Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WARSAW AT MARION
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m Friday in Marion
Coaches: Moe Smedley (Marion), Al Rhodes (Warsaw)
Records: Marion 9-3; Warsaw 12-1
Last game: Marion 61, Laff. Jeff 48; Warsaw 79, South Bend Adams 72
Last year: Marion 51, Warsaw 50
Matchup: Warsaw has never won a game in Marion's Bill Green Arena ... Steve Siebenmorgen leads the Tiger scoring attack, averaging 14.3 points per game and grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game ... Zach Nelson comes in just behind Siebenmorgen with 13.5 points per game while pulling down 5.8 rebounds for Warsaw ... Chris Wiggins adds 12.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals ... The Kesler brothers, Rob and Ross add to the Warsaw team in rebounding, assists, and steals - Ross pulls down 3.1 rebounds and dishes out 3.4 assists while Rob dishes out 3.4 assists and nabs 2.0 steals per game for Warsaw ... The Giants are led by Zach Randolph's 25.1 points and 15.2 points per game.
Rhodes: "(Zach) Randolph is the key to their team. He averages 25 points and 15 or 16 rebounds per game. It is important fo us to battle him for everything he gets at the offensive end and that we don't allow him to dominate the defensive board. We must battle him every way we can. The hard part is doing that without making somebody else an All-American. Every time Steve Siebenmorgen has gone head-to-head against him, he has done a good job. We will probably rotate three players on him - Siebenmorgen, Zach Nelson and Tom Donkers. The main thing we have to do is beat their matchup zone and beat their half-court traps. We've been pretty strong against both. We're a good passing team. The key for us is getting more than one shot at our end enough times to win the game. I would say Marion is the best team we will have played so far."
James Blackmon (Asst. Coach): "I'm not sure how many returners they have, but we traveled there last year and it was a close game. They have good perimeter players and strong men down in the post. I don't think we'll do anything different as far as our game plan goes, and we'll start with the same defense. We know we will need to control the tempo of the game and keep our big men from getting into foul trouble."
VALLEY AT MANCHESTER
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Friday in North Manchester
Coaches: Bill Patrick (Valley) Gary Goshert (Manchester)
Records: Valley 10-3, 4-0 TRC; Manchester 9-3, 4-0 TRC
Last game: Valley 86, SB Washington 76; Manchester 92, Manchester 69
Last year: Manchester 46, Valley 39
Matchup: With both teams undefeated in the Three Rivers Conference, this game will more than likely be the deciding factor for the TRC championship title ... Manchester's big gun, Eric Swan, leads Squires in scoring with 19.4 points per game, rebounding with 6.2 per game ... Swan also averages 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game for Manchester ... Rex Reimer leads the Squires in assists with 4.3 per game and adds 11.3 points and 1.8 steals per game ... Chris Betten pulls down 5.3 rebounds and dishes out 1.3 assists per game while scoring 7.0 points per game ... Brandon Eaton leads the Valley scoring drive with 15.6 points per game and adds 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.7 steals per game ... With 15.2 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.2 steals per game, Jarvis Shepherd is another Viking leader ... Eric Prater averages 6.1 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game for Valley.
Goshert: "Valley is a team that is on a big upward tick. They have won five or six in a row, and they are playing well lately. They are also shooting well, and that is always a big plus. They are doing a lot of things well plus they are shooting the basketball, and those are both reasons for their success the whole season. They have a lot of offensive weapons and they rebound well while playing solid defense. If you talk about Jarvis Shepherd and Brandon Eaton, they are very good shooters. They also have good shooters in Noah Silveus, Cody New, and Dax Snyder, who lend support offensively. Defensively, Prater is the guts of the team. He's a tough, strong, hard-nosed kid who rebounds extremely well. This is an important game because neither team has lost in the TRC. We played two quality teams last weekend, and we will try to bounce back and win a couple this weekend."
Patrick: "Manchester is 4-0 in the conference, and they have one of the best if not the best player in the conference in Eric Swan. He's 6-4, shoots the ball well, has quickness and goes to the basket. Michael Hendrix and Rex Reimer both start at the other guard positions. Reimer is one of the quickest players in the conference. Swan scores about 20 or 30 almost every game, and Reimer is capable of scoring 20 in a big game. Chris Betten has improved from the beginning of the year also. Manchester also has threee of four players that come in off the bench to give them depth. They also play solid defense. The big key for us in this game is defense. We let up on defense on Friday and Saturday against Rochester and Washington but we were able to pull out wins. Against Manchester, solid defense will be very important. Rebounding will be another key issue. We will also need to be able to handle their different defenses and adjust to them."
