On The Court

WARSAW AT CONCORD

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday at Dunlap

Coaches: Al Rhodes (Warsaw), Ron Dietz (Concord)

Records: Warsaw 7-4, 2-2; Concord 4-6, 0-3

Last game: NorthWood 60, Warsaw 57 (OT); Plymouth 69, Concord 49

Matchup: Warsaw heads into another tough Northern Lakes Conference matchup on the heels of something that hasn't happened in almost three years - a two-game losing streak. Although both losses have come by a combined five points, the Tigers have some work to do to start winning the close games again. Concord played Plymouth, the No. 1 3A team in the state, tough for three quarters before getting blown out in the fourth. Nick Treadway led the Minutemen with 14 points against the Pilgrims.

Rhodes: "Both of our last two games have been very close. That makes it a very frustrating situation. In some ways, having the two losses in the conference has the potential to help us. It takes the pressure off. It is not fun, but if it pays off in the long run, that's what we are hoping for. ... Concord has been very much an up and down team this year. They have had some outstanding weekends and some where they have played poorly. We have to go up there expecting them to play at their very best. We need to get Andy Plank back on track as we are heading into this next segment."

GOSHEN AT WAWASEE

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday at Syracuse

Coaches: Mike Sorrell (Goshen), Jerry Davis (Wawasee)

Records: Goshen 9-2, 1-1; Wawasee 2-9, 0-3

Last game: Northridge 51, Wawasee 45; Goshen 55, Elkhart Memorial 41

Matchup: Sorrell seems to be very impressed with the Wawasee team and won't take the Warriors for granted. Although Goshen and Wawasee haven't played yet, both teams are very familiar with each other. Besides being conference teams, they both played in the Goshen Holiday Tournament and got to see each other first hand. Goshen won twice in that tournament and Wawasee lost twice.

Sorrell: "(Wawasee) played better against Northridge. Sometimes when kids don't want to be there, the others rally around that. Northridge, along with Wawasee and Warsaw, are very difficult places to play. To go to Northridge and play that well is impressive. They could have and probably should have won that game. (Wawasee) has some depth at guard and (Brody) Stipp is a pretty good player. He's always given us trouble. It's not easy to have a winning record with the schedule they've played."

Davis: "(The game against Northridge) was one of our best games this season. We played as well as we have since I've been here. We shot the ball very well, we were better focused, and we did a better job of executing what we have to do. We've got to continue to get the ball inside. We need to pay attention to (Phil) Mikel, (Jon) Swartz and (Thomas) Kline. Mikel and Swartz free things up by trying to score from the perimeter."

JIMTOWN AT NORTHWOOD

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday at Nappanee

Coaches: Randy DeShone (Jimtown), Dan Gunn (NorthWood)

Records: Jimtown 6-4; NorthWood 7-3

Last game: Jimtown 51, Triton 42; NorthWood 64, John Glenn 40

Matchup: For the first time this year, NorthWood won twice over the weekend. However, Jimtown did also and both teams seem to be coming in on a roll. These teams should be pretty familiar with each other, sort of. Both NorthWood and Jimtown have multiple players on the basketball team that played football also. Of course, Jimtown won that football game.

DeShone: "You have to worry about everything with NorthWood. You have to keep them from getting the easy baskets, because they run a good sideline offense and get guys up and down the floor. With Dan Gunn, his teams are always defense-oriented. I think the first thing you think of is a physical, aggressive team. His players rotate well defensively. You have to make them earn every point in the paint. NorthWood capitalizes on other teams' mistakes on offense. The big key will be how we handle the ball. We can't let them get turnovers for easy points at the other end."

PERU AT NO. 2 (2A) MANCHESTER

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday at North Manchester

Coaches: Terry Heavilon (Peru), Gart Goshert (Manchester)

Records: Peru 6-5, Manchester 11-2

Last game: Logansport 74, Peru 73; Manchester 67, FW Dwenger 59

Matchup: Manchester has its highest ranking since the 1994-95 season when Moe Smedley was the head coach and the team went undefeated through the regular season. The Squires won't play a conference team this weekend but need only one more win in the TRC to clinch a share of the championship for the second straight season.

Heavilon: "All five of our losses have come against teams that are having very successful seasons. We want to play an up-tempo kind of game and put defensive pressure on the perimeter. We're averaging 70 points per game with three kids in double figures and another right at nine points per game. So, we're not a one-dimensional team."

Goshert: "Peru has very good athletes. They will put pressure on both ends of the floor. They have athletes that can dribble penetrate and shoot the ball. That's going to be something different than what we've seen for a while."

ROCHESTER AT VALLEY

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday at Mentone

Coaches: Scott Newcomb (Rochester), Gregg Sciarra (Valley)

Records: Rochester 5-6, 1-3; Valley 3-8, 2-2

Last game: Plymouth 95, Rochester 54; Caston 69, Valley 58

Matchup: These two teams met at the Plymouth Holiday Tournament in a close game. Rochester pulled that one out but has since gone in a slide. The Zebras have lost four times since then, but two of those games have been against No. 1 Plymouth and another was against Maconaquah, a team getting votes in the 2A poll.

Newcomb: "(JayDee) Parker's awful good and we can't leave (Eric) Love open. We need to be constantly aware of where he is. We need to stop their penetration. We had too many turnovers the first time we played them ... Our kids are determined to get back on the winning track and hopefully we can do that on Friday. We've just played some stiff competition lately."

Sciarra: "We're playing a little better and handling the ball better. This is a big game with the rivalry and it being a conference game. I think the conference is down, talent wise, a little bit this year, and we could sneak up on second place. (The players) feel pretty good about themselves right now and we didn't play a very good game (against Rochester the first time). But, truthfully, Rochester didn't either."

TRITON AT NO. 3 (A) CASTON

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday at Fulton

Coaches: Kevin O'Rourke (Triton), Doug Hicks (Caston)

Records: Triton 3-7; Caston 8-1

Last game: Jimtown 51, Triton 42; Caston 69, Valley 58

Matchup: The difficult road continues. Triton will play its eighth team with a record better than .500 this year. Caston's only loss came to Wabash at home, so it's not a lost cause going to Fulton. Blake Harness is averaging 17 points per game, while Luke Zartman is at 16. The Trojans' three losses since Christmas break have been by a total of 13 points.

O'Rourke: "(Caston) has a great team and a bunch of players back. It seems like Zartman and Harness have been playing varsity for them since the '70s. Once you stop Zartman, Harness does as good a job inside as anyone we'll play. Plus they have three other starters and players off the bench who are good ... We've had a tough schedule. But if you're a good team, you'll beat good teams. I'd like to go over to Caston and win, and we expect to, but it's not a make-it-or-break-it game. We're not where we want to be yet anyway and we've got 10 games to get there."

Hicks: "Unterbrink is really quick. I'm impressed with his creating skills, especially as a sophomore. Savill is an excellent shooter. He is very streaky and a weakness of ours is giving up the three-point shot. Ganshorn is a three-point threat. Their inside players, Gould and Treber, are pretty strong kids that rebound ... They lost two two-point games last weekend. There's no doubt in my mind that they're better than a 3-7 team. I'm glad we've got them at home."