On The Court

TRITON AT VALLEY

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Mentone

Coaches: Kevin O'Rourke (Triton), Gregg Sciarra (Valley)

Records: Triton 4-11, Tippecanoe Valley 5-10

Last game: Bremen 71, Triton 44; Valley 77, Wabash 67

Matchup: Triton has lost six of its last seven. Valley gives teams problems defensively, because the Vikings have three players who can score different ways. Eric Love, who is averaging 12.7 points, scores from the perimeter. JayDee Parker, who is averaging 14.1 points, scores inside. Brandon Eaton, who is averaging ?? points, can score inside or outside.

O'Rourke: "Valley is a team starting to come together. We have two road games this weekend, and it sure would be nice to get a couple of wins. Sometimes when you get a win, that cleans the closet out. I think right now for us, how we handle Parker is the big key, because of his physical size and athleticism. It's been hard for us to contain players like him."

Sciarra: "It should be a very competitive game. Triton does a nice job of switching defenses. (Austin) Unterbrink and (Matt) Savill are players who are pretty aggressive. We've been weak inside defensively, but we're gradually getting a little better. The key for us is being aware of Savill and Unterbrink penetrating ... We had one of our better inside-outside offensive games against Wabash. Our kids are starting to play together and starting to make better decisions."

NORTHWOOD AT MISHAWAKA

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Mishawaka

Coaches: Dan Gunn (NorthWood), Jerome Calderone (Mishawaka)

Records: NorthWood 10-5, Mishawaka 5-11

Last game: Goshen 56, NorthWood 42; N.ridge 53, Mishawaka 40

Matchup: NorthWood has lost two NLC games in a row. Mishawaka may match up with NorthWood inside, but the Panther guards should be able to create a favorable mismatch with Mishawaka's inexperienced guards.

Calderone: "NorthWood's a pretty good basketball team, and Bobby Brown is one of the better players in the area. (Eric) Zell does a nice job inside, and NorthWood's guards play hard. Transition defense is always important, but it's that much more important against NorthWood."

Gunn: "(Mishawaka) has three good-sized individuals, and their team is on a winning streak as of late. They knocked off South Bend Washington then beat South Bend Adams. They're young at guard, and they haven't handled pressure well at times. (Chad) Blasko scores a lot for them."

MANCHESTER AT FW HARDING

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Fort Wayne

Coaches: Gary Goshert (Manchester), Al Gooden (Harding)

Records: Manchester 16-2, Harding 9-5

Last game: Manchester 65, Wawasee 54; Wayne 83, Harding 78 (2 OT)

Matchup: Manchester has won eight games in a row. The Squires recently received bad news when they found out starter Steve Fawcett is lost for the season after tearing his ACL. He's the second player the Squires have lost since the season started -Êreserve Jonathan Price is no longer on the team. With Fawcett out, Heath Simcoe has stepped into the starting lineup. He went into last weekend averaging 6.1 points per game, but he averaged 19 in the last two games against Churubusco and Wawasee. Harding just forced Fort Wayne Wayne, the No. 10 team in 4A, to a double-overtime game.

Goshert: "(Harding) has been playing well the last few weeks. They've been beating or taking the best teams in Fort Wayne to the wire. They are very quick and athletic, and they put pressure on the ball defensively ... (To be ready for the sectional) we have to rebound at the defensive end of the floor. We need to play good on the road consistently, and we need good shot selection. There's nothing you can overlook. The tournament is not going to be different from the regular season except that in most situations you'll have less possessions. We don't add or eliminate anything just because it's the tournament."

Gooden: Gooden could not be reached for comment.

WHITKO AT ROCHESTER

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Rochester

Coaches: Fred Fields (Whitko), Scott Newcomb (Rochester)

Records: Whitko 3-12, 1-3 TRC; Rochester 7-9, 2-4 TRC

Last game: Oak Hill 69, Whitko 64; Rochester 58, LaVille 44

Matchup: For the second game in two nights, Whitko will face a guard-oriented team. The Wildcats host Triton on Friday, then are at Rochester on Saturday. Triton's offensive threats are guards Austin Unterbrink, Matt Savill and Andy Westafer. Rochester's offensive threats are guards Deric Beck and Kyle Schnitz. Unterbrink and Beck are two of the best point guards in the area; whether Whitko can keep them from driving to the basket and breaking down the defense will go a long way to determining if the Wildcats win or lose.

Fields: "It's important for us to play two games on the weekend again, but that's what it's going to be like in the sectional. We haven't had that lately. We've done a good job of playing well in second games. We want to simulate what we'll see in the sectional."

Newcomb: "(Whitko's height) is going to cause problems for us, keeping them off the boards. We'll need to play good interior defense, and we've struggled to do that this year. Our strength is our guards, and we hope to apply a lot of pressure on their guards and make it difficult for them to get the ball to the guys inside. And if they do get it inside, we'll have to double-team them and make them kick the ball back out."