On The Court

GARY WALLACE AT NO. 10 (4A) WARSAW

Tipoff: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Warsaw

Coaches: John Hoover (Wallace), Al Rhodes (Warsaw)

Records: Wallace 8-4, Warsaw 7-2

Last Game: Wallace 79, West Side 62; Warsaw 78, Withrow (Cincinnati) 64

Last Year: Warsaw 82, Wallace 69

Matchup: The Tigers feature balanced scoring. Steve Siebenmorgen scores 13.6 points per game, Chris Wiggins 13.0, Zach Nelson 10.2 and Ross Kesler 9.5. Warsaw enters January playing its best basketball of the season. The Tigers have won their last three games by 16, 28 and 16 points. Rhodes credits the improved play to having a healthy team. The Tigers did not have all 12 varsity players together for a practice until late December.

Hoover: "Warsaw has an excellent program, and they play sound defense and press well. I know they can shoot the ball well. We've played them the last seven or eight years, so we kind of know each other. I hear Wiggins is the man of the hour. That's what our scouting report says. We'll put our best defender on him and see what happens. Both teams can score. The team that plays the best defense should win."

Rhodes: "I thought we had a strong performance in both tournament games. Our team play was much improved in terms of our passing and our timing on offense. ... We always expect a lot of full-court pressure and half-court traps from Wallace. They don't have any truly great players, but they are playing well as a team. Rebounding is always a big factor in this game. If we can keep them off the offensive board, it's to our advantage."

TIPPECANOE VALLEY AT SOUTHWOOD

Tipoff: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Wabash

Coaches: Bill Patrick (Valley), Steve McClure (Southwood)

Records: Valley 5-3, 2-0 TRC; Southwood 6-1, 1-1 TRC

Last Game: Valley 59, John Glenn 57; Southwood 56, Northfield 37

Last Year: Southwood 70, Tippecanoe Valley 65

Matchup: The Vikings enter this game undefeated in the Three Rivers Conference. Southwood's only loss of the season came to TRC foe Manchester, so a second TRC loss might wipe them out of the conference race. Brandon Eaton leads the Viking scoring attack with his 23.1 points per game average. The senior has scored 40 points in two games this season. Craig Kuhn, a 6-5 Valley senior, could be available in Friday's game after suffering an ACL injury during the football season. Shawn Zellers leads the Knights in scoring with 12.8 points per game. Brady Ellsroth pulls down an average of 7.5 rebounds per game for Southwood.

Patrick: "(Southwood) has about everything you need. They've only lost one game, and they have a couple kids that are big, strong and have quickness. The key for us is rebounding. It's (rebounding) has been a struggle for us the last couple of games. They lost their first game, and that's it. Their kids have been playing together since third or fourth grade. They're definitely one of the best teams we've played this year. They also have some good outside shooting. They are a solid basketball team."

McClure: "Obviously Brandon Eaton poses a problem for anyone. And the other kids just seem to feed off that. Eaton is that special player, but you have to pay attention to all of them. We've won every game that we've outrebounded our opponent. That's always crucial for us. The Kuhn kid will be back, so that will make them tougher on the boards."

MANCHESTER AT WHITKO

Tipoff: 6:15 p.m. Friday in South Whitley

Coaches: Gary Goshert (Manchester), Steve Pickett (Whitko)

Records: Manchester 5-3, 3-0; Whitko 0-7, 0-2

Last Game: Manchester 76, Wabash 34; Churubusco 65, Whitko 60

Last Year: Manchester 70, Whitko 46

Matchup: With a win, the Squires would improve to 4-0 in the conference and be well on their way to a fourth consecutive TRC championship. Whitko has won two of its last nine TRC contests. Three Squires scored in double figures in their last game: Lee Shafer (20), David Bazzoni (16) and Nate Kerr (11). Whitko is led in the scoring column by four players averaging in double figures: Bryan Howard (11.1), Shane Henderson (10.9), Brandon Waller (10.4) and Ben Ryan (10.3).

Goshert: "I've seen them play at least twice. They had Plymouth down nine at halftime, and they had an excellent chance against Churubusco. And both of those are good teams. Overall they're a team that's getting better and better each week. They're on an uptick, so to speak. They have better than average size. I really think we have to defend their kids inside. It always starts with defense for us. As our defense goes so do we."

Pickett: "They are very athletic. They really look to push the ball up court, and they have a run-jump defense. We have to do two things, get back on defense, and handle their pressure. We definitely have to watch Shafer. He's getting 17-18 points per game. Bazzoni is probably a big key to their team. They've got a series of excellent shooters. We will have to contest every shot."

NO. 9 (3A) PLYMOUTH AT WAWASEE

Tipoff: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Syracuse

Coaches: Jack Edison (Plymouth), Robb Berger (Wawasee)

Records: Plymouth 7-2, 0- NLC; Wawasee 1-7, 0-1 NLC

Last Game: Plymouth 66, Rochester 56; Wawasee 58, Goshen 54

Last Year: Plymouth 63, Wawasee 47

Matchup: Both teams enter this contest with a win in their last contests. Plymouth won its holiday tournament championship, while Wawasee snapped a regular season losing streak of 27 games with a win in the consolation of the Goshen Holiday Tournament. John Pettibone spearheads the Pilgrim offense with 17 points per game. Brent Houin pulls down 6.5 rebounds per game for Plymouth. In Wawasee's victory, seniors Jeremy High and Andrew Packer led with 17 and 13 points, respectively.

Edison: "I'm really impressed with the job Robb has done there. We played (Mishawaka) Marian (Berger's team a year ago) last year in the sectional, and he has the kids doing pretty much the same things this year. They really play hard. End to end they come at you full speed all 32 minutes. The most impressive thing is they play so smart. They get so many deflections. They take you out of a lot of things defensively. One thing that has helped them is how balanced they are. Their sophomores have really played well at the guard spots. I'm really impressed with their post play. (Jeremy) High and (R.J.) Wilson have the most experience, but they have good balance."

Berger: "Plymouth is always well-coached and disciplined. Like always they have a guy who can shoot the ball. (John) Pettibone has to be contested. They have two big kids inside who are smart. Any one of those guys can step up and hurt you. We have to find a way to get some good shots."

TRITON AT JOHN GLENN

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday in Walkerton

Coaches: Joe Bennett (Triton), Gordon Mosson (Glenn)

Records: Triton 4-4, 1-1 NSC; Glenn 5-3, 2-0 NSC

Last Game: Knox 69, Triton 64; Tippecanoe Valley 59, Glenn 57

Last Year: Glenn 56, Triton 55

Matchup: These teams played to a one-point decision a year ago, with Glenn picking up the win. Both teams come off consolation game losses in respective holiday tournaments. Glenn is led offensively by Chris Adkins and his 19.4 points per game average. Matt Smith adds 13 points and 8.0 rebounds for the Falcons. Senior Brandon Zeider led Triton in its last game with 27 points. Jake Burnett and Austin Unterbrink added 12 and 11 points respectively.

Bennett: "(Glenn) is very balanced, with great guard play. They have very solid post players. They're so hard to defend because they have so many weapons. They do so many things right. We're trying to do what we do best and defend what their strengths are."#

Mosson: "Defensively, (Triton) plays solid man-to-man, and they pressure you all over the court. They're pretty good rebounders. Offensively, they are very well balanced, and they have a couple of players who can score. We have to be concerned with post players (Jim) Read, (Brian) Klingerman and (Joey) Potter. We also have to be concerned with the penetration of (Austin) Unterbrink. We have to get more free throws than they do. I also think hitting the boards will be a big key. We've been pretty solid at that all year. We have to get more offensive chances."