BENTON – After Jayce Boatwright scored on Wawasee’s first fourth-quarter possession, the Warriors found themselves tied at 38 with Fairfield. From there the Falcons doused the barnburner in Benton with a 12-3 run and pulled away for a 61-48 win Tuesday night. Before the deciding quarter, there were five ties and nine lead changes as Fairfield got out to a small lead and Wawasee fought its way back. The Falcons struggled for a bit with Wawasee’s 3-2 zone defense before solving it in the final period. “We had a couple of breakdowns on defense where we left guys open in the corner. They hit one or two and, I thought, really fed off the crowd,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “We got a little tentative and didn’t answer it.” Fairfield opened a 25-18 lead at the 2:53 mark of the second quarter before Wawasee scored the last four points of the half and the first four of the third quarter to take the lead. The teams see-sawed until Falcon sophomore Luke Stephens hit a trey as time expired to give Fairfield a 38-36 advantage heading into the fourth. After Boatwright forged the tie, Falcon senior Brock Goeglein hit a pair of threes, with classmate Sam Brown dropping one from the right corner in between. Stephens capped a 15-6 run with another trey, and Fairfield was in no danger the rest of the way. “Overall, for three quarters we did a lot of positive things, stuck with them when, I thought, they could have run away, and we hung in there. So for going on the road for the first game, overall I’m pretty happy,” Wiktorowski said. Wiktorowski said he was pleased with the play of his underclassmen. The Warriors stayed close with help from Parker Hatfield, who scored 10 points, all in the first half and eight in the second quarter to keep Wawasee close. Jarius Boyer hit a big three to stop a Fairfield third-quarter run, and wound up with eight points on the night. “I thought Jarius was a good example of (underclassmen playing well); he stepped up and hit a couple of nice shots in the second half when we needed it,” said Wiktorowski. “The guy I was happiest for was Parker. He came off the bench in the second quarter and got us some hoops inside when we were really struggling against their zone. He played the way we need him to play; scoring inside and rebounding. I thought he was pretty solid on defense, which I was really happy with.” Caden Wegener led Wawasee with 12 points, including a trio of three-point shots. Boatwright and Stephon Miller had six points each. Goeglein led all scorers with 21 points. Both teams hit 18 field goals, but Fairfield took 18 fewer shots and outscored the Warriors from the free-throw line 17-9. Wawasee opens the home portion of its schedule at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when Angola comes to the Hardwood Tepee. The Wawasee junior varsity won a thriller 47-45 when Fairfield’s Evan Connolly had a three-pointer rattle out of the basket at the buzzer.
