On The Court Basketball Previews

WARSAW AT MARION

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

Coaches: Moe Smedley (Marion), Al Rhodes (Warsaw)

Records: Marion 10-5, Warsaw 10-5

Last game: Marion 68, FW Northrop 58; Warsaw 86, FW South Side 50

Last year: Marion 70, Warsaw 62

Matchup: For Marion, 10-5 is a rebuilding season as the Giants graduated four players off of last year's 28-1 state championship team, including current Michigan State 6-foot-8 phenom Zach Randolph. The lone returner is 6-4 junior forward Allen "Deuce" Miller. Other key players include 5-8 junior point guard Isaac McClung, 6-9 junior Kevin Cates, 5-10 senior Josh Peters and 6-2 senior Ian Swyers. Miller leads the Giant scoring attack with his 16 ppg. Kevin Case leads Marion with 8.5 rebounds per game. These two teams met last year, and Warsaw hosted and lost to Marion, then No. 1 in the state and No. 3 in the USA, 70-62. The two teams met again in the semistate championship, and Marion won 51-38. Warsaw shoots 51 percent from the field, outrebounds opponents 28.7-20.9 and is outscoring its opponents by an average of 62.3-52.6.

Rhodes: "Marion doesn't play [tonight], so playing a Marion team with fresh legs at Marion is not a good place to go to. We've designed the month of February to be challenging with four road games, and this starts it. We will be playing quality teams on their home floors, and that's what it will take to win sectional, beating Elkhart Central on its home floor. Marion still has a very capable center, 6-9 [Cates]. He will be difficult for us. We don't have that size. Deuce Miller is an excellent player, and their point guard is back. They still run the same things, 1-2-2 and 2-3 matchup zone. They have played up and down like us this season, but they play a tougher schedule than us as well. We will have to play our best game of the year to have a chance to win at Bill Green Arena."

Smedley: "[Warsaw is] what I call a well-coached team. I saw them play NorthWood Friday. They've got intense defense and I like their unselfish players. We will try to work against the press, the half-court zone and the half-court man-to-man. We will also work on rebounding. The key to this game will be capturing the boards and keeping turnovers down."

OAK HILL AT TIPPECANOE VALLEY (TRC)

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

Coaches: Flava Sirk (Oak Hill); Bill Patrick (Valley)

Records: Oak Hill 9-4, 4-1 TRC; Valley 10-4, 4-1 TRC

Last game: Oak Hill 91, Peru 72; Valley 68, Manchester 61

Last year: Valley 86, Oak Hill 74

Matchup: This game will go a long way in deciding the TRC champion as Oak Hill and Tippecanoe Valley are tied for first with 4-1 records. After this game, each team has one conference game left. Valley is at North Miami on Feb. 9, and Oak Hill hosts Rochester on Feb. 9. Oak Hill plays up-tempo, full-court offensively and defensively. Oak Hill's offense has clicked the last three games, a 93-63 win against North Miami, an 87-57 win against Whitko and a 91-72 win against Peru, all at home. Oak Hill's losses are 58-55 at No. 2 (2A) 12-1 Lewis Cass (Nov. 22), 80-72 at home against 10-4 Maconaquah (Dec. 9), 66-54 at 10-5 Marion (Dec. 29) and 70-59 at 8-6 Manchester (Jan. 12). Oak Hill's Marcus Hall and Tippecanoe Valley's Cody New lead the TRC in scoring and rebounding. New averages 23.7 points per game, while Hall tosses in 21.9 ppg. Hall's 8.5 rebounds per game is second in the TRC only to New, who pulls down 9.0 rpg. Ty Henderson adds 17.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.8 steals per game for the Golden Eagles.

Sirk: "I know coach Patrick will have his team prepared for the game. This is a huge conference game. The winner will win the conference, in all likelihood. Valley throws a lot of defenses at you, and since we're going up there, we'll have to play very well to win. We will need to make sure the get the ball in to Marcus and try to establish an inside game. Hopefully against the zone, we will be able to get some outside shots."

Patrick: "Oak Hill is definitely loaded with talent. I haven't seen anyone else around here loaded with as much talent in a while. I don't know how they've lost four games. They press, play fullcourt, play up-tempo. They want to get the basketball and penetrate to the basket. If we're gonna compete with them, we have to be selective in the shots we take and rebound well. They have been creating a lot of turnovers with their press. They don't want to play half-court defense, they want to score off their press. If we can get them into a half-court game, they have weaknesses, and they might get a little impatient. I'm not saying we're going to stall, but we need to keep the score in the 60s. This won't decide [the TRC race] by any stretch. We still have to play at North Miami, and they have to play Rochester."

