On The Court Basketball Previews

CONCORD AT WARSAW

Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Warsaw

Coaches: Ron Dietz (Concord), Al Rhodes (Warsaw)

Records: Concord 2-7, 0-3 NLC; Warsaw 10-1, 4-0 NLC

Last game: Concord 52, S.B. St. Joe 42; Warsaw 65, NorthWood 51

Last year: Warsaw 67, Concord 60

Matchup: With a win, the Tigers would be one win away from another NLC crown ... Junior Steve Siebenmorgen leads Warsaw's scoring attack with an average of 14.6 points per game ... Chris Wiggins and Zach Nelson chip in nearly 12 points per game ... Travis Carter paces the Minutemen with 10 points per game.

Dietz: "I think right away Warsaw is a very fundamentally sound team. They're the best team we'll probably run into. They have a strong inside game and good quickness with the Kesler kids (Rob, Ross), and then there's Chris Wiggins. The way they're able to rotate their depth is a concern. For us to be successful we have to hang on to the ball and limit turnovers. We can't give away opportunities and let them control the boards."

Rhodes: "Concord is trying to mix young players in with older players. For whatever reason, they have not been able to sort their team out. Their starting lineup changes often, so it makes it difficult to prepare for them. We've seen them five times and seen five different teams. They've made a lot of changes with their offense. I believe they have had a couple of players suspended who are back now. This game is important from a conference standpoint. We don't want to look past Concord because of their record. They do have athletic ability. We will get everybody's best shot. We are coming out of the NorthWood game in good shape."

VALLEY AT ROCHESTER

Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Rochester

Coaches: Bill Patrick (Valley), David Burkett (Rochester)

Records: Valley 8-3, 3-0 TRC; Rochester 3-6, 1-2 TRC

Last game: Valley 45, Northfield 42; Rochester 72, Southwood 69

Last year: Valley 67, Rochester 66

Matchup: The Vikings come in on the strength of a four-game win streak ... The Zebras come off a big TRC win over a tough Southwood team ... Against Northfield, Eric Prater led the Vikings with 12 points ... Jarvis Shepherd chipped in seven ... Kyle Schnitz leads Rochester in rebounding. He grabbed seven boards in the win over Southwood ... Schnitz as well as Deric Beck leads the Zebras in scoring.

Patrick: "We are facing some tough teams in the next few weeks. Rochester is a TRC opponent and will be a challenge Friday. We'll need to pick things up and be more consistent if we want to be successful against them. I think getting back in school on a regular basis will probably be the biggest improvement."

Burkett: "We really think they have two super players in Shepherd and (Brandon) Eaton. They're not the only threats, but they're the keys. They have a fine 8-3 record that speaks for itself. We've been down to Plymouth twice, and we've played some really good teams, so it's not unusual for us to have to prepare for a good team. They have a fundamentally sound offfense. We have to have defense, and we have to rebound with these teams. We don't have the inside strength to rebound with these teams, but we were able to outrebound Southwood by six. It's a big rivalry, so it's not hard to get up for Valley. We're stressing blocking out."

WAWASEE AT GOSHEN

Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Goshen

Coaches: Jerry Davis (Wawasee), Mike Sorrell (Goshen)

Records: Wawasee 0-10, 0-2 NLC; Goshen 4-7, 0-2 NLC

Last game: Northridge 67, Wawasee 51; Elkhart Memorial 62, Goshen 58 OT

Last year: Goshen 41, Wawasee 40

Matchup: Wawasee is led by Andrew Warner, who averages 13.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game ... Jeremy High leads the Warriors in rebounds with 5.4 per game and adds 9.7 points to the Warrior effort ... R.J. Nethaway adds 9.8 point per game, while R.J. Wilson adds 9.3 points per game for Wawasee.

Davis: "(Phil) Mikel is probably the best one-on-one player in the area. He's quick and he's a great athlete. He will definitely get a lot of attention from our defense. Goshen has improved greatly since the beginning of the season. Defense and rebounding will be the keys to this game. We will try to hold Goshen to just one shot per possession and make those shots difficult ones."

