Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE -ÊIt was the night the lights went out at Wawasee.
Literally.
The Wawasee varsity boys basketball game was delayed Tuesday night when the lights in the Warrior gym went out after the junior varsity game.
The lights also went out for Wawasee's hopes of winning its first game when the Warriors lost to the Fairfield Falcons 65-60.
Wawasee got off to a slow start in its first game, allowing Fairfield to go up 5-0 before Chris Lambert nailed a three-point shot to get the Warriors going.
By the end of the first quarter, the Falcons had regained their five-point advantage, leading the Warriors 16-11.
"We're a young team, and the first couple of minutes we had some jitterbugs," said Fairfield coach Scott Miller. "After we settled down, we played well."
In the second quarter, Wawasee cut that five-point deficit to two points after Josh Zolman hit a three-pointer to make the score 18-16, when Fairfield started to pull away.
"We shot from three-point range pretty decently," said Wawasee head coach Jerry Davis.
At the half, Fairfield went into the locker room with a 10-point lead, 38-28.
The Warriors came out ready to play in the third quarter, cutting the Fairfield lead to four, but the Falcons refused to lay down for the Warriors and quickly regained a 10-point lead.
After three quarters of play, the score stood at 53-44 in Fairfield's favor.
With 4:04 left in the game, Wawasee was behind 60-50 when R.J. Nethaway nailed a three-point shot to give the Warriors a needed spark.
Andrew Warner then scored four unanswered points to make the score 60-57 with 2:27 left to play.
"Warner improved and did some good things as the game went on," said Davis.
The score stood at 60-62 with 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Fairfield's Chad Garber stepped up to the line to attempt a one-and-one free throw.
Garber hit the first free throw but missed the second to give the Falcons a 63-60 lead and Wawasee a chance to tie.
The Warriors moved the ball down the court and R.J. Wilson attempted a three-point shot to tie the game, but the attempt was unsuccessful, and Fairfield recovered the ball.
With four seconds on the clock, the Warriors fouled Ryan Thwaits to stop the clock.
Thwaits, who had been a thorn in the Warrior's side all game, put the final nail in the Warrior coffin when he hit both free throws, bringing the final score to 65-60.
"I'm very pleased with our performance tonight," said Miller. "We found a good combination and got some help from the kids off the bench."
"We did some things well, and we have some things to improve on," said Davis. "We can fix those things, they are mostly physical, not mental. Things like timing and execution, we can work on in practice.
"These guys played their hearts out tonight."
Then, as if on a timer, the lights went out again as fans filed out of the gym.
Fairfield 65 Wawasee 60
Wawasee - Lambert 1-5 0-0 5, Zolman 4-6 0-0 11, Warner 7-10 2-3 16, Nethaway 3-5 1-1 8;, Wilson 4-8 1-2 11, Knisely 0-1 0-0 1, High 3-6 0-0 6, Adkins 1-5 0-0 3, Packer 0-1 0-2 0. Totals -Ê23-47 4-8 60.
Fairfield - Patterson 3-6 2-5 8, Thwaits 10-16 6-10 27, Green 5-11 0-1 14, Garber 0-1 1-1 1, Shultz 5-10 0-0 11, Meier 1-4 2-2 4. Totals -Ê24-48 11-19 65.
Wawasee 11 17 16 16 - 60
Fairfield 16 22 15 12 - 65
Three-point goals - Wawasee 8-14 (Wilson 2, Zolman 3, Nethaway, Lambert, Adkins) Fairfield 4-9 (Green 2, Thwaits, Shultz). Rebounds - Wawasee 26 (Nethaway 5, Knisely 5, High 5, Lambert 4), Fairfield 23. Assists - Wawasee 18 (Nethaway 4, Wilson 4), Fairfield 12. Steals - Wawasee 2 (Zolman, High), Fairfield 5. Turnovers - Wawasee 14, Fairfield 2. Fouls - Wawasee 19, Fairfield 7. Fouled out - Lambert. Technical fouls - none.
Records - Wawasee 0-1, Fairfield 1-0
JV - Wawasee 43, Fairfield 36.
JV Record - Wawasee 1-0
