OSSIAN – Whitko boys basketball coach Rob Irwin knew his team was going to have it's hands full with No. 5 Norwell, and that proved true. The Norwell Knights won their 11th sectional title Saturday, defeating the Whitko Wildcats 78-48 in the championship game of Class 3A Sectional 23 at Norwell High School. Playing on their home floor, the Knights (21-2) jumped out to a 20-3 lead on the Wildcats (13-10) before a 12-point second quarter by Whitko senior Logan Irwin helped to cut the halftime deficit to 30-25. However, Norwell got it back into gear in the third, outscoring Whitko 20-10 in the quarter and 48-23 in the half. "It was just about going back to what we do," Norwell coach Randy Hawkins said. "In the second quarter, we kind of got away from doing what we do – just taking care of the basketball and rebounding. We let them get to the basket a little too easy. We didn't have the pressure we wanted. It was just a matter of refocusing our guys." The second quarter was a bright spot for Whitko, who made 7 of 13 field goals in the quarter, but just 18 of 59 on the night. "We sped them up a little bit," Rob rwin said about the success his team had in the second quarter. "Logan got loose. Once he gets going, our other kids get feeling better about themselves. We just got them a little rattled, but to be honest, (their turnaround) was probably just a matter of time. They're just that good. They just wear you down." Norwell was led by junior Josh VanMeter's 29 points, but senior Kyle Fillman was perhaps a bigger factor, posting 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while also grabbing 24 rebounds. Also for Norwell, seniors Caleb Featherston and Garrett Bucher each had 10 points, making the task of slowing the Knights offense down a tough one. "They have so many guys," Rob Irwin said."They're by far the best team we've played all year. Once they got Logan slowed down in the third quarter, that was it. They have so many weapons and we don't have that many." Logan Irwin was Whitko's lone player to reach double-digit scoring, but he did have a tough time, scoring his 31 points on 12-of-33 shooting from the field. "I think they did a good job on him," Rob Irwin said about the defense on Logan. "When they went to the 1-3-1 zone, there's less gaps. When you're man-to-man, you just can't guard Logan with one guy. Whoever has tried it, what happens is he scores and scores. You have to figure out how to get in the gaps against him and take away his penetration and hope he's not on from (behind the three-point arc). They got him deep enough that he was shooting from two or three feet behind the three-point line." Wrapping up his prep career with 2,230 points, only 11 other boys basketball players in state history have scored more. With that kind of stat, it was easy to see where Norwell's focus was going to be. "(The game plan) was just to contain him as well as we could," Hawkins said. "Make the other guys beat us. Logan's obviously a great player and has had a tremendous career in high school and will have a tremendous one in college. He's a heck of a player. It was just about containing him as much as we could." Outside of Logan Irwin's 31 points and eight rebounds, senior Kolten Krull was the Wildcats' next leading scorer with five points, although he too posted eight rebounds. Norwell will now take on Muncie Central at the Blackford Regional Saturday, while the career of one of Whitko's best all-time players is over. "If you had a chance to watch him for four years, I think you appreciated him," Rob Irwin said about how he'd like to see his son remembered at Whitko. "How hard he plays, what he does and what he's about. Hopefully, he's a legend. He's (No. 12) in the state of Indiana in scoring. He's been a good role model. He's got good grades. He's everything Indiana basketball is and is about. I'm sad because I'll never get to coach him again."
