On The Court

No. 10 (4A) WARSAW AT No. 7 (3A) PLYMOUTH

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Plymouth

Coaches: Al Rhodes (Warsaw), Jack Edison (Plymouth)

Records: Warsaw 13-2, 5-0 NLC; Plymouth 12-3, 2-2 NLC

Last game: Warsaw 77, Elk. Memorial 51; LaPorte 68, Plymouth 62

Last year: Warsaw 51, Plymouth 48

Matchup: Combined these two coaches have 744 wins (Rhodes 344, Edison 400) ... This game had received much hoopla earlier in the year, but Plymouth's two losses in the conference have the Pilgrims out of the race for the NLC title ... Warsaw is led in scoring by Steve Siebenmorgen's 15 points per game. Chris Wiggins and Zach Nelson contribute close to 13 points each ... The Pilgrims' offensive attack is spearheaded by Joel Grindle's 16.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Nick Chaney, who has battled illness, adds 13.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Rhodes: "Plymouth played Northridge tight in a game that went down to the wire. I think last weekend was a transition time for Plymouth. NorthWood is tough to handle at home, and LaPorte has a good team this year. I think Plymouth's losses were because of three quality opponents more than anything. (Joel) Grindle inside has been a real presence, offensively, defensively and with his rebounding. He changes a lot of your shots around the basket. Nick Chaney is excellent in every facet of the game. Offensively, Plymouth is very difficult to defend. Defensively, they play a switching man-for-man defense. It's very difficult to do anything to get them out of position."

Edison: "It's really difficult preparing for Warsaw. Every year it's tough. They have great post players and that makes it tough for us. They have good perimeter players like they normally do, Rob and Ross Kesler and that other one, Chris Wiggins. Wiggins is one of the best around. He's the premiere player in the area. Whether he's rebounding, shooting or passing he does it all in Division I style. But that's common for him. He's a throwback to the Jeff Groses and the Kevin Aults and I wouldn't say that about many people. They have great depth inside and outside, and their big players have great finesse. Warsaw is the best rebounding team we've seen. We have to do a respectable job rebounding to stay in the game. You won't outrebound Warsaw. Nobody has. We have to make up for that with things like fewer turnovers."

WABASH AT VALLEY

Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Friday in Mentone

Coaches: Mike Noszka (Wabash), Bill Patrick (Valley)

Records: Wabash 3-10, Valley 10-5

Last game: Northfield 65, Wabash 54; Southwood 70, Valley 65

Last year: Valley 77, Wabash 67

Matchup: After a six-game winning streak, the Vikings now find themselves with a two-game losing streak ... The one-two punch of Brandon Eaton and Jarvis Shepherd leads Valley in scoring with just under 16 points per game each ... Eric Prater leads Valley with six rebounds per game ... Garry Gahl leads the Apaches with 13 points per game ... Bobby Fairchild contributes eight points and seven rebounds per game.

Noszka: "The first thing is you have to go against Bill Patrick. That's a big thing. We have to contain Shepherd, and Prater can shoot the ball pretty well. They play great help-side defense. From what we heard against Southwood they came out very agressive in the first quarter. We have to be prepared for many defenses. We're giving up a lot of points, so we can't turn the ball over and we need to make a point of getting the ball inside early and often."

Patrick: "I know they have eight or nine seniors, and their center is a pretty good player. They try and work the ball inside a lot. They're 3-10. Both their wins came in the same weekend. The big thing for us is to mentally regroup after two losses. I'm not concerned about Wabash as much as I am us getting some things taken care of. We're going to work on some basic fundamentals. For us this is a good game to bounce back. Mental preparation will be a big key. How we aproach it will be important."

OAK HILL AT WHITKO

Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Friday in South Whitley

Coaches: Flava Sirk (Oak Hill), Fred Fields (Whitko)

Records: Oak Hill 4-8, 3-1 TRC; Whitko 6-5, 1-2 TRC

Last game: Taylor 72, Oak Hill 68; Manchester 70, Whitko 46

Last year: Oak Hill 69, Whitko 64

Matchup: The Wildcats enter this TRC contest after a big conference loss at Manchester ... Whitko's scoring attack is led by Ben Mohr's 15 points per game. Ben Ryan adds close to 10 points per game ... Joe Grant leads Whitko in rebounding with close to seven rebounds per game ... Oak Hill's offense is led by Kyle Wert's 14 points per game ... Tyler Planck scores 9.5 points and pulls down seven boards per game.

Sirk: "I'm kind of going on last year's team. I do know they have a couple of guards that are good shooters. They're up and down much like we are. It's been a tough place for Oak Hill to play. We're doing good at putting the ball in transition, we still need to do that. Last game we shot 9 of 20 three-pointers. I'll take that percentage, but we have to get the ball in the post."

