Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
COLUMBIA CITY - If Wednesday's junior varsity basketball game was any indication of how the varsity game would go, Columbia City would come out running.
But Whitko would try and use the second half as a turning point.
While most varsity games in the area were getting under way, the junior varsity contest at Columbia City had the fans excited, to say the least. The Eagles got on the board early and often led by Trevor Shively who hit two three-pointers early in the first quarter to establish his team's offense, and Columbia City took a 28-22 lead into the final frame. Whitko outscored the Eagles 10-4 in the fourth to force overtime with both teams knotted at 32, but the Eagles scored eight points in the extra period, all free throws, to win the game 40-35.
And the Columbia City varsity squad started the same way the Eagle JV cagers did, by getting out in front of the Wildcats early. The varsity Eagles went on to win 61-47.
"Jason Elkins was a presence early," said Whitko coach Fred Fields.
Columbia City's 6-foot-5 center scored the first points of the game on a layup that also put him at the charity stripe after being fouled by Joe Grant. Elkins tallied five points in the first quarter, and the Eagles went into the start of the second frame with a 16-11 advantage.
The first two minutes of the second quarter began a defensive-minded game, and neither team scored until 2:04 had ticked off the clock. At this point Whitko's Ben Ryan connected on a three-pointer to bring the Wildcats to within two, 16-14. But Whitko scored only two more points in the second frame, being outscored 11-5.
"The only thing holding us back was our indecisions on offense," said Fields. "We figured it a problem. Our guys didn't recongnize the post being open. We went too many posessions without the post players touching the ball."
Part of that problem might have been due to the fact that they were in constant foul trouble.
"We're the smallest team they'll face all year," said Fields. "All of our fouls were legitimate, I can't tell the kids to back off. There was a point where we had Ryan called for a charge. A lot of times it's a no call, but it put us in a situation where we had to counter with five guards."
As was the case in the junior varsity contest, the second half turned around for the Wildcats as they went toe to toe with the Eagles in the third quarter. Columbia City outscored Whitko by only one in the period and took a 42-30 lead into the final period.
Throughout the second half the Wildcats began making runs, cutting Columbia City's lead to single digits numerous times, But they couldn't get over the hump.
"We did things tonight that against other teams we could've gotten over the hump," said Fields. "He (Columbia City coach Chris Benedict) used the entire court. From a fundamental standpoint we did a nice job blocking out, but we gave up some things inside we didn't want to. Until the fourth quarter we kept them to low scoring, but we made some mistakes we can fix. We just didn't score, and inside-outside quickness would have helped us."
The Eagles put the game away in the final frame, spending most of the period at the free throw line. Columbia City converted 11 of 13 free throws in the final quarter, most of those coming from Justin Waterson, who was 6-8 at the charity stripe in the waning minutes of the game.
Whitko (0-1) will host Northfield Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m.
Columbia City 61
Whitko 47
Whitko 11 5 14 17-47
Col. City 16 11 15 19-61
Whitko FG FT S R Pts.
Mohr G 6-16 6-8 0 0 19
Grant C 5-8 5-6 0 7 15
Ryan F 2-5 0-0 1 1 6
Gonzalez G 1-4 2-2 1 0 3
Henderson G 1-6 0-0 1 1 2
J.Wendel 1-1 0-0 1 1 2
Howard 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
A.Wendel 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Waybright 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Martin 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 16-42 13-16 3 10 47
Col. City FG FT S R Pts.
Heuer F 8-11 4-5 0 1 20
Schumaker G 4-9 2-2 0 5 12
Waterson F 1-5 9-12 1 2 11
Elkins C 4-5 1-2 1 8 8
Boylan 2-3 1-1 1 2 5
Schmitt G 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Niec 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Jones 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hilligoss 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hoppe 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Moore 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Fuller 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 20-34 17-21 3 19 61
Three-point goals - Whitko 2-7 (Ryan 2), Col. City 2-6 (Schumaker 2). Turnovers - Whitko 10, Col. City 10. Fouled out - none
JV: Col. City 40, Whitko 35
Col. City (1-0) scoring - Trevor Shively 18, Jon Pettigrew 6, Chris Wymer 6, Joe Roth 6, Ryan Smith 2
Whitko (0-1) scoring - Michael Waybright 12, Adam Wendel 7, Anthony Clausen 6, Brent Goble 6, Josh Hoffman 4
