SYRACUSE - The four teams in the Blackford Regional may not have jaw-dropping records, but that doesn't mean they're not talented teams.
The 16-7 Wawasee Warriors face Fort Wayne Dwenger (14-8) in Saturday's 10 a.m. regional semifinal at Blackford High School, followed by Fort Wayne Elmhurst (16-5) and Yorktown (14-8) at noon. The winners of the those two games will then play for the regional championship at 8 p.m.Elmhurst enters the regional as the favorite, ranked ninth in Class 3A, but Wawasee coach Phil Mishler knows it's anyone's to win.
"We may be a little bit of an underdog," Mishler said. "Fort Wayne, over the past four or five years, has really been up and they play a lot of tough competition. They have a different style, but they have some really good players in that area."
Wawasee's semifinal opponent will be making its first appearance in a regional since 1997, having defeated Fort Wayne Concordia 65-52 Monday in the Sectional 23 championship at Fort Wayne Harding.
"Dwenger is a senior-led team," Mishler said. "They understand the game and situations they find themselves in. They understand urgency and also play strong, have good height and are just solid."
Dwenger's top five scorers are all seniors, led by the 6-foot-5 Scott Kohne's 17.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, followed by 10.3 points from Landen Fletcher, 8.4 from Mike Mugg, 8.3 from Wade Markley and another 7.7 out of Spencer Bongahoon.
The Dwenger Saints feature a total of six seniors on their roster, including Zach Welkin, while Wawasee has just one, in Keegan Beer and his 15.7 points a game.
"He needs to make sure the team is ready to play," Mishler said about what he's looking for from his lone senior. "There can be a lot of distractions after winning a sectional championship, but we don't want to settle for that. Winning that was just one step to achieving our goal."
Wawasee won Sectional 21 at Columbia City in dramatic fashion, defeating Whitko (60-59) and Columbia City (73-70) in the waning moments before downing West Noble 86-73 for their first sectional crown since 2006.
To get that first sectional crown in four years, Wawasee had to defeat three-straight teams with at least 10 wins, making Mishler feel comfortable as the competition increases at the regional level.
"When you first see the draw, and the path you have to take, sometimes it can be discouraging," Mishler said. "But once you string together two or three-straight wins, you start to feel pretty good. You have to prepare yourself mentally. At this point, I think we're used to play pressure-packed, fundamental ball."
Just as Wawasee's been learning to play pressure-packed ball, it's been a freshman who's elevated his game this postseason.
Jake Thompson has added another threat to the Warriors already explosive attack, scoring 36 points in the win over West Noble, boosting his postseason average to 22.3 points.
Thompson's become a matchup nightmare for opposing teams, but junior Riley Stichter has been doing that all season, averaging 21.3 points and 9.5 boards a game.
With the triple-headed attack of Beer, Stichter and Thompson, Wawasee also gets 8.5 points from junior Trevor McKibben and 5.4 from junior Logan Hatfield.
Against Dwenger, Wawasee may need help from everybody as the Saints don't waste many possessions, connecting on 46 percent of their shots.
"We really need to limit the inside looks," Mishler said about Dwenger. "Dwenger is capable of running with it, because they're really strong with the ball and pass the ball well. They take high-percentage shots, so we really need to minimize the inside play."
A win over Dwenger would put Wawasee in the night's championship, but Mishler is careful not to look ahead.
"You have to win the first to get to the next game," he said.
And playing at 10 a.m. won't be anything new for the Warriors, who played in a Jan. 2 Shootout at Carroll, defeating DeKalb 71-68 in overtime in the day's first game.
"That gave us an idea of what it's like to play an early morning game," Mishler said. "Our guys aren't going to be concerned about that."