WHITKO AT WAWASEE
Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. in Syracuse
Coaches: Fred Fields (Whitko), Jerry Davis (Wawasee)
Records: Whitko 5-6, 0-12
Last game: Fort Wayne North Side 93, Whitko 33; Plymouth 63, Wawasee 47
Last year: Whitko 49, Wawasee 46
Matchup: Whitko will try to recover from a 30-point loss to Fort Wayne North Side Saturday as Wawasee tries to capture that ever-elusive first win ... Ben Mohr leads the Wildcat scoring with 16.5 points, grabbing 2.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.5 steals per game ... Joe Grant pulls down an average of 6.7 rebounds and scores 7.6 points per game ... Ben Ryan adds 12.6 points 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.2 steals per game ... For the Warriors, Andrew Warner leads the scoring drive with 12.7 points per game and pulls down 4.3 rebounds per game ... R.J. Wilson chips in 9.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.2 steals per game for Wawasee ... Jeremy High pulls down an average of 5.8 rebounds, and adds 9.4 points, 3.1 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.
Davis: "I think right now Whitko is relying very heavily on Ben Mohr. He is an aggressive offensive threat and has become their go-to guy. He will obviously get a lot of attention from our defense. They do some offensive sets and use some back screens that a lot of other schools don't use, so we will have to adjust to that. Wawasee needs to come out with the intensity that we showed in our last three games. Those three games were NLC matchups, but we will need to use the same intensity and focus against Whitko."
Fields: "Our biggest concern right now is our injury and illness situation. We have four of our top seven people injured or ill. Obviously they do a lot of things very well. The big kid inside (Warner) is tough to handle, and they're agressive. We'll be able to matchup with them except for the center position. We have to get good play from some of our JV kids. Shane Henderson has a bad ankle, Ben Mohr has a knee or thigh bruise and Joe Grant and Ben Ryan have missed school because of illness."
NEW PRAIRIE AT TRITON
Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. in Bourbon
Coaches: Jim Parent (New Prairie), Joe Bennett (Triton)
Records: Triton 5-5, New Prairie 2-8
Last game: Rochester 86, Triton 69; Oregon-Davis 42, New Prairie 40 OT
Last year: New Prairie 64, Triton 50
Matchup: This will be a hard-fought Northern State Conference (NSC) battle ... Triton will look to Matt Savill who averages 13.6 points per game to lead the Trojan scoring attack ... Brandon Zeider adds 11.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game to the Triton effort while Austin Unterbrink dishes out an average of 3.7 assists per game ... Jim Read leads the Trojans in rebounding, pullig down 3.9 per Triton game ... New Prairie's scoring attack is led by Jason Gilpin's near 14 ppg. average.
Bennett: "New Prairie is very well coached , and they play a zone defense. They have a couple of young, inexperienced players inside, but then they also have some experienced perimeter players, and Gilpin is one of them. I think we will have to play defense better than we did against Rochester. We'll try to limit them to just one shot per possession. Then we will have to be selective and execute with the ball on every possession. We also need to cut down turnovers and handle the ball against their pressure."
Parent: "Joe (Bennett) has done a great job with them as a first year coach. Every time they play they look like a Dan Gunn protige. They're all over you on defense, they don't give you much room. They're a good basketball team. We can't have as many turnovers as we've had. Against Oregon-Davis in the Bi-County Tournament we had 25 turnovers and they (Oregon-Davis) is not nearly as defense oriented as Triton. We only shoot 39 percent on the year. Combine that with 25 turnovers and you won't win very many."
PLYMOUTH AT NORTHWOOD
Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Nappanee
Coaches: Jack Edison (Plymouth), Dan Gunn (NorthWood)
Records: Plymouth 11-1, 2-1 NLC; NorthWood
Last game: Plymouth 63, Wawasee 47; Elkhart Memorial 53, NorthWood 44
Last year: Plymouth 50, NorthWood 36
Matchup: NorthWood is led by Darin Nunemaker, who averages 13.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 assists per game ... Charlie Roeder averages 8.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game ... With 6.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game, Ian Reed is another Panther leader ... Plymouth's second-leading scorer and rebounder, Nick Chaney, is still questionable after being diagnosed with mono.
Edison: "NorthWood's team is really coming together now. I've seen them play twice, and this is a typical NorthWood team. They are hard-working, aggressive, intense team, and this game will be a battle from beginning to end. They execute well offensively. They keep your offense off-balance and defensively, they don't give an inch. You have to earn everything against them. The first key to this game will be turnovers and handling the ball. The second thing will be transition defense. They play the fast break well, and we will need to be able to get into the defensive mode quickly."
Gunn: "This is kind of a typical Plymouth team. They have good size, and Joel Grindle is a good player. Right now he is the key to their team. We will need to limit Grindle's possessions. Schrader shoots 48 percent from the three-point area and is a force for them outside. All of Plymouth's players rebound offensively and defensively, and they are well coached. In order to beat them, we will need to play well ourselves. We will need to limit Schrader's shots, and guard him as closely as possible. Rebounding, of course, is always a big item in a basketball game."
