Having lost four of their last six games, the Wawasee boys basketball team looked to get back on track hosting Elkhart Christian on Tuesday night. Instead, it was the Eagles who controlled nearly the entire game, going wire-to-wire with a 46-39 victory.
The visitors enjoyed a fast start to the game, hitting two quick threes to take an early 6-0 lead. Wawasee struggled to get any offense going in the beginning stages of the game, as the home side was struggling to deal with the trap ECA was hitting them with at midcourt. The Eagles did well to switch their defenders around once that trap was broken, ensuring no easy looks were given to the Warriors.
Four minutes into the game, Brayden Miller finally put the Warriors on the board with a reverse layup to end an 8-0 run to begin the game for Elkhart Christian. He’d add another basket a couple of minutes later to trim it down to a four-point deficit. After a blazing hot start, ECA had cooled down significantly. Now, it was Wawasee putting in the work on the defensive end and making life incredibly difficult for its opponent.
The Eagles would add another triple before the quarter ended, while the home side split a pair of free throws for its final point of the first. After eight minutes of play, Elkhart Christian was up 11-5.
ECA was able to add onto its lead in the early minutes of the second, as a layup followed by a technical foul called on Nolan Holzwart allowed the Eagles to score three points and kept the ball away from the Warriors for around two minutes. Now trailing by nine, Wawasee needed to figure it out on offense before the game got away from them.
Outside of a basket by freshman Jack Shoemaker, Wawasee continued to look sluggish on the offensive end. Miller, who had been the main source of offense thus far, ended another drought with a layup near the two-minute mark of the quarter, but the Warriors still trailed by seven.
Each time the home side added a bucket to cut into the lead, ECA quickly went down to the other end and neutralized it with a bucket of their own. The final seconds of the half saw Elkhart Christian getting to the line consistently and taking advantage of the opportunities. At the half, the visitors now held onto a commanding 22-11 lead.

    Senior Kane Dukes of Wawasee pulls up for a three-pointer during Tuesday night's home game against Elkhart Christian...Nieter

Holzwart started off the third quarter with a big and-one to put the home team back in business as they attempted to mount a comeback. A three by Kane Dukes moments later made it six unanswered points to start the second half, bringing the Warriors to within five. It was only temporary though, as Ellkhart Christian quickly answered with five straight points of their own to extend their lead back to double figures.
Wawasee kept on fighting, doing its best to stay in the game as they pushed towards the visitors. With just two minutes remaining in the third, they had gotten within six, but now had to deal with the stalling tactics of the ECA offense, which was content to take as much time passing the ball around the perimeter as they wanted to.
In the final minutes of the third, Wawasee was finally able to make a move towards taking the lead, as a last-second shot by Camden Reel put the home side within four, the closest they had been since the first quarter, with eight minutes left on the clock. With plenty of time to finish off the comeback, the Warriors trailed 28-24 heading into the fourth.
That comeback bid suffered a massive setback in the beginning of the final quarter, as ECA managed to double their lead with back-to-back layups that extended the lead back up to eight. They didn’t stop there, going up by 12 to take their biggest lead of the night with five minutes left in the game. After trimming the advantage down to four, the Warriors had surrendered an 8-0 run to make the job a lot more difficult.
It got worse before it got better, as a big three pointer for the Eagles put them up 13 with three minutes left, and it felt like the dagger. With two minutes to go, the home side had only cut into the lead with a single free throw, still trailing by 12. Shoemaker sank a big three after a turnover by ECA with 1:53 left that got it down to single digits at nine, but there was still a long way to go.
With their backs against the wall, the Warriors made one final push. They were able to get within seven and had the ball with a little over a minute left, but a costly offensive foul stopped the run in its tracks.
Wawasee did not accept defeat however, continuing to press and force turnovers in the backcourt. A three pointer for Dukes made it a five-point game with 14 ticks left on the clock, but that’s as close as they would get.
Wawasee (6-13) is at Goshen Friday night.