Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
HARDING AT MANCHESTER
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in North Manchester
Coaches: Al Gooden (Harding), Gary Goshert (Manchester)
Records: Harding 10-4 ; Manchester 13-3
Last Game: FW Wayne 69, Harding 66; Manchester 57, Wawasee 39
Last Year: Manchester 61, Harding 52
Matchup: Manchester is on a four-game winning streak and hopes to continue the trend when they host Harding ... Eric Swan leads the Squires with 19.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game ... Rex Reimer, Manchester's three-point leader, averages 11.7 points, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game ... Chris Betten chips in 7.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Gooden: Gooden could not be reached for comment.
Goshert: "Harding has an excellent record, way above .500, and they play in the SAC, a Fort Wayne city league conference. They play very physical, high quality basketball that is, for the most part, up-tempo. Harding has tremendous athletes with good height. Their center is 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and was a tight end for the football team. They have a couple other big strong football players on the team as well. Chris Smiley and Sean Casey handle the ball well. They also do a good job of breaking the defenses in full court or half court situations. They are good shooters and they are unbelievable on the offensive boards. When it comes to rebounding, these guys are second to none. We will need to step up to the next level to play these guys."
PENN AT NORTHWOOD
Tip-off: 6:15 p.m. Saturday in Nappanee
Coaches: Dean Foster (Penn), Dan Gunn (NorthWood)
Records: Penn 7-9; NorthWood
Last Game: SB Washington 108, Penn 103, OT; Lakeland 67 NorthWood 62
Last Year: NorthWood 64, Glenn 40
Matchup: Penn is led in scoring by junior Andrew White, who averages 13 points and sophomore Andrew Laird who averages 12 points per game ... senior Matt Clark leads Penn in rebounding with 5.5 per game while chipping in nine points per game ... NorthWood is led by Darin Nunemaker, who averages 13.3 points, 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 3.1 rebounds per game ... Panther Charlie Roeder scores 10.1 points, pulls down 7.1 rebounds, and dishes out 2.1 assists per game ... Nic Bradley is another NorthWood leader with an average of 6.1 assists, 2.4 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 7.0 points per game ... Aaron Huber dishes out 3.1 assists, grabs 2.6 steals and pulls down 3.1 boards per game for the NorthWood squad as well.
Foster: "We won't really prepare for the game until Saturday, but I know that NorthWood was on a bit of a roll until last Saturday. They play well at home, and we have to play there so we have our work cut out for us. They work extremely hard on many occasions, they shoot the ball well. We will need to take care of the basketball and shoot a good percentage of our shots to at least be in the basketball game. Otherwise, we will be in for a long night."
Gunn: "Andrew White scores a lot and shoots the ball well. Penn is a highly motivated team that will play hard. They have a good-sized center in Laird. They play well and have good depth, and I think they will be the sleeper in the Elkhart sectional. We will need to take care of the basketball and keep the number of turnovers down. Rebounding will be a problem, it will be tough to beat them on the boards but it will be necessary in this game."
T. VALLEY AT TRITON
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Bourbon
Coaches: Bill Patrick (Valley), Joe Bennett (Triton)
Records: Valley 11-5; Triton 7-8
Last Game: Valley 83, Wabash 58; John Glenn 56, Triton 55
Last Year: Triton 56, Valley 51
Matchup: Brandon Eaton and Jarvis Shepherd, who score an average of 16.0 and 14.4 points per game respectively, lead the Valley scoring drive ... Eaton also leads the Vikings in rebounding with 5.9, but Eric Prater is not far behind, pulling down 5.1 boards per game ... With 4.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game, Shepherd leads the Vikings in those categories ... Matt Savill leads Triton with 13.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game ... Brandon Zeider chips in 11.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for Triton while Austin Unterbrink hands out 3.2 assists per game.
Patrick: "Triton is an excellent basketball team. They have a lot of depth and have had five or six different players who have led in scoring throughout the season. The two games we play this weekend will be good practice for sectional. Triton and Bremen are two very different teams. Triton has smaller people than Bremen so they rely on full-court pressure. Triton shoots well from the outside and plays a man-to-man defense. Offensively, Triton likes to dribble penetrate to the basket. I expect this to be a full-court basketball game."
Bennett: "I've seen Valley play a couple times this season, and they are a very good team that plays well together. Eaton and Shepherd are the leading scorers but Prater and Silveus have had some big games as well. We wil focus on good team defense. We'll not just rely on one-on-one defense."
ROCHESTER AT WHITKO
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. Saturday in South Whitley
Coaches: David Burkett (Rochester), Fred Fields (Whitko)
Records: Rochester 8-8, 3-3 TRC; Whitko 6-7, 1-3
Last Game: Rochester 66, Northfield 55; Homestead 71, Whitko 47
Last Year: Rochester 57, Whitko 53
Matchup: Whitko is hoping to overcome or play through injuries this weekend ... Michael Waybright was out and Joe Grant and Shane Henderson saw limited playing time Tuesday against Homestead ... Ben Mohr is scoring 15.1 points and dishing out 1.5 assists per game for the WIldcats ... Josh Gonzalez adds 7.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game for Whitko ... Joe Grant is leading the Wildcats in rebounds, pulling down an average of 6.9 per game ... Rochester is led in scoring by Blake Newton, who averages 21.7 points per game ... Deric Beck is Rochester's all-around threat, scoring 15.5 points, pulling down 5.3 boards, dishing out 4.5 assists and grabbing 3.5 steals per game.
Burkett: "In the last 12 to 13 days we've had six games, really we're just catching our breath. They're a very scrappy and very quick team. They're right near the top of the conference in several categories. We've won six of our last eight and we're starting to gel together. Obviously the key will be to contain their double figure scorers."
Fields: "They like to go up and down the floor. They've beat some pretty good basketball teams and they're playing well right now. We have to get healthy again."