WHITKO AT NORTH MIAMI (TRC)

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

Coaches: Steve Pickett (Whitko); John Burrus (North Miami)

Records: Whitko 7-7, 2-3 TRC; North Miami 6-7, 2-3 TRC

Last game: Taylor 63, North Miami 61; Bishop Dwenger 59, Whitko 58

Last year: Whitko 83, North Miami 65

Matchup: This is a battle of very similar teams who are coming off close mid-week losses. Whitko looks to rebound from its one-point loss to Dwenger Tuesday night. Alex Frantz (15.2 ppg), Josh Hoffman (13.8 ppg) and Adam Wendel (10.6 ppg) lead Whitko in scoring. Frantz and Hoffman also lead Whitko in rebounding with 7.0 rpg and 5.9 rpg, respectively. Against Dwenger, Wendel broke out for 20 points, while Frantz added 16. North Miami is coming off a two-point Tuesday night loss to Taylor. Matt Deeds leads the Warriors in the scoring column 13.3 ppg, while Brandon Fouts chips in 12.2 ppg. Deeds and Matt Mavrick lead the North Miami rebounding corps with 6.6 and 5.9 rpg, respectively.

Pickett: "First, North Miami is a very talented team, especially offensively. They do not hesitate to shoot the three-ball. Deeds is a post player, but he can step outside and shoot the three. They are very, very talented, and they have a host of players who can score. Coach Burrus has the team ready, and now they are believing. We've been working on taking our defense to the perimeter and blocking out. We have also worked on the long rebounds because deep shots have a tendency to come back hard off the rim. This will not be an easy game. North Miami presents a number of problems."

Burrus: "We feel Whitko is very comparable to us. If you look at our scores against common opponents, we are almost identical. We feel like we are on a collision course with them in this game. Whitko is a well-balanced team. They have Hoffman inside and Wendel outside. Wendel brings a lot of experience to their team, and throw Frantz in there, too. They have a lot of weapons, and they are a very diversified team. This time of year, we really focus in on what we do, especially defensively. We are a zone team, and there's no secret we are a zone team. We want to be sure to find their good shooters and be tougher in the post with Hoffman and Frantz. Whitko is not really a three-point shooting team, they like to pound it inside and crash the offensive boards. We need our inside players to be ready against Whitko."

CONCORD AT NORTHWOOD (NLC)

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

Coaches: Ryan Culp (Concrod); Dan Gunn (NorthWood)

Records: Concord 8-6, 2-3 NLC; NorthWood 8-4, 3-2 NLC

Last game: Concord 76, Wawasee 65; NorthWood 76, West Noble 58

Last year: NorthWood 88, Concord 65

Matchup: Concord is coming off a Northern Lakes Conference win over Wawasee. However, the center of the Concord squad, John Morningstar, is still questionable with an injury. Before his injury, Morningstar averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds per game. Matt Rider and Tom Martin score around 10 points per game and pull down two to three rebounds per contest for Concord. NorthWood is coming off wins over West Noble and Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw. The Panthers look to three players for much of their scoring -ÊWilly Will, Rory Clouse and Ryan Bradley. Clouse leads NorthWood with 15.7 ppg, while Bradley adds 14.5 and Will 12.9. Clouse also leads the Panthers in rebounding with 5.9,

while Will pulls down 5.0 rpg.

Culp:Ê"NorthWood is very physical and athletic. They are a pretty good shooting team, and they play aggressive. I just think that we need to understand offensively that we need to take care of the ball. Defensively, we need to stay low inside."

Gunn: "I'm not sure if Morningstar will play, but when he is in the game he makes a big difference. Concord is very athletic. (Jeremy) Lugbill and (Tom) Martin are playing well. Martin is a good outside shooter, while Lugbill is a good penetrator. Concord has quite a few talented players. I certainly think the attitude we take toward playing them will be very important. We need to remember that they are an NLC opponent and even without Morningstar they have a talented team. We need to work on the kinds of things that help all coaches win: rebounding and good shot selection."

NORTHRIDGE AT WAWASEE (NLC)

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

Coaches: Steve Austin (Northridge), Phil Mishler (Wawasee)

Records: Northridge 6-9, 1-4 NLC; Wawasee 3-11, 0-5 NLC

Last game: Fairfield 53, Northridge 48; Concord 76, Wawasee 65

Last year: Northridge 74, Wawasee 57

Matchup: Not only would a win over Northridge Saturday stop Wawasee's nine-game losing streak, it would also give the Warriors their first Northern Lakes Conference win. At 0-5, Wawasee is the only NLC team without a conference win. But if Wawasee matches up well against a team in the NLC, it would be Northridge at 1-4. Northridge enters after a five-point loss to Fairfield and has dropped four in a row, six of its last seven. Sophomore forward Matt Crawford leads the Raider offense with 11.2 points per game. Eight Raiders average between three and eight ppg. Freshman center Eric Eaton averages five boards per game. Senior center Andrew Packer leads Wawasee in scoring with his 11.9 ppg. In 14 games he has scored 166 points. Senior Scott Beasley is the only other Warrior to score over 100 points this year, having tallied 112 and averging 8.0 per game.

