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MIDDLEBURY - Friday night's game between Wawasee and Northridge wasn't expected to be close.
After all, the Warriors came into the game 2-8 and winless in the NLC.
Despite that, Wawasee gave the Raiders (10-1, 3-0 NLC) a scare but fell 51-45.
The Warriors came out in the first quarter as the more aggresive team. Senior guard Jared Mahnensmith hit two first-quarter three-pointers, and center Brody Stipp pulled down three of his game-high 11 rebounds to help Wawasee keep pace with Northridge early.
At the end of the first quarter, Wawasee trailed only 13-12.
Wawasee came out in the second quarter and started to build a lead. The Warriors shot 12 of 22 in the first half, while Northridge hit 9 of 20.
The Warriors came out in the second half and used their bench to help maintain their lead. Reserve Narron Graves hit his first three shots from the field. Wawasee had 18 bench points to Northridge's 2.
"Our guys knew coming in that we would play 10 guys in three to four minute spurts," Wawasee head coach Jerry Davis said.
Even without much help from the bench, Northridge was able to play Wawasee even in the third quarter. At the end of three the Raiders trailed 39-35. Northridge made a couple of changes, however, that would change the outlook of the game.
First they went to a full-court trap, which forced the ball out of Mahnensmith's hands.
"I think their game plan was to key on Mahnensmith on the outside and Stipp on the inside," Davis said.
With the Raider defensive switch, Stipp was forced out of the post to help and was unable to regain position on the inside. The full-court trap also forced the Warriors into many turnovers. Northridge guard Nate Brown stepped into the passing lanes and had six steals. The Raiders combined for nine steals as a team.
"In the fourth they did some things defensively and we coughed the ball up. But we had our shots," Davis said.
The Warriors coughed the ball up four times in the early fourth quarter. They also fouled the Raiders, sending them to the line 22 times, where they connected on 14. In sharp contrast, Wawasee hit 1 of 2 free throws.
Free throws and a Brown three-pointer pulled Northridge ahead by four. The two teams would exchange baskets late into the game. Wawasee was forced to send Northridge to the charity stripe, where the Raiders continued to hit shots. Two free throws by Brown with 17 seconds left in the game closed the book on a Wawasee comeback.
According to Davis, this loss was the best game he's seen. "I thought we played as well as we played the whole year," he said. "This might be the best game I've seen us play in my two years here."
With the loss, Wawasee moves to 2-9 and 0-3 in the NLC. The Warriors travel to Goshen next week in a conference matchup.
Northridge will next play at Plymouth.
