are going to show progress.”
WAWASEE 63, WHITKO 55
WA 17 12 17 17 - 63
WH 3 15 18 19 - 55
Wawasee: Keaton Dukes 15, Austin Miller 14, Ethan Hardy 13, Jack Stover 9, Jaydon Boyer 7, Justin Castro 3, Kameron Salazar 2
Whitko: Brett Sickafoose 18, Drake Lewis 15, William Rickerd 9, Cameron Sapp 6, Andrew Swartz 4, Clayton Ebbinghouse 3
Junior Varsity
Wawasee 64, Whitko 39
Wawasee: Collin Roberson 21, Marten Kant 16, Jay Finlinson 10, Gavin Hunziker 6, Peyton Felger 4, Caden Welty 4, Justin Castro 2, Landon Gause 2, Adam Beer 1
Whitko: Slater Craig 10, Keith Miller 9, Brent Bowers 6, David Ousley 4, Mason Streby 4, Kylar Bryant 3, Ryan Brown 2, William Rickerd 1
SOUTH WHITLEY—Entering Saturday night’s non-conference matchup, both the Whitko Wildcats and Wawasee Warriors boys basketball teams sought to improve their .500 records.
In the first quarter, the visiting Warriors held on to a 17-3 lead and never looked back as they were able to fend off a late Whitko surge and defeat the Wildcats 63-55 in South Whitley.
Wawasee (3-2) opened up with an 11-0 run to set the pace early. The Warriors were propelled by the balanced attack of Keaton Dukes (15 points), Austin Miller (14 points) and Ethan Hardy (13 points).
“We made them look very good in the first quarter,” said Whitko head basketball coach Eli Henson. “When you have only one shot, and you’re down 11-0 to start and turning the ball over, it’s pretty easy to make teams look pretty good.”
Whitko (1-2) would outscore Wawasee 52-46 in the latter three quarters. The Wildcats’ Brett Sickafoose scored 14 of his 18 points in the 4th quarter and Drake Lewis chipped in with 15 points in the loss.
“We thought that the game would be a game of runs,” said Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham. “We had the first run, but we knew that [Whitko] is not the kind of basketball team that is not going to just roll over. The timing for them was almost perfect, because their big run was at the end, and we had just enough to hold on in the end.”
Big games loom next for both the Warriors and Wildcats. For Wawasee, they return to action on Friday night in the Tiger Den to face Warsaw.
“You never feel good going into the Tiger Den, so we’re not going to feel great, but we will feel prepared,” said Everingham. “I think we showed tonight that we can put together a game plan and know how we are going to attack their zone. We know it’s going to be extremely difficult next week, so we will wait to think about that and enjoy this win tonight.”
Whitko will next have to deal with an undefeated Prairie Heights team on Wednesday night.
“We have to get some things changed,” said Henson. “It might be a personnel change, it might be a style change. There’s no need to panic, but we just got to figure some stuff and get back to the drawing board.
“I just want us to show progress. Right now, we have to go back to that point where we can show that we can compete and that we are going to show progress.”
WAWASEE 63, WHITKO 55
WA 17 12 17 17 - 63
WH 3 15 18 19 - 55
Wawasee: Keaton Dukes 15, Austin Miller 14, Ethan Hardy 13, Jack Stover 9, Jaydon Boyer 7, Justin Castro 3, Kameron Salazar 2
Whitko: Brett Sickafoose 18, Drake Lewis 15, William Rickerd 9, Cameron Sapp 6, Andrew Swartz 4, Clayton Ebbinghouse 3
Junior Varsity
Wawasee 64, Whitko 39
Wawasee: Collin Roberson 21, Marten Kant 16, Jay Finlinson 10, Gavin Hunziker 6, Peyton Felger 4, Caden Welty 4, Justin Castro 2, Landon Gause 2, Adam Beer 1
Whitko: Slater Craig 10, Keith Miller 9, Brent Bowers 6, David Ousley 4, Mason Streby 4, Kylar Bryant 3, Ryan Brown 2, William Rickerd 1