On The Court Basketball Previews

WARSAW AT COLUMBIA CITY

Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Columbia City

Coaches: Al Rhodes (Warsaw), Chris Benedict (Columbia City)

Records: Warsaw 1-0, Columbia City 1-0

Last Game: Warsaw 71, T. Valley 68 2 OT; Columbia City 63, Whitko 52

Last Year: Warsaw 55, Columbia City 38

Matchup: The highly touted Tigers come into this game after a double-overtime win at Tippecanoe Valley. Against Valley, Warsaw started one guy under 6-foot-4. Chris Wiggins led the Tigers in the season-opener with 19 points. The host Eagles also come in with 1-0 record after they topped county rival Whitko 63-52. Columbia City's tallest player looks to be 6'3' sophomore Bob Dye. Senior Mike Schumaker led the Eagles in their season-opening win with 15 points. A total of four Eagles scored in double figures against Whitko.

Rhodes: "We know very little about Columbia City. The program at Columbia City has improved the past few years. They have an excellent half-court defense. We need to take care of the basketball. I think we have a size advantage and we will try to use that."

Benedict: "Obviously, Warsaw is a good, talented team with great size. Nelson, Siebenmorgen and Wiggins are about as good as they come. They have great depth and they are more seasoned than a lot of teams we will see. Playing against Warsaw will be a good way to measure where we are right now."

ANGOLA AT WAWASEE

Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Syracuse

Coaches: Jim Speicher (Angola), Robb Berger (Wawasee)

Records: Angola 0-0, Wawasee 0-1

Last Game: Fairfield 74, Wawasee 56; season-opener for Angola

Last Year: Angola 68, Wawasee 64 2OT

Matchup: The Warriors opened up their season Tuesday with a loss in coach Robb Berger's debut. For Angola, this is the first game of the season. Last year these two teams played to double overtime with Angola winning by four. Jeremy High led Wawasee with 14 points against Fairfield. Angola's leading returners from a year ago include 5'10' sophomore guard Stacy Martin (5.3 ppg) and 5'9' junior guard Dan Grill (4.8 ppg). Angola coach Jim Speicher graduated considerable size last year and says he has an up-tempo team this year.

Speicher: "I watched them play Fairfield. With a new coach they might be going through some growing pains. Coach Berger was notorious for his zone at Mishawaka Marian. Their height with (Andrew) Packer and (R.J.) Wilson worries me a little. We like to run the floor. We have to get the ball down low before the zone is set up. I'm not sure about their guard play yet. I hope to extend the floor and force some turnovers."

Berger: "I know they're a new team and they lost some big kids. We're going to try to show some full court pressure. The big thing we have to do is block out and take care of the basketball. Against Fairfield we gave up too many second shots."

WABASH AT MANCHESTER

Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday in North Manchester

Coaches: Mike Noszka (Wabash), Gary Goshert (Manchester)

Records: Wabash 0-1, Manchester 0-0

Last Game: North Miami 80, Wabash 48; season-opener for Manchester

Last Year: Manchester 72, Wabash 50

Matchup: Manchester coach Gary Goshert heads into this year's season opener without last year's leading scoring and assist person. Eric Swan led the Squires a year ago with his 19.7 points per game average. Rex Reimer led the team in assists with 5.3 per game. Both are at Manchester College. Lee Shafer is the leading returner for the Squires with his 6.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Wabash, who graduated seven players from last year's team, opened up its season with a 32-point loss to North Miami. Second-year Apache coach Mike Noszka's leading returner from last year is 6'3' junior Greg Ripple (7 ppg, 4rpg).

Noszka: "I know they're gonna come out in a man-to-man defense. I believe the Shafer kid is the lone returning starter from last year. We're gonna have to execute the half court defense. Obviously when you play up there you have to play some good offense. The biggest thing is playing up there at their place. If you go back to last year, they played the best man-to-man defense we've seen. The biggest thing we've gotta do is take care of the basketball."

Goshert: Goshert could not be reached for comment.

WHITKO AT HOMESTEAD

Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Fort Wayne

Coaches: Steve Pickett (Whitko), Chris Johnson (Homestead)

Records: Whitko 0-1, Homestead 0-0

Last Game: Columbia City 63, Whitko 52

Last Year: Homestead 71, Whitko 47

Matchup: Steve Pickett made his debut at the helm of the Wildcats Wednesday with an 11-point loss to county rival Columbia City. Brandon Waller led the Wildcats against Columbia City with 17 points, including four three-pointers. Shane Henderson and Bryon Howard added 13 and 12 points, respectively, in the season-opener. Homestead first-year coach Chris Johnson took over a team that went 12-9 a year ago and has seven players 6'3' or taller. Leading the way is 6'6' junior Mike Rhinehart, who led the Spartans last year with 16.9 points and 6.3 rebounds last year. Rhinehart shot 66 percent from the field last year.

Pickett: "They have a new coach in Chris Johnson from (Ft. Wayne Bishop) Dwenger. He's an excellent coach and he had some good years at Dwenger. (Mike) Rhinehart is 6'7' and the other post players are at least 6'6'. They are going to try and take it inside on us. They have one real good outside shooter. We have to slow it down and be extremely patient and contest every shot."

Johnson: "The thing at the beginning of the year is that you don't know much about them. We always look for ball movement. This year we can do that. We do have some beef under the basket. It's up to the guards to get down the floor and hit the shot."

TRITON AT BREMEN

Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Bremen

Coaches: Joe Bennett (Triton), Gary Hudson (Bremen)

Records: Triton 0-0, Bremen 0-0

Last Game: Season-opener for both teams

Last Year: Bremen 54, Triton 37

Matchup: Triton enters its season after hosting and winning the sectional a year ago under first-year coach Joe Bennett. Gone from last year's team is leading scorer Matt Savill and his 13.9 points per game. Senior Brandon Zeider returns as Triton's leading scorer after averaging 12 points per game last year. Five-foot-10 senior Austin Unterbrink is back for his fourth season as Triton's starting point guard. He averaged 5.4 points, 3.8 assists and 1.7 rebounds last year. Bremen is led by 6'8' senior center Adam Mark, who led the Lions with 18 points and 10 rebounds a year ago. Bremen's next top returner from a 19-7 team is 6'3' senior forward Joe Snyder, who averaged five points per game last year.

Bennett: "I know they're awfully good. They're one of the top teams in the area and probably in Class 2A. When you talk about Bremen you have to start with Adam Mark. He's combined athletic ability with hard work to make him a legitimate D-1 player. And that's not all they have. They've got a lot of weapons and a successful JV team. I don't think we can stop Mark. We just want to play solid team defense and try to get better on a daily basis. We want to anticipate well and rebound well and do the little things. That's what makes this game great, doing the little things."

Hudson: "Triton is a very good basketball team with two outstanding players in Austin Unterbrink and Brandon Zeider. Austin is a good point guard who is good with the basketball and penetrates well. We will try to keep Austin on the perimeter. Zeider is a cagey basketball player who can shoot from the perimeter and take it to the floor and penetrate to create problems. We'll probably try to do the same thing with him, hold him to the perimeter. They also have two very good athletes in (Brian) Klingerman and (Jim) Read."