On The Court

TIPPECANOE VALLEY AT SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON

Tipoff: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in South Bend

Coaches: Bill Patrick (Valley), Milt Cooper (S.B. Washington)

Records: Valley 9-3, Washington 8-4

Last Game: Valley 53, Caston 44; Washington N/A

Last Year: Valley 86, Washington 76

Matchup: The Vikings enter this weekend on a five-game win streak and are averaging nearly 60 points per game. Brandon Eaton leads the Viking offense with his 21.7 points per game average. The 6-4 senior also pulls down 5.4 rebounds per game. Brandon's brother, 6-3 freshman Trey Eaton, averages 11.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. The Panthers are led by Scott Davis, Micah Williams, Derek Graham and Jaron Parchman, all of whom score in double figures. Scott and Graham each average around eight rebounds per game.

Patrick: "I know they've played well. It's another situation where we won't think about them until Saturday. Earlier in the year I saw some of their scores and they were playing pretty well."

Cooper: "They are a good, disciplined team. They've got the two Eaton brothers who can play ball. I don't know if you ever stop good players, just try to slow them down."

ELKHART MEMORIAL AT NORTHWOOD

Tipoff: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Nappanee

Coaches: Steve Johnson (Memorial), Dan Gunn (NorthWood)

Records: Memorial 4-5, NorthWood 9-2

Last Game: Memorial 60, Goshen 50; NorthWood 75, Warsaw 66

Last Year: Memorial 53, NorthWood 44

Matchup: Memorial won the battle of these Elkhart County rivals a year ago. NorthWood enters this contest ranked sixth in Class 3A and is on a two-game win streak, including Friday's nine-point win over Warsaw. Charlie Roeder spearheads the Panther offense with 16 points per game. Roeder also pulls down 5.0 rebounds per game. Ian Reed contributes nearly 10 points per contest for the Panthers. Elkhart Memorial will look to Nick Slabaugh, who averages 13 points per game, to lead the scoring attack. The Chargers will also rely heavily on Clint Adell, who leads the team in rebounding and adds 12 points per contest. Quennell Young chips in nine point per game for Elkhart Memorial.

Johnson: "NorthWood has everybody back, and that is a good sign for them. They have mostly seniors returning with Roeder, (Willy) Will and others. They are also playing at home. We are looking for a real dogfight. We have a conference game against South Bend Clay Friday, so that is our main focus right now. We will concentrate on fundamentals and basic play."

Gunn: "Memorial has some very quick players and some very athleticly talented players. Slabaugh is playing well for them right now. A big key in that game will be handling their quickness. We have to keep Quennell off the boards."

CARROLL AT MANCHESTER

Tipoff: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in North Manchester

Coaches: Rob Irwin (Carroll), Gary Goshert (Manchester)

Records: Carroll 5-5, Manchester 6-5

Last Game: DeKalb 53, Carroll 51; Bishop Dwenger 62, Manchester 53

Last Year: Carroll 51, Manchester 49

Matchup: A year ago the Chargers upended the Squires by a field goal. Manchester enters this weekend on a two-game losing streak. Senior Lee Shafer leads the Squires with 15.9 points per game. Shafer also leads the team in rebounding with 5.5 per contest. David Bazzoni also scores in double figures with 10.3 per contest. Gabe Miller pours in 15 points to go along with 7.0 rebounds per game for the Chargers. David Mahlen also scores around 15 points per contest for Carroll.

Irwin: "Shafer and Bazzoni are good players. It's hard to play at Manchester. Coach Goshert does a lot of things to mix things up. I hate going to Manchester. We're gonna go after those two kids and try and make it hard on them."

Goshert: "Carroll has some real good size. They start two kids at 6-7 and another at 6-6. Their center is post-oriented, but the other two big kids are perimeter-oriented. Even though they're big, they can shoot. They're a team that presents a lot of problems with their size, shooting and being able to bang it inside. Those are some big obstacles to face. We've had a nice week of preparation, and we're anxious to get into this weekend."

TRITON AT ROCHESTER

Tipoff: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Rochester

Coaches: Joe Bennett (Triton), David Burkett (Rochester)

Records: Triton 6-6, Rochester 5-5

Last Game: Triton 67, Jimtown 39; Plymouth 70, Rochester 68

Last Year: Rochester 86, Triton 69

Matchup: One of these teams will exit this game with record under .500. Triton is coming off a 67-39 win over conference rival Jimtown and is led in the scoring column by Brandon Zeider's 18.8 points per game. Joey Potter adds 8.1 points per contest. Senior Brian Klingerman leads the Trojans with 6.0 boards per game. Rochester, coming off a two-point loss to Plymouth, is led by Deric Beck, Nick Patterson and Nick Bowers. They all average in double figures for Rochester. Bowers and Patterson lead the team in rebounds.#

Bennett: "At the beginning of the year, (Rochester) had an injury to their leading scorer (Blake Newton). He's back and doing good. They all can shoot, and they run the court and handle the ball well. They are very balanced."

Burkett: "(Triton) won the sectional last year. They've had several close games, much like us. They have some fine talent and kids. They've got some good balance. We know what they did last year. We led Plymouth by 10-12 most of the game and then lost. We feel like we can play with anybody. We just have to prove it on the floor. We have a big game with Tippecanoe Valley on Friday, and we come back with another quality opponent on Saturday."

FORT WAYNE NORTH SIDE AT WHITKO

Tipoff: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in South Whitley

Coaches: Glenn Heaton (North Side), Steve Pickett (Whitko)

Records: North Side 5-6, Whitko 1-10

Last Game: FW Wayne 52, FW North Side 47; Bluffton 76, Whitko 59

Last Year: North Side 93, Whitko 33

Matchup: A year ago the Redskins beat Whitko by 60. The Wildcats come in searching for their second win and are on a two-game skid. Whitko is led in scoring by Shane Henderson's 12.1 points per game. Henderson also dishes out 4.0 assists per contest. Bryan Howard averages nearly 11 points per game for the Wildcats. North Side is led by Corey Smith and 6-9 center Ross McGregor. Both average around 14.5 points per game. McGregor also pulls down nearly 10 rebounds per game.

Heaton: "They are a team that is playing better every game. Like us, they've had their share of good times and bad times. What's scary about them is that they always play hard. They're a very big team. We have a 6-9 kid, but after that, we get small in a hurry. Rebounding will be a key. We can't allow them to have second and third shots."

Pickett: "They are excellently coached. They can pound the ball inside to McGregor, and they have excellent shooters. Corey Smith is a good shooter, so they can push the ball. We have to find that spirit, passion and emotion."