On The Court

VALPARAISO AT WARSAW

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at the Tiger Den

Coaches: Bob Punter (Valparaiso), Al Rhodes (Warsaw)

Records: Valparaiso 2-0, Warsaw 2-0

Last game: Valparaiso 86, Highland 57; Warsaw 73, Columbia City 65 (OT)

Matchup: A new addition to the schedule last year, Valpo won the first installment of the series in a game that most Warsaw fans would like to forget. But this Warsaw team is a different squad and showed a lot of character in rallying and winning against a tough Columbia City team Saturday. Valparaiso is led this year in scoring by Brian Phillips at 20 points per game, and Joe Nixon with 19 points per game is second. Darren Kahl averaged 17.5 points last year, but is at just 11 so far this year. For Warsaw, Chris Wiggins is at 13.5 points a game and Luke Reed 13.

Punter: We're doing pretty well right now. We've won both of our games easily, but they weren't against real quality opponents ... (Andy) Plank and (Luke) Reed will be the players that we probably key on. We need to play with composure. That is a hostile crowd and it's usually a full house. We've got a tough game tonight against Gary Roosevelt so we won't be rested at all. Darren Kahl is third on our team in scoring. He was our leading scorer last year, but he's making the transition from football so we'd like to see him do a little bit more this week."

Rhodes: "Last year, we had a very poor performance against them. I hope we play better. With them being basically a new team on the schedule, we would hate for them to think that we play that poorly every game. They have a lot of the same players from last year. I just don't know if we can stay with them on the boards. (Darren) Kahl is probably an all-state player in basketball and football. We have our hands full with him. ... We don't have a 30-point a game scorer or anything; we have to look for three or four double-figure scorers. We have to look at the team we are playing and try to find a weakness and try to exploit that. Because of our balance and team depth, that is a possible situation. A big factor in both our games is the fact that we have four post men, and the other team has two or three. Fatigue in the middle and foul trouble has been a big factor. We hope that pattern continues."

WAWASEE AT DEKALB

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Waterloo

Coaches: Jerry Davis (Wawasee), Cliff Hawkins (DeKalb)

Records: Wawasee 0-2, DeKalb 0-1

Last game: Elkhart Central 56, Wawasee 52; Northrop 37, DeKalb 35 (OT)

Matchup: No team can afford to lose a Mr. Basketball/Indiana University player named Luke Recker like DeKalb did, but if any team can overcome such a loss, it may be the Barons. They have two players they're touting for 1998 All-Star honors, 6-11 center Jan Thompson and 6-3 guard Jimmy Long. Besides those two, the Barons have 6-7 forward (Dave Baughman), a 6-6 forward (John Watkins), a 6-4 center (Aaron Kock), a 6-3 forward (Andy Howard) and a 6-3 guard (Jonathan Knowles).

Davis: "Right now, we've improved from one week to the next. We would have liked to have been 2-0, but we're not. We've got a great attitude ... (DeKalb's) big. Thompson is 6-11. His overall presence is something to contend with. They have a 6-7 swingman. Their best athlete is probably Long. He goes to the boards well. We've got to shoot the ball well. That neutralizes the rebounding. We need to do a good job blocking out."

Hawkins: "We're still developing. This is a team trying to learn to play without Luke Recker and we have to make some adjustments ... We need to control Wawasee's inside game, along with (Jared) Mahnensmith. We've worked on some that they'll try to do, but we take it one game at a time and we play tonight (Friday). They don't, so that's a big advantage for them."

WHITKO AT CENTRAL NOBLE

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Albion

Coaches: Fred Fields (Whitko), Paul Baker (Central Noble)

Records: Whitko 0-2, Central Noble 1-0

Last game: Homestead 64, Whitko 48; Central Noble 49, East Noble 36

Matchup: This is a matchup of opposites. Central Noble's strength is its perimeter shooters; Whitko's strength is its post players. Central Noble has two key veterans in Ryan Bricker and Mike Jacob. The 6-2 Bricker tallied 16 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 3.0 apg last year, while teammate Mike Jacob added 9 ppg and 6.1 apg. Central Noble's win over East Noble last week was its first against the Knights in over 20 years.

