On The Court

GARY WALLACE AT WARSAW

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Saturday in Warsaw

Coaches: John Hoover (Gary Wallace); Al Rhodes (Warsaw)

Records: Gary Wallace 1-5; Warsaw 1-2

Last Game: Roosevelt 114, Gary Wallace 62; Valparaiso 70, Warsaw 59

Last Year: Warsaw 68, Gary Wallace 58

Matchup: Gary Wallace is coming off a string of back-to-back games where it has struggled. Wallace is a young team off to a 1-5 start. Brandon Richardson and Jovan Joiner lead Wallace. Richardson, a shooting guard, scores 20 points per game, while Joiners adds 10 rebounds per contest. After Valparaiso's shooting clinic against Warsaw - the Vikings hit 9 of 10 three-pointers - Rhodes feels his team must improve on defending screens. Junior Greg Clay broke out last week for Warsaw, scoring 22 points and grabbing six rebounds. Against Valparaiso, seniors Josh Buck and Trent Martin got into early foul trouble, and those are two players Warsaw can't afford to lose to foul trouble. Rhodes said this week he is rethinking what to do with the whole team, saying there possibly could be lineup changes to determine which combination of players works best on the court. Rhodes has always been a believer in sitting a player for the remainder of the first half after he picks up two fouls, but he said he may consider changing this philosophy if foul trouble to players like Buck persists.

Hoover: "I don't know much about them, but I know they got beat by Valparaiso last weekend. Right now we are trying to cut back on turnovers. We've got some young kids, some new kids, and we need to work on turnovers. We also need to protect the ball better."

Rhodes: "After three games, it's clear what we need to do. We have to improve our offense so that we are consistent with our field goal percentage. Defensively, we must attack the field goal percentage of the other team. We need improved execution on offense as far as shot selection, and we need to play better half-court defense ... Wallace is no slouch. They have an exceptional guard in Brandon Richardson, who will test our ability to guard in the halfcourt. They traditionally play us using a zone, which is what everybody else is doing to us right now. The added feature is they will press us more than the other teams have so far. They are probably the strongest rebounding team we will have faced so far."

HOMESTEAD AT MANCHESTER

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Saturday in North Manchester

Coaches: Tony Lavorata (Homestead); Gary Goshert (Manchester)

Records: Homestead 3-1; Manchester 2-2

Last Game: Homestead 77, South Side 64; Manchester 62, Peru 55

Last Year: Homestead 59, Manchester 46

Matchup: Homestead is coming off a 77-64 win over South Side Tuesday night. The Spartans look to improve their win streak to four with a win over Manchester Saturday. Homestead depends on four players to lead the scoring attack. Kyle Cleaver leads the squad with 16 points per game, while Mike Rhinehart and Nick Ankenbruck add 13 points each. Justin Furniss averages 10 points per contest. Cleaver also leads the Spartans in rebounds with just over eight per game. Manchester features a balanced scoring attack. Against Peru, Anthony Frieden led the Squires with 18 points, while Dustin Simcoe scored 13 and Nate Kerr added 12.

Johnson: "Manchester is a well-coached team, and they will fight to the end. They have a good pressure defense and good guards. Right now were are trying to play team defense, and we are getting better."

Goshert: "Homestead is extremely big in both their height and their weight. They are not tall skinny players; they are a power-type team. They'll stuff the ball down your throat. They're pretty much a half-court team who will pound it inside if you let them. They will be a much different team with a much different style than Peru."

TIPPECANOE VALLEY AT JOHN GLENN

Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Walkerton

Coaches: Bill Patrick (Valley); Gordon Mosson (Glenn)

Records: Valley 3-1; Glenn 1-1

Last Game: Plymouth 49, Valley 47; South Bend Riley 66, Glenn 64

Last Year: Valley 59, Glenn 57, Plymouth Tourney; Glenn 65, Valley 58, 2 OT

Matchup: Glenn is coming off a tough two-point loss to South Bend Riley. Center Matt Jerrell leads Glenn's offense. He averages 20.5 points per game. Chris Adkins adds 15 points per game. Cliff Slater leads the Falcons in rebounding by pulling down nine per contest. Valley is coming off its first loss of the season to Plymouth Tuesday night, 49-47. The Vikings will rely on leading scorer Cody New to run the offense. After a 35-point performance against Fort Wayne Elmhurst, New scored 25 against Plymouth. Trey Eaton scored 11 points against the Pilgrims. New pulled down seven rebounds against Plymouth Tuesday, while Eaton grabbed six.

Mosson: "I know quite a bit about Valley. I've scouted them, my assistants have scouted them. They have a nice team, they complement each other well. The players accept their roles well. They play a good 2-3 zone with an occasional 1-3-1 half-court trap."

