On The Court

CONCORD AT WARSAW

TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Friday at the Tiger Den

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

RECORDS: Concord 8-3, NLC 1-0; Warsaw 10-2, 3-0 NLC

LAST GAME: Warsaw 92, Gary Wallace 78

MATCHUP: ...Warsaw, 3-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference since Dec. 20, will try to keep its NLC mark perfect against the dangerous Minutemen. The Tigers come off their last game against Gary Wallace where they shot a state-record 75 free throws agains the Hornets, making 44 of them in a wild affair at the Tiger Den, where Warsaw is 7-0 this season. The game will be televised will be the Game Of The Week on Channel 46 WHME out of South Bend.

GAME TALK:

Concord... Concord has a three-pronged attack offensively with Jamie Snyder (13.5 points per game), Jason Stewart (11.6 ppg), and Jeremy Gillespie (10.5 ppg). Dietz was unavailable for comment.

Warsaw... Warsaw has played only one game total in almost a month because of the postponements. Tom Krizmanich leads the Tigers with 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds a contest. Tyler Charlton is adding 13.8 points and 4.1 assists a game. The Tigers are also getting good production out of its center position with Luke Reed at 5.2 ppg and 70 percent field goal shooting and Chris Hill off the bench at 7.0 and 76 percent FG. Rhodes was unavailable for comment.

CASTON AT TRITON

TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Friday at Bourbon

COACHES: Craig Teagle (Caston), Kevin O'Rourke (Triton)

RECORDS: Caston 7-3, Triton 8-2

LAST GAME: T. Valley 79, Caston 74; Triton 64, Jimtown 52

MATCHUP:...These two teams faced once earlier this season. They met in the Culver Holiday Tournament in December, and Triton won 75-59. Triton shot the ball well that game, making 24 of 45 field goals (53 percent) and 23 of 31 free throws (74 percent). The Trojans also took care of the ball, turning it over just 10 times. Shooting guard Luke Zartman paces Caston with 19.2 ppg, and forward Blake Harness scores 15.6 ppg. Harness leads the team with 9.2 rebounds per game. Cory Monesmith leads Triton with 19.1 ppg. Jeff Rupe adds 13.5 ppg, and Philip Reed scores 12.5 ppg. Despite starting a collection of players 6-1 and shorter, the Trojans are outrebounding their opponents by an average of 28.7 to 23.1 rebounds each game.

GAME TALK:

Teagle... "Triton is an outstanding basketball team that has good experience. They play with a great amount of confidence. They execute as well on the floor as any team we will face this year. Their quickness is what hurts us. Point guard (Jeff) Rupe is a smart player who gets the ball to where it needs to go. Cory Monesmith is a smart player. Philip Reed is an exceptionally intelligent player. Scott Blackford, you think he could be more of an inside player, then he steps out and hits a three on you. The (Bill) Salyer kid does their dirty work and usually guards the other team's best player. This game is a great challenge for us. Triton beat us in every phase of the game last time. This is an opportunity to see if we have improved."

O'Rourke.... "Caston is 7-3 and is an awfully good team. Their players are young as far as age, but they have veteran players who have been around. They are a hard-nosed group of kids. (Luke) Zartman can put up a lot of points in a hurry. The Pioneer game, he hit eight threes in the first half, and those were five or six feet behind the line. He has really good range. Blake Harness is a nice player inside. Those two give them a good inside/outside combination. Point guard Garrett Cain gets the ball where it needs to go. We've shown stretches where we've played well. I'm positive about that. But you don't want to play your best basketball at Christmastime. You want to be playing your best in February going into the tournament."

WAWASEE AT GOSHEN

TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Friday at Goshen

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

RECORDS: Wawasee 3-8, 0-3 NLC; Goshen 7-4, 1-1

LAST GAME: Northridge 58, Wawasee 40; Elkhart Memorial 73, Goshen 47

MATCHUP:...After going 2-0 in November, the Warriors are 1-8 in December and January. Part of their struggles can be attributed to a brutal stretch in their schedule that has included DeKalb, Warsaw, South Bend Riley, Plymouth and Northridge. DeKalb has Mr. Basketball candidate Luke Recker, Riley is one of the top teams in South Bend, and the rest of the teams have at least eight wins. Andy Ganger paces Goshen with 16.5 ppg. Ryan Mikel leads Wawasee with 14.5 ppg.

GAME TALK:

Davis... "I think Goshen is a team that will be playing with more confidence. We're struggling as well. We're making strides at the defensive end of the floor. We'll be tested by Goshen, which has players who have the ability to hit the outside shot. (Brandon) Sorrell hurt us last time."

Sorrell... "Three or four things stand out about Wawasee. They have good ball handlers. They have good three-point shooters. They're a patient team. We're not playing real well right now. Matchupwise, if we're playing well, we should be OK. Wawasee has good free throw shooters. We'll have to keep them off the line. We'll have to pressure the ball, pressure the three-point shot. (Brody) Stipp, we'll have to watch him inside. Rebounding will be a key. Wawasee's not big, but they're aggressive on the boards."

VALLEY AT ROCHESTER

TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Friday at Rochester

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

RECORDS: Valley 7-5, 2-2 TRC; Rochester 0-10, 0-2 TRC

LAST GAME: T. Valley 79, Caston 74; Maconaquah 54, Rochester 45

MATCHUP:...These two teams met in the first round of the Plymouth Holiday Tournament in December. Valley won that game 59-41, but both coaches were unhappy with the way their teams played. Rochester was in the game late in the third quarter, trailing 39-32. Then Valley went on a little scoring spurt to widen the gap. Sciarra wondered afterward if his team overlooked a then 0-6 Rochester team. Necomb called his team's effort "60 percent" afterward. Seth Wilson scores 13 ppg for Rochester, and T.J. DuBois adds 12.5. DuBois leads the team with 9 rpg.

GAME TALK:

Sciarra... "As far as being a setup, it's not good going in. They have a chance to redeem part of their season by knocking us off. We're a county rival, and beating us could give them their first conference win. Our biggest thing is the mental aspect, playing a team you beat before and that still hasn't won yet. The majority of the game is mental. It will be interesting to see how we come out and play after we played pretty decent the last couple of times only to come up a little short at the end. We talked about this after the Northfield game, if we want to be good, we have to be ready to go all the time no matter who we're playing. For high school and even some collegiate athletes, that seems to difficult at times for some reason."

Newcomb.... "Valley has great experience to begin with, and then they have good athletes who can create big problems. Jeff Brown is an excellent ballplayer who can shoot outside and drive on you. Eric Love is a good three-point shooter. Valley's a big rivalry. We were awful disappointed the first time we played them. We didn't feel like we even competed."