Fields: "Their size is the first thing that sticks out. They are very very big, they have three kids that are 6-5. In the game we scouted they made 6 of 7 three-pointers. We have to match up with them, but I think they have to match up with us as well. We have to control the tempo, and we have to get healthy."

WAWASEE AT CONCORD

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Dunlap

Coaches: Jerry Davis (Wawasee), Ron Dietz (Concord)

Records: Wawasee 0-14, 0-4 NLC; Concord 3-9, 0-4 NLC

Last game: East Noble 53, Wawasee 38; S.B. Adams 62, Concord 49

Last year: Wawasee 62, Concord 59

Matchup: Between last year and this year, the Warriors have won one conference game, 62-59 over Concord last year ... In the Warriors' last game, Andrew Warner led them with 14 points. Chris Lambert added 11 points ... Travis Carter leads the Minutemen offensive attack with 13 points per game ... John Morningstar pulls down an average of 4.2 rebounds per game.

Davis: "I think Concord is very athletic, and they have size compared to us. We have to be more efficiant and score more. We've had some kids fighting sickness. We've had two starters miss some practice. We didn't shoot the ball well, and we need to improve upon that."

Dietz: "I think they're still playing hard and are hungry for that first win. That's scary for us. Sometimes you overlook opponents like that. We have to control the tempo. They'll want to move the ball up and down the floor. And we're looking for our first win in the conference."

GOSHEN AT NORTHWOOD

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Nappanee

Coaches: Mike Sorrell (Goshen), Dan Gunn (NorthWood)

Records: Goshen 5-9, 1-3 NLC; NorthWood 7-6, 2-2 NLC

Last game: Northridge 71, Goshen 61; NorthWood 75, Triton 45

Last year: Goshen 56, NorthWood 42

Matchup: NorthWood is coming off of a double-win weekend with wins over Plymouth and Triton ... The Redskins are on a two-game losing streak ... In a 30-point win over Triton, Nic Bradley and Charlie Roeder led the Panther scoring surge with 15- and 12-point outputs.

Sorrell: Sorrell was unavailable for comment.

Gunn: "Goshen is a team that's improving. (Tom) Hoogenboom, their center, is playing more offensively. They always play well defensively. When you play them they always limit your offense, you have to preach patience. I think rebounding will be a big factor for us."

TRITON AT ARGOS

Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. in Argos

Coaches: Joe Bennett (Triton), Doug Snyder (Argos)

Records: Triton 6-6, Argos 7-4

Last game: NorthWood 75, Triton 45; Argos 88, Westville 40

Last year: Argos 63, Triton 47

Matchup: The Trojans are trying to regroup after a 30-point loss to NorthWood, Bennett's former team ... Argos comes in on the heels of a 88-40 blowout victory and is led in scoring by Caleb Andrews' 15.1 average ... Richard Warren leads the Dragons in rebounding with an average of 5.5 ... Triton is led by Matt Savill with 14 points per game, Brandon Zeider adds 11.6 points per game ... Jim Read and Zeider snare 4.3 and 3.6 rebounds respectively ... Austin Unterbrink dishes out an average of 3.8 assists per game.

Bennett: "Argos is a well-coached team. They are playing well this year. They like to play full court the whole game. It's hard to play against the defensive pressure they put on the perimeter and post area. The key to this game will be ball-handling."

Snyder: "We prepare pretty much the same way every week, we prepare our gameplan amd play it. We like to play an uptempo game with a fastbreak offense. Triton is a very good team that has experience and quickness. They have two guards who penetrate well. Zeider and Unterbrink are capable of scoring big points, and Savill is a good outside shooter as well. They are a quick team and they do a good job on the boards. The key to this game will be for us to dictate the tempo of the game and make turnovers into points. Of course, we will need to rebound and hit free throws to be successful."

CHURUBUSCO AT MANCHESTER

Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Friday in North Manchester

Coaches: Ross Hales (Churubusco), Gary Goshert (Manchester)

Records: Churubusco 7-6, Manchester 11-3

Last game: Angola 64, Churubusco 61 3OT; Manchester 70, Whitko 46

Last year: Manchester 54, Churubusco 48

Matchup: The Squires came out of last weekend outscoring their two opponents by an average of 29.5 points ... Churubusco went triple-overtime with Angola before falling by three and has played an over time frame in their last four games ... Eric Swan's 19.6 points per game leads is tops for Manchester, Rex Reimer chips in 15 ... Swan pulls down an average of 6.0 rebounds per game, Chris Betten contributes 5.5 boards per game.

Hales: Hales was unavailable for comment

Goshert: Goshert was unavailable for comment.