SYRACUSE - After five games of the Class 3A Sectional 21 at Wawasee High School, the championship game is set.
In Friday's two semifinal games, the Columbia City Eagles (16-5) were the first to punch their ticket into the title game with a 57-47 win over the Whitko Wildcats (16-6), followed by the host Wawasee Warriors (17-5) downing the Lakeland Lakers (11-10) in the second game, 62-51.Columbia City and Wawasee will square off at 7:30 p.m. tonight, with the winner advancing on to next Saturday's Blackford Regional.
"They're well-coached, they're fundamental and they're big inside," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said of facing the Eagles, whom his squad defeated 66-48 in Columbia City on Dec. 21. "It's going to take a great effort from our guys to play with them."
Columbia City 57, Whitko 47
To start the night off, Columbia City and Whitko brought their Whitley County rivalry to the Hardwood Tepee to play in front of capacity crowd.
In a championship atmosphere, Columbia City jumped out to a 19-8 lead early in the second quarter, helping the squad go on to defeat Whitko for the second time this year.
"I thought we started well," Columbia City coach Chris Benedict said. "We defended early, rebounded extremely well."
After losing to the Eagles 59-58 in Columbia City in the first game of the season for each team on Nov. 24, Whitko coach Rob Irwin had hoped to exact some revenge. However, with Columbia City hitting seven of its 12 shots in the opening quarter, payback wasn't to be.
"They have shooters - better shooters than we do," Irwin said. "We rely on dribble-penetration from Logan (Irwin) and getting to the free throw line. We got into our game in the second half. The problem was, we didn't get into it quick enough."
Entering the fourth quarter down 43-27, Whitko got it clicking in the final eight minutes, forcing seven turnovers, clawing within 49-44 following a three-pointer by Logan Irwin with 3:25 remaining in the game.
"I'm kicking myself, because we probably should have started (with pressure defense)," Rob Irwin said. "I just don't know if we could have maintained that pressure the whole game."
With Whitko's defense taken up a few notches, Benedict saw an attitude change in his team.
"Sometimes in the fourth quarter, we played not to lose instead of to win," Benedict said. "We took a pretty courageous shot, that if it doesn't go in it's bad, if it does go in it's good."
That shot was hit by Benedict's son, sophomore Drew Benedict, who had just been benched by his father after taking an ill-advised three-pointer while the Eagles were attempting to eat some clock.
Once he re-entered the game, the younger Benedict squared up and nailed a three-pointer with 2:24 left, increasing his team's lead to eight points at 52-44.
"Obviously, he's a confident kid and thinks it's going to go in," the Columbia City coach said about his son, who scored 21 points on 5-of-11 shooting. "A lot of times, when you pull a kid like that, he can become a little trigger-shy. That's one thing he's never been, which is trigger-shy."
Whitko's coach also has a son in Logan Irwin, who's not afraid to take the shot, as he added to his school-record point total with 24 points on 7-of-21 shooting, while also posting a game-high seven rebounds.
Whitko also got 14 points and five rebounds out of senior Zac VanDeWater, as well as six points, five rebounds and three steals from junior Derek Snep, but the most important stat of the night was Whitko's free-throwing shooting.
After hitting 19 of 22 free throws in Wednesday's first-round win over NorthWood, Whitko made just 14 of 28 against Columbia City, 9 of 21 in the final quarter.
"You can't win (shooting that way), especially with the way we started," Rob Irwin said.
Following Benedict's three-pointer, Logan Irwin countered with a bucket of his own, cutting the Eagles' lead to 52-46, but neither team made another field goal the rest of the way. Instead of scoring on field goals, each team just shot free throws, with Columbia City making 5 of 8 and Whitko hitting 1 of 6.
"Getting back into it probably put a toll on their free-throw shooting," Chris Benedict said. "We just kind of hung on and lived to play another day."
While Columbia City is playing another day, Whitko is saying good-bye to seven seniors, including 1,000-point club member VanDeWater, who will be playing at Indiana Wesleyan next year.
"We'll just be different, but I like the guys we have coming back," Rob Irwin said. "We're going to miss Zac's versatility for sure, but every year, you have to replace guys. That's just high school sports. I like that I have one of the best guards in the state coming back."
Along with saying good-bye to some players, Rob Irwin is also saying good riddance to future postseason games with Columbia City, which moves to Class 4A next season.
"The good thing is Columbia City won't be in our sectional next year, so we don't have to worry about them," he said.
Wawasee 62, Lakeland 51
After seeing Lakeland jump out to a 5-0 lead, the Wawasee Warriors decided it was time to not only defend their home floor, but also their Sectional 21 crown, with a 7-0 run.
The small scoring spurt gave Wawasee a slim lead, but it was one the Warriors would ride to the end of the game, earning a trip to the title game with a 62-51 victory.
Along with hitting four three-pointers in the opening quarter, the Warriors also proved they could do the dirty work, jumping out to a 9-1 advantage in the rebounding department.
"They were talking in the locker room, before the game, about how big games like sectionals are won on the glass," Mishler said. "Keeping the other team to one shot and trying to get extra possessions for your offense."
That mentality lasted the entire 32 minutes, as Wawasee wound up outrebounding Lakeland 37-19.
Using a strong inside game, Wawasee extended a 25-22 lead to a 37-22 advantage between the 2:28 mark of the second quarter and halftime.
With its lead inflated, Wawasee made sure to get touches to its 1,000-point club member in senior Riley Stichter.
"The guys recognized, that at that point in time, they didn't need to score quickly," Mishler said. "We wanted a high-percentage shot. By getting a high-percentage shot, then we could get into the mode of scoring quickly and getting into our press."
Getting plenty of touches, Stichter finished the game with 14 points to go with his 10 rebounds, while senior Trevor McKibben led the way with a game-high 18 points.
Lakeland did cut the Wawasee lead to seven, 51-44, early in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors began to play a slow-down game, which helped them move on to face Columbia City.