Fields: "(Central Noble) has a lot of players back. This should be one of (Central Noble's) better teams. They have people who can really shoot the ball ... We saw lots of improvement, in some areas more than we anticipated. We're still a month away from being a viable basketball team. We got better from week one to week two, but we're not close to where we need to be."

Baker: "Obviously I've seen the state championship teams (Fields) has coached at Huntington North. His kids like to push the ball, and they play multiple defenses. I think (Whitko's) pretty physical and has a pretty strong presence inside. We're terrifically overmatched inside in this game. Whitko has good strength in the post ... We're just not tall. Rebounding will be a big key for us every game. We have to try to keep Whitko's big kids off the board. I think we have some kids who can shoot, and we have some pretty good guard play. That's probably one of our strengths."

NORTH MIAMI AT VALLEY

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Mentone

Coaches: Bill Torgerson (North Miami), Gregg Sciarra (T. Valley)

Records: North Miami 2-0, 0-0 TRC; Tippecanoe Valley 0-1, 0-0 TRC

Last game: North Miami 79, Culver 34; Warsaw 62, T. Valley 51

Matchup: North Miami 2-0? Better believe it. The two teams the Warriors have beaten are Culver and Wabash, but they pounded them. They drilled Wabash 73-56 to open the season, then pasted Culver by 45. The Warriors have the scorers. Big scorer Kenny Hanson, a 5-11 junior, returns. He averaged 16 ppg last year and is at 25 ppg this year. Six-two senior forward Nick Cain adds 14.5 ppg. They have the defenders. B.J. Edwards, a starting fullback on North Miami's football team, went out for the basketball team this year. Torgerson already considers him the best defensive player.

Torgerson: "Valley has given us trouble in the past with the down screens. They usually play a 1-3-1 zone defense. Our motion offense depends on players coming off the screens, and Valley has given us trouble there in the past. What we need to do is read their defense better and get the ball where it needs to go ... I think the reason we're 2-0 and have hopes for a good year is because our defense is better than I thought it would be. We have three guys who are good at stopping dribble penetration. That's the first time I've had that in four years here. We have kids who can contain the basketball. B.J. Edwards came out this year, and he's a guy we can stick on the other team's best player."

Sciarra: "North Miami plays hard. The Hanson kid is good player. The Cain kid is a good player. Their main focus is with Hanson. He's mainly a shooter, and he averaged 20 points a game last year. Edwards is a pretty good defensive player. This is the best their team has been in a while."

LAVILLE AT TRITON

Tipoff: 8 p.m. at Bourbon

Coaches: Jody Martinez (LaVille), Kevin O'Rourke (Triton)

Records: LaVille 0-1, 0-0 NSC; Triton 0-0, 0-0 NSC

Last game: Plymouth 94, LaVille 33; Triton did not play

Matchup: How Triton does this year - the Trojans graduated four starters off a 16-6 team - depends on two things, O'Rourke says. Number one is rebounding the basketball, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Number two is interior defense. At times Triton may have to commit two or even three players to guard the post, and this will only open up other areas for other teams. LaVille committed 33 turnovers and allowed 22 offensive rebounds to Plymouth, 55 possessions the Lancers didn't control.

Martinez: "Going by last year's team, Triton has a system that's uptempo and has players pushing the ball upcourt. Triton plays good halfcourt defense. We have players who are very inexperienced. We lost all our starters from last year. We hope to be patient and get Triton tired from playing defense. If we're patient on offense and control the clock, the game will be decided in the fourth quarter."

O'Rourke: "Jody did an outstanding job with LaVille last year. They went 11-11. They did lost quite a bit, but they should be better than people expect. They shot the ball decent but had too many turnovers against Plymouth. If we don't force them into those turnovers and allow them to play a half-court game, they could be a pretty good team ... Like last year, we have an abundance of kids who play the perimeter position. We lack size, but also like last year, we're fundamentally sound. We shoot the ball well and handle the ball well. We shoot free throws well. If we play solid post defense, as the game goes on, it will be an advantage to our kids because our conditioning and ability to shoot and handle the basketball."