On The Court Basketball Previews

No. 1 (4A) MARION AT WARSAW

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

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

Records: Marion 15-0; Warsaw 10-3

Last Game: Marion 86, Lafayette Jefferson 47; Warsaw 42, Concord 39

Last Year: Marion 73, Warsaw 41

Matchup: Marion comes into Warsaw with a 15-0 record and a No. 3 national ranking. The Giants will look to Zach Randolph, who averages 23.4 points and 16 rebounds per game. Allen Miller adds 11.8 points per game while teammate Matt Backs chips in 11.6. Todd Chin scores 8.7 point per game for the Marion squad. Warsaw will look to fill the space left by big-man Steve Siebenmorgen, who is still questionable for this weekend. The Tigers will look to Chris Wiggins and his 13.1 points per game and Zach Nelson and his 11.4 points per game to lead the offensive attack. Nelson also leads the Warsaw squad by pulling down 5.4 rebounds per game.

Smedley: "Warsaw is a good team. The big kid (Siebenmorgen) has missed a couple games with an injury. Wiggins is one of their go-to guys. They are a well-disciplined team. They shoot well from the field and the free throw line. They rebound well and take care of the ball. The key to this game will probably be rebounding."

Rhodes: "I think you have to battle Zach, but if you concentrate on him too much, things open up for other players. It's important to have quality ball movement and player movement against their matchup zone. We need to create inside opportunities. Somehow, you have to get inside the matchup zone. The easiest way to do that is sharp passing of the basketball."

MANCHESTER AT TIPPECANOE VALLEY

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

Coaches: Gary Goshert (Manchester), Bill Patrick (Valley)

Records: Manchester 6-6, 4-1 TRC; Valley 10-3, 5-0 TRC

Last Game: Carroll 65, Manchester 51; Tippecanoe Valley 70, Rochester 62

Last Year: Manchester 84, Valley 49

Matchup: This is a huge Three Rivers Conference matchup. With a win, Valley secures at least a portion of the TRC crown. If Manchester comes out on top, they will still be alive in the TRC race as well. Manchester will look to Lee Shafer to lead the Squire scoring attack. He averages 13.8 points per game overall, but that figure jumps to 14 per game in conference matchups. Shafer also pulls down 5.8 rebounds per game. David Bazzoni chips in 10.6 points and dishes out 5.1 assists per game for the Squires. Valley will look to Brandon Eaton to lead the Viking offensive and defensive attacks. He averages 21.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game. Noah Silveus and Anthony Domenico lead the Vikings in assists, dishing out 4.5 per game.

Goshert: "Valley is having a good season. They are leading the conference. They have not lost a game in the TRC and they only have two conference games left. That puts them in control of their own destiny. Valley is an excellent basketball team. They have good depth, and good basketball players who are led by Brandon Eaton. They are a good free throw shooting team. They are also a team that is difficult to defend. The key for us will be to control Brandon Eaton and not let their size inside hurt us."

Patrick: "Manchester has lost only one game in the conference, and we haven't lost any. If we win Friday, we will be guaranteed at least a share of the conference title. They have been sort of up and down all season. They started out by beating Southwood and Oak Hill, and they played well in the first part of the season. Other than the North Miami game, they have played pretty well. North Miami was their first conference loss in 22 or 23 games, so we know they play well in conference games. Manchester beat us very badly, we didn't even show up. It was the worst game we played all season. Turnovers will be a big factor in this game. Rebounding will be important for us. We outrebounded Rochester last week, but rebounding has been a sore spot for us this year."

TRITON AT NEW PRAIRIE

Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Friday in New Carlisle

Coaches: Joe Bennett (Triton), Jim Parent (New Prairie)

Records: Triton 6-6, 2-2 NSC; New Prairie 5-6, 1-1

Last Game: Triton 74, Rochester 66; Bremen 53, New Prairie 47

Last Year: Triton 65, New Prairie 53

Matchup: The Triton Trojans will be looking to get back into a regular schedule after playing Rochester Wednesday and New Prairie Friday. The Trojans will look to Brandon Zeider to lead the scoring and rebounding attacks. He averages 18.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Only Brian Klingerman pulls down more boards than Zeider with 6.0 per game. Joey Potter adds 8.1 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Trojans as well. Jason Gilpin leads New Prairie with his 17 points per game average. Justin Strefling and John Rhine added 13 and nine points per game, respectively. Strefling pulls down an average of eight rebounds per game, Rhine adds seven.

Bennett: "New Prairie has some experience and some good players at the post. They do a lot of things well, including running the motion offense. We want to be able to defend them. The key in this game will be rebounding. The team that controls the offensive boards will greatly increase their chances of success."

Parent: "Obviously they are well coached. Defensively, Joe (Bennett) believes as (NorthWood coach Dan) Gunn does. (Austin) Unterbrink's been there for 16 years it seems like. There's a whole bunch of them that can score, that's why they're good. They took Bremen down to the wire. They've also been close with some other schools."

NORTHWOOD AT PLYMOUTH

Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Friday in Plymouth

Coaches: Dan Gunn (NorthWood), Jack Edison (Plymouth)

Records: NorthWood 10-2, 3-0 NLC; Plymouth 10-3, 2-1 NLC.

Last Game: NorthWood 65, E. Memorial 55; Plymouth 49, Northridge 46 OT

Last Year: NorthWood 60, Plymouth 40

Matchup: The NorthWood Panthers stand alone at the top of the Northern Lakes Conference with a 3-0 record. However, Plymouth could even the field by defeating the Panthers Friday night. Brock Doty and Charlie Roeder hope to eliminate the Pilgrims from the NLC race by leading the NorthWood scoring drive with their 18.2 and 18.1 points, respectively. Rory Clouse leads the Panthers in rebounds with 8.1 per game. Plymouth is coming off a big overtime win against Northridge last Friday. The Pilgrims will look to leading scorer John Pettibone to lead the offensive attack. Plymouth will also look to Kevin Stuckmeyer and Brent Houin to help in the scoring effort. Jeremy Blubaugh is another Plymouth player to watch.

Gunn: "Plymouth is a solid defensive team, and they are offensively patient. They are also fundamentally sound. They are coming off a big win over Northridge at home last week, so I am sure they will be a tough opponent. Pettibone shoots well from outside, and Houin played well last week as well. They are a good team, and of course they are coached by 'The Master' (Jack Edison). Rebounding is always a key to the game, and turnovers will be an important factor as well."

Edison: "This is our second in a row against a top 20 team in the state. In fact we'll have four in a row against teams in the top 21 in the state with Northridge last week, NorthWood and Laporte this week and Warsaw coming up next week. NorthWood beat us pretty bad last year, by 15 or 20 points. They are playing extremely well, and they are hitting on all five cylinders. They are very strong physically and the best rebounding team we have faced. All their players shoot well, and they all play like guards. They play a great transition game and score a lot off of that transition game. They are well balanced so you can't key on any one player. This will be our toughest matchup to date."