OSSIAN – The Eastbrook Panthers didn't put up much of a fight against the Whitko Wildcats Tuesday night at Norwell High School. Kicking off Class 3A Sectional 23 in Ossian, the Wildcats (12-9) pounced quick on the Panthers (3-18), and cruised to a 66-39 victory in boys basketball action. Whitko will play Heritage (9-13) Friday night at 6 p.m. in the sectional semifinals. "I think they're exactly like us," Whitko coach Rob Irwin said about Heritage, which ended a five-game skid with an overtime win in its season finale. "They probably even have some better players, but they are very similar to us. It will be a dogfight." Against Eastbrook, the Wildcats came out like rabid dogs, attacking Panther ball handlers and forcing 11 first-quarter turnovers and 25 for the game. "I wanted to get it over as fast as I could," Irwin said. The pressure defense helped Whitko jump out to a 21-9 lead after one quarter of play, and from there, it was all academic. Coming in waves at the Panthers, Whitko junior Alex Stoddard posted all five of his game-high steals in the opening half and finished the game with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. "Alex was just doing his job," Irwin said of the 6-foot-2 Stoddard, who also had four rebounds and two assists. "Coming off Friday night's loss (against NorthWood), when we didn't play very well, he turned around and gave us some punch. Alex just does all the little things that help you win. If we really didn't need Alex to score, he'd be perfect. He'll guard the best player on the floor, he'll rebound, he'll make good plays." Stoddard was one of three Wildcats to score double-digit points, as junior Trey Weber had 11 on 3-of-4 shooting and senior Logan Irwin netted 27, increasing his career total to 2,160. Logan Irwin now sits 16th on the Indiana boys basketball career scoring list, surpassing such names as Concord's Shawn Kemp (2,134), Peru's Kyle Macy (2,137), Jasper's Michael Lewis (2,138), Claypool and Warsaw's Charlie McKenzie (2,145) and Pike's Chris Thomas (2,156) Tuesday night. Logan Irwin's latest endeavour wasn't his most impressive of the season, reaching 27 points on 11-of-25 shooting, but against a three-win team, he didn't need to be at his best. "He wasn't reacting very quick, but we fixed that at the half," the Whitko coach said about his son, who also had six rebounds, three assists and two steals. "I thought he came out better in the third quarter." Whitko played its first-round game in front of the host Norwell Knights, who were in attendance waiting to play the second game of the night against Mississinewa. The fourth-ranked Knights are the favorite to win the sectional, but slipped past 6-15 Mississinewa, 56-51. Whitko and Norwell could meet for the second time this season in Saturday's championship, but Rob Irwin said he wasn't trying to send too much of a message Tuesday night. "I don't want to aggravate them," he said about Norwell, which defeated Whitko 89-70 on Dec. 2 in Ossian. "I'd just as soon they think we're awful. All we want to do is get there. Then, anything can happen."