Sorrell: "They're better than their record says. They have size, and they have talent. The big key in this game is turnovers. The same keys are keys in any game, free throws, field goal shooting, rebounding and fouls, but in this game, particularly turnovers will be a key. They may shoot the three better than us. I don't think we can outshoot them. I think it'll be fairly even in all those categories, but turnovers will be big."

MANCHESTER AT NO. 2 PERU

Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Peru

Coaches: Gary Goshert (Manchester), Terry Heavilon (Peru)

Records: Peru 7-1, Manchester 9-1

Last game: Logansport 93, Peru 90; Manchester 46, Dwenger 32

Last year: Manchester 79, Peru 58

Matchup: Peru, ranked No. 2 in in Class 3A, is led by Brandon Jones, who is averaging 19 points per game ... Peru's Josh Ulery, Nathan Curtis, Casey Mellady and Jabin Newhouse are each averaging double figures in scoring ...Mellady leads Peru in rebounding with nine per game ... Manchester's Eric Swan leads the area in scoring with 19.0 per game ... Manchester's Chris Betten leads the Squires in rebounding with 5.7 per game ... With 4.9 assists per game, Manchester's Rex Reimer is the team's leader in the category.

Heavilon: "Manchester is a well-coached basketball team. Coach Goshert does a good job of preparing fundamentally. They will be prepared to play against us. (Eric) Swan is a quality player, and the other members of the team do a good job of playing their roles on the court. We need to play good defense in the perimeter and focus on rebounding."

Goshert: "Peru is a tremendous basketball team. They have extremely talented athletes and tremendous depth. They can go ten players deep. They are quick with good basketball skills. Their biggest asset is the defensive pressure that they can put on teams. They use that pressure to create turnovers and convert offensively. The key for us will be ball handling against the pressure they put on. Hopefully that will enable us to control the tempo of the game and slow them down on their half-court offense."

NORTHWOOD AT JIMTOWN

Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Elkhart

Coaches: Dan Gunn (NorthWood), Randy DeShone (Jimtown)

Records: NorthWood 4-5, Jimtown 6-4

Last game: Warsaw 65, NorthWood 51; Jimtown 62, Triton 50

Last year: NorthWood 49, Jimtown 43

Matchup: Darin Nunemaker leads the Panther scoring attack with a 13.9 points per game average ... Charlie Roeder adds 8.6 points per game ... Jimmy House paces Jimtown with nearly 15 points per game ... Keith Kinder adds 12 points per game.

Gunn: "I believe Jintown has won three or four games in a row. This is one of the better teams Jimtown has had. House and Kinder shoot well from the outside, and they have good size inside with Tucker Dowd. The key for us in this game will be taking good shots and shooting the ball well."

DeShone: "They're a very physical and typical NorthWood team and you can't stop just one kid. They are well-rounded with (Chad) Martin and (Charlie) inside. They have an agressive defense that puts pressure on the ball. It's a typical Dan Gunn team. First, we have to handle their pressure. They turn turnovers into points. Offensively they do a lot of good things, they have so many options. For us to win, we'll have to play a very very good game."

FORT WAYNE CANTERBURY AT WHITKO

Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. Friday in South Whitley

Coaches: Bruce Robbins (Canterbury), Fred Fields (Whitko)

Records: Canterbury 5-3, Whitko 4-5

Last game: Ft. Elmhurst 50, Canterbury 37; Whitko 70, Bluffton 59

Matchup: Ben Mohr leads the Wildcat scoring surge with a 17.4 points per game average ... Mohr also pulls down seven boards per game ... No other Whiko player averages in double figures, Josh Gonzalez is the closest at 8.7 points per game.

Fields: "The last three to four weeks we've been working on ourselves. We're interested in what they do but we're concerned with getting ourselves ready. We have to handle their man to man defense. They play defense with good athletes. They have some soccer players and that makes it tough to play against their pressure. We'd like to sneak in some backcourt cuts."

Robbins: Robbins did not return phone calls.