The final regular season game for both teams, Lakeland Christian hosted Whitko on Friday night in one final tune up before sectional play. The first half was close, but a massive third quarter for the visitors provided them with the separation they needed to pick up a 57-35 win.
Outside of a midrange jumper by LCA’s Josiah rice and a bucket inside by Whitko’s Chandler Cox, points were hard to come by in the first few minutes. Both sides were playing great defense, requiring each team to take its time on the offensive end as they tried to break through.
Around the midway point of the first quarter, the opponents begin to settle in a bit more and speed up the pace a bit. This led to the lead changing on five straight possessions as the offenses began to heat up. Both teams were spreading the ball around fairly well here, as no one player was doing a bulk of the scoring for either side.
The Wildcats ended up being the team that took control of the game following that feeling-out period, as the visitors went up by six with two minutes to go in the opening period, resulting in a timeout call by the Cougars. Only two more points would be scored in the first quarter, a layup by LCA’s leading scorer, and one of the top scorers in the area, Micah Martin. After eight minutes of action, Whitko led 15-11.
A triple by Aaron Guase early in the second quarter made it a one-possession game once more. That didn’t last long, as Whitko’s Riley Harman continued what was a good start by adding two more buckets that extended the visitors’ lead once more.
The Wildcats kept it going, and a bucket inside by Chandler Cox put Whitko up by eight with four minutes to go until halftime. Things slowed down from this point onward, and it would be a few minutes before the visitors were able to score again. This was a prime opportunity for LCA to chip away at the lead, but the home side was unable to manage much of anything during this stretch either.
A corner triple by Easton Grable with 30 seconds left in the second made it a 10-point game, the largest lead of the night thus far. Needing something to get some momentum back before the half, Lakeland Christian got exactly that. A pair of free throws to go with a buzzer-beating three by Jashawn Zielasko put the home side within five as Whitko led 27-22 going into the break.

    Junior Jashawn Zielasko of LCA gets fouled during a breakaway by Easton Grable of Whitko...Nieter

There seemed to be a lid on the basket for the first few minutes of the third, as neither side was able to put any points on the board for over two and a half minutes. The cold spell was finally ended on a layup by the Wildcats. That first basket led to an avalanche of sorts for the visitors, as they were able to take complete control of the game during the third. With the Cougars still without a point nearly five minutes into the period, Whitko was now fully rolling, and a three pointer by Harman extended the lead to 15.
Following a timeout call, things didn’t get much better for the home team, as they were still scoreless six minutes into the third. The Wildcat run was now up to 12-0 and showed no signs of stopping any time soon. While the offense was rolling, a large part of it was due to the defense of the visitors creating a plethora of turnovers that quickly turned into fastbreak opportunities.
With a minute left in the quarter, Martin finally put LCA on the board. His team would need a lot more of that in the final eight minutes, as a massive 13-2 difference for the Wildcats in the quarter had them up 16 going into the fourth quarter.
“When our offense takes over, our defensive intensity picks up immensely,” Whitko head coach Robert Warrick said after the game.
That lead continued to grow early on in the final period, as Whitko went up by more than 20 with six minutes to go in the game. Through 10 minutes of action in the second half, the Cougars had still only managed two points. Even after Martin’s second three of the game with four minutes left, his team was still down by 20. Nobody besides the senior had scored since the second quarter.
The hot shooting streak for the visitors cooled down significantly as time winded down, but they were up by so many that it didn’t do much in terms of changing the outcome. With two minutes left in the game, Whitko was still up by 20+ and well on their way to a victory in the regular season finale.
Whitko (7-16) will take on Woodlan at the Bluffton sectional on Tuesday, while LCA (10-13) will face Hamilton at Fremont.
“We’ll put the win in the win column and then we move on. Woodlan is a really good team and we’ve been preparing for them all week,” Warrick said.