Patrick: "John Glenn is pretty good. They beat us last year at Valley. They are 1-1 this year, and they have played two South Bend teams so far. They have most of their kids back this year. Adkins is back. He's one of the best guards in the state of Indiana, and he gave us all kinds of fits last year. They also have a couple bigs kids. Jerrell scored 14 against us last year. Basically they can give us a lot of problems because of their size and their ability to penetrate. It's going to be a real challenge. We played Plymouth Tuesday and we are working to correct the things we have seen so far on that tape. In the second half, we did not play well. We made poor decisions in shot selection and our defense inside was not very good."

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP AT TRITON

Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Bourbon

Coaches: Kevin Duzan (Washington Township); Joe Bennett (Triton)

Records: Washinton Township 2-1; Triton 1-1

Last Game: Boone Grove 59, Wash. Township 52; Triton 71, North Miami 56

Last Year: Triton 69, Washington Township 52

Matchup: Washington Township is coming off a 59-52 loss to Boone Grove. The squad from Valparaiso looks to Ryan Pierce and his 13.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game to lead them. Kevin Lowrance adds 11 points per contest for the Senators. Triton looks to big man Jim Read to lead the Trojan offense. Read scored 18 points and had five rebounds against North Miami. Josh Moore broke out for 11 points and eight rebounds in the North Miami game as well.

Duzan: "At this point, we do not know a lot about Triton. We know they like to play a fast-paced game and move the ball up and down the floor. They play hard. We want our defense to challenge people and force Triton to turn the ball over. We also want to get some inside shots."

Bennett: "We don't know a whole lot about Washington Township because we have been preparing for North Miami. We know Pierce is back on their roster. At 6-foot-2, he's very athletic. We are still working on pushing the ball without making turnovers. That will be a key for us in this game."

BREMEN AT WAWASEE

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Saturday in Syracuse

Coaches: Gary Hudson (Bremen); Phil Mishler (Wawasee)

Records: Bremen 1-2; Wawasee 2-2

Last Game: Concord 58, Bremen 56; Wawasee 70, West Noble 44

Last Year: Bremen 79, Wawasee 70, OT

Matchup: This will be a match between very similar teams. They run similar offenses and have players with similar size and athletic ability. Wawasee looks to big man Andrew Packer to pull down rebounds and score under the basket. In the win over West Noble, Packer scored 20 points, while Beau Brumbaugh had 15 points. However, Wawasee has a balanced offensive attack, and any player on the court has the ability to break out for a high-scoring game. Bremen is reeling from a two-point loss to Concord. Senior guard Kevin Faulstich and his 10 points per game lead Bremen in scoring. Foster Haines leads Bremen in rebounding with 5.0 per game.

Mishler: "Bremen is rebuilding this year, and they have a lot of new players. Defensively they play man, similar to us. This game will be a good test of how well we can play against our own type of team. In athletic ability, they are probably close to us, and their height is similar. The difference in the game will be who takes care of the ball best and who plays the best defense."

Hudson: "Right now we're still getting over the whole Concord mess. We know Wawasee has an excellent player in Packer. He can shoot from the perimeter and inside. They have some good three-point shooters. We are not certain at this point who the good ones are until we watch some more film. Offensively, they really bring it at you. Defensively, they run a full-court press. We will work on performing against the press."

NORTHWOOD AT FAIRFIELD

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Saturday in Goshen

Coaches: Dan Gunn (NorthWood); Scott Miller (Fairfield)

Records: NorthWood 1-0; Fairfield 0-3

Last Game: NorthWood 77, Triton 47; Lakeland 50, Fairfield 31

Last Year: NorthWood 70, Fairfield 66

Matchup: Willy Will, who had 20 points, six rebounds and four steals against Triton, leads NorthWood's offense. Three other Panthers scored in double figures against Triton as well, Ryan Bradley (15), Rory Clouse (14) and Sean Clem(12). Fairfield needs to improve its field goal percentage, which is hovering around 30 percent for the year. Matt Schultz (13 ppg) and Ben Bernaert (9 ppg) lead Fairfield's offense. Bernaert also leads the Fairfield squad with 5.0 rebounds per game.

Gunn: "I only know about Fairfield's players who are left from last year. I know Fairfield lost their center with a broken ankle. They have very good shooters, and they are aggressive. We are working on the usual. We are working to play against different types of full-court defense. We are also working on our offensive timing. Against Triton, I thought our group of young players played aggressive and played well. I thought that game was a great place for us to start the season."

Miller: "NorthWood is an extremely athletic, quick team. They have a strong group of kids, and they had a lot of success against Triton because of their defense. In our three games so far, we have given up 21 turnovers then four turnovers and then 20 turnovers, so we have been real inconsistent. We are struggling at the guard position, and I'm sure that NorthWood will try to key in on that."