CHURUBUSCO - A night that was supposed to be a joyous one for Whitko junior Logan Irwin turned into one of disappointment Saturday.
Hitting a three-pointer from three feet behind the line with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter, Irwin set a new school record for career points with 1,475, but the Class 3A No. 2 Whitko Wildcats (14-4) fell 66-59 at Churubusco (12-5)."Logan's going to be happy if he scores two points or 30, as long as we get the win," said Whitko interim coach Mike Kline, who scored 1,046 points while at Whitko. "That record is probably a back seat to whatever the team does."
Kline spoke to the media after the game, even though head coach Rob Irwin was back on the sideline after making his return to the bench following chemotherapy to combat leukemia.
Rob Irwin had aimed to return for next week's sectional, but had been feeling well enough to return to the team.
His return hasn't sparked the best play from his team, which also lost to Fort Wayne Wayne (8-10) Friday.
Rob Irwin's son, Logan, led all scorers with 26 points Saturday, while senior Zac VanDeWater netted 25, meaning the two scored 51 of the team's 59 points.
"We've got to have some other guys step up and hit some shots, believing they can do it," Kline said. "In practice, we do a lot of nice things and a lot of guys get involved. When we're going good, we have other guys hitting shots. Tonight, it just didn't happen."
With a chance to grab the school record, Irwin scored 10 points in the opening quarter, making the Churubusco Eagles' defense look overmatched.
After watching Irwin heat up in the opening quarter, Churubusco coach Mike McBride turned to a 2-3 zone defense to slow things down, which it did.
In the opening quarter, Irwin made 4 of 7 shots, but through the next three quarters, he connected on just 5 of 21.
While Irwin was struggling with his shot, VanDeWater picked up the slack, scoring 22 points in the final quarters, but a balanced attack by the Eagles kept the Wildcats' defense off balance.
"We came out a little shaky early," McBride, the former coach of the Triton Trojans for four seasons, said. "I think we were waiting for their traps early, and they didn't (bring them). I started to tell the kids to relax and deal with it as it comes. Once we got it going, we settled in pretty good."
Churubusco had six different players score in the win, with the the lowest point production being seven.
The Eagles were led by senior Hunter Nicodemus' 17 points, followed by senior Kyle Monk's 12, senior Tavin Herendeen's 11 and junior Tyler Arrowsmith's 11.
Herendeen came off the bench to hit all four of his shots, three of which were three-pointers, keeping his team close.
"Tavin stepped up big tonight," said McBride.
Another Eagle who made back-breaking plays for the Eagles was the 6-foot-8 Arrowsmith, who hit both of his field goals in the fourth quarter which came off offensive rebounds.
"They did a really good job of guarding him," MBride said about Arrowsmith, who had six blocked shots. "They tried to take him away in our half-court offense, but Tyler was relentless."
Arrowsmith's first made field goal of the night came with three minutes remaining and knotted the score at 54-54.
And that's when things went bad for Whitko.
Following a missed shot on the offensive end, Irwin was whistled for a foul while attempting a steal against Monk. After being whistled for the foul, Irwin dribbled the ball to the other end of the court and after throwing the ball back to the official, was issued a technical foul.
"The technical was unfortunate," Kline said. "I don't know if the official saw what happened, but just saw the ball in the air. It was a big swing."
Irwin's initial foul had already put Churubusco in the double-bonus, and coupled with the technical, the Eagles were able to shoot four free throws and get the back.
As it was, Monk and Nicodemus combined to hit all four free throws, then Nicodemus his one of two free throws on the ensuing possession. Once the dust had settled, Whitko was down 59-54 with 2:29 remaining.
"It was really big," McBride said about the sequence. "We had that go against us earlier this season and we've had to sit our guys down and talk with them about it. Here's what made it big - we went to the free-throw line and made four free throws."
Irwin's historic three-pointer from the top key came next, and cut the Eagles' lead to 59-57 with 1:48 remaining, but the home team went 5 of 6 from the free-throw line down the stretch, sealing the upset win.
"What a great basketball game for the fans to watch," McBride said. "The two teams played really hard. It's a shame either team had to lose, but it happens."
The game may have been more fun for the Churubusco fans than Whitko's, who saw their team lose back-to-back games for the first time this season.
"Certainly, we showed up to win the game, but it's not a conference game, not a sectional game," Kline said. "We learn from our mistakes and learn to get other guys involved. Our goal is a sectional win. We won the conference. Not that we don't want to win every game, but we're going to get ready for sectional and this isn't going to slow us down at all."
Things don't get much easier for Whitko, as they travel to 12-7 Carroll Wednesday before wrapping their regular season up at 13-5 NorthWood Friday.