Austin: "Wawasee is a very young team, so they'll probably try and do a lot of different things. They've got the attitude that they have nothing to lose. We've been struggling ourselves, so we can't let them get any confidence. For us, rebounding and taking care of the ball will be key. We can't let Packer get started inside, and then we have to rebound and take care of the ball. We've got to get to the point where we're not worried about what they do but what we do."

Mishler: "Northridge's inexperience will help our matchup. They're a young team but they shoot well from the outside. We have to make sure we keep the ball in front #of us defensively. With our situation, where we're at, we're really concentrating on mental toughness. That's been our problem."

NORTHFIELD AT MANCHESTER (TRC)

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

Coaches: Brian Tonsoni (Northfield), Gary Goshert (Manchester)

Records: Northfield 2-11, 0-5 TRC; Manchester 7-7, 3-2 TRC

Last game: Rochester 74, Northfield 64; Tippecanoe Valley 68, Manchester 61

Last year: Manchester 74, Northfield 46

Matchup: Manchester is 3-2 in the TRC and one loss removed from being tied for first, while Northfield is searching for its first conference win of the year. A week ago, Tippecanoe Valley, Manchester, Oak Hill and Southwood all entered 3-1 in the TRC. A Valley win over Manchester and North Miami's upset of Southwood leave Valley and Oak Hill atop the conference. Those teams will meet Saturday night. Northfield enters after a 10-point loss to TRC opponent Rochester and is on a five-game losing streak. Manchester comes in losing two of its last three. Anthony Frieden leads the Squires in scoring at 11.6 ppg, while Nate Kerr adds 10.6. Kerr leads the team in rebounds with 5.6 per game. Five-foot-10 junior guard Richie Sherman is coming off a career-high 18-point performance against Rochester and averages nine ppg for Northfield. Six-foot-5 senior Kyle Merrick leads the Norse with 16.6 points and 8.3 rpg, while sophomore brother Josh adds 10 points and 5.6 boards.

Tonsoni: "People say it's a tough place to play, but we're gonna treat it like another game. We have to worry about ourselves. If it were a tournament game we would look at it differently. We've lost six games by 10 points or less. We have an extremely young team, we have two sophomores and a freshman getting major minutes. We've lost games by three, five, seven. We've had stretches of two or three minutes where we've given up bigger runs than we were able to make. The key for us is to play with intensity for 32 minutes."

Goshert: "Northfield is a team that has played some very good basketball. They're a team that has improved as the weeks have gone on. They are a very hungry team, and this is a TRC battle so the records can be thrown out. Just like all the other TRC games, this is gonna be knock-down, drag-out for four quarters. Kyle Merrick is a senior for them, and it seems like he's been there forever. His brother Josh is in his second varsity season and he's only a sophomore. They also have a freshman named Nathan Culver that plays a lot for them. Richie Sherman can really light it up from the arc, and he's good at driving to the basket and shooting off the dribble. They're a team that's getting better and is extremely hungry."

TRITON AT LAVILLE (NSC)

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

Coaches: Joe Bennett (Triton), Doug Reid (LaVille)

Records: Triton 9-4, 3-1 NSC; LaVille 3-9, 1-3 NSC

Last game: Triton 59, Argos 57 OT; LaVille 79, Culver 78

Last year: Triton 80, LaVille 45

Matchup: These two teams played earlier this year in the consolation round of the Caston Tournament. Triton won that game 90-75 and completely dominated the Lancers on the boards. LaVille is coming its only win in the Northern State Conference, a 79-78 triumph over Culver. Triton enters after a thrilling 59-57 overtime win over Marshall County rival Argos Tuesday. Triton's advantage is in the post with seniors Jim Read and Joey Potter. The 6-4 Read averages 11 points and six rpg, while the 6-3 Potter adds eight points and five rebounds. Todd Blackford adds nine for Triton, while Steven Boyer and Jake Burnett both chip in with eight. LaVille has two players at 6-1, players that coach Doug Reid says are really just a tall six-foot. Kyle Amor, a 6-1 junior guard leads LaVille with 20 ppg, while 5-11 Casey Shipley, the teams' only senior, chips in with 13.5 points.

Bennett: "LaVille is team that has been making improving strides. They've been doing a good job handling the ball. They're a little bit smaller than us, but they're quicker than us. I think rebounding is an important facet of the game no matter what game it is. It's very similar to our games with Argos and Bethany Christian, how well we handle their penetration. Argos was a win, we were happy to get a win but we weren't happy with our execution. We won, but it wasn't like we played our best game."

Reid: "We've really been working hard some areas, because we don't have the size Triton does. Our tallest guy is a tall six-foot. We've got some pretty good quickness. We don't have a strength in the post, but we have some quickness. We played them earlier in the year in the consolation game of a holiday tournament, and they beat us up and down the floor as a team and outrebounded us considerably. It never was a real ballgame, I think it was 28-10 after the first quarter. The other three quarters we played even with them or maybe even better, so we have to get off to a good start. They go about nine or 10 deep, and right now we go six deep and then have to borrow some JV players."