COLUMBIA CITY — The Whitley County rivalry between the Whitko and Columbia City boys basketball teams resumed Wednesday, but it didn’t seem like a rivalry. Improving his coaching record to 16-0 against Whitko, Columbia City coach Chris Benedict’s Eagles ran away with a season-opening 69-26 home win. “We've been fortunate to have a lot of really good players in our program that put a lot of time in during the offseason,” Benedict said when asked about his dominance over Whitko. “When I first came here, it was Whitko and Manchester we had to beat. Now, you're in class basketball and it's a different set of teams you have to focus on. We've just got it rolling a little bit and I don't know how to explain it.” One way to explain it is the three players that will probably go on to play college ball on his roster. His son, senior Drew Benedict, has already committed to play at Huntington University, as has 6-foot-6 senior Daniel Woll and senior Derek Hinen has also received interest from the university. Against Whitko, all three were strong. In the win, Woll had eight rebounds, four blocks, three assists and two steals and Hinen finished with 11 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals, but it was Drew Benedict that stole the show. Known for his shooting, Benedict made seven of his eight first-half three-point attempts, with the only miss being from three-quarter lengths at the end of the first quarter. “He gets it off quick and he does a nice job of reading screens,” the elder Benedict said of his son. “Our guys do a good job of trying to find him. He just got in a little zone there. He's capable of doing that.” Drew Benedict finished the game with 27 points, as he cooled off in the second half. However, he had the right to lose some focus as Columbia City built a 44-14 halftime lead. “He got hot,” first-year Whitko coach Scott Wessel said of the 5-foot-10 shooting guard. “We talked about it. He hit some tough shots, so what are you going to do? You tip your hat to him. He's a great player. He can shoot.” In all, Columbia City made its first six three-point attempts, as sophomore Mason Coverstone sank two in the first quarter, leaving the Wildcats behind. “In the first half, I thought they did a really good job of moving the ball,” Chris Benedict said. “They found Drew coming off some screens and he knocked down some shots. Our transition was good. I just though their energy was good from the start.” Despite the blowout, Wessel did see some positives from his inexperienced team. “We did a lot more positives than negatives,” he said. “The score is irrelevant to what we did. We did so many good things. We got a lot of back cuts, which is what we're looking for. We got a lot of great lobs that we wanted to get. Defensively, we've just got to be tougher.” Senior Stephen Bennett led Whitko with six points and four rebounds and did do some good things, converting on lob passes into the post, getting the best of Woll on numerous occasions. “We just have to make sure he plays smart,” Benedict said of Woll. “When he's on the ball, he's pretty good. He's got to be careful when he goes away from the ball. He can't fall in love with blocking shots. He's gotta do a better job of defending before they get the ball.” But with the lob pass being the one aspect that was sub-par in the first game of the season, Chris Benedict could accept it. “All in all, really pleased,” he said. “The way they came out – they were a little nervous. You know you have a veteran group, but you still just don't know how they're going to react when they're in game situations.” Whitko will look for a better result Saturday when it faces a much different opponent in the Leo Lions in South Whitley. “They're totally different than these guys,” he said about Leo. “They're going to get up and pressure you. They press, trap and do all that, which is different than Columbia City – actually, it's the total opposite. We have to be ready for that.” Columbia City is also in action Saturday, traveling west on U.S. 30 to Warsaw, a team the Eagles haven’t defeated since 2005. “Warsaw's always kind of a benchmark in the northern part of the state,” Chris Benedict said. “They're a solid program. (Warsaw coach) Doug (Ogle) does a really good job. Obviously, when Al Rhodes was there he did a good job. They built that thing into a solid program year after year, that kind of turns itself over. We'll have our work cut out for us. We'll look at some film over the holiday and get ready for a short-preparation week. It's always a battle. It's always a tough game. Hopefully our guys will put 32 minutes together.”
COLUMBIA CITY 61, WHITKO 26 W 9 5 8 4 – 26 C 21 23 8 17 – 61 CC – Drew Benedict 8-13 3-5 27, Derek Hinen 4-6 3-4 11, Mason Coverstone 5-7 0-0 14, Daniel Woll 2-3 0-0 4, Austin Paul 4-9 1-3 9, Keaton Reed 0-1 0-0 0, Justin Bachelder 0-2 0-0 0, Jonathon Simmons 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 25-43 7-12 69. Whitko – Dylan Cumberland 0-9 0-1 0, Alex Stoddard 3-8 0-0 6, Trey Weber 1-5 1-2 4, Gabe Powell 2-3 0-0 4, Stephen Bennett 3-5 0-3 6, Seth Patrick 2-4 0-0 4, Danny Zawlocki 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Keirn 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Smiley 0-2 0-0 0, Will Peters 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 12-38 1-6 26. Three-point goals – CC 12-19 (Benedict 8, Coverstone 4), Whitko 1-11 (Weber); Team Fouls – CC 10, Whitko 13; Turnovers – CC 13, Whitko 19; Rebounds – CC 27 (Woll 8), Whitko 15 (Stoddard 4, Powell 4, Bennett 4); Assists – CC 15 (Hinen 8), Whitko 7 (Cumberland 4); Steals – CC 10 (Hinen 3), Whitko 4 (Stoddard 2); Blocks – CC 4 (Woll 4), Whitko 2 Records: CC 1-0, Whitko 0-1 JV – CC 47, Whitko 22 Whitko JV – Smiley 9, Zawlocki 4, Peters 3, Devin Adkins 2, Patrick 2, Keirn 2
