GOSHEN – Wawasee took an early shot from Goshen, came back and took a lead, then watched that lead slip away. The fourth quarter was all Goshen in its 60-47 win over the visiting Warriors Thursday night. The host Redskins took a quick 11-2 lead to open the game, and Wawasee fought back to take a 19-17 edge into halftime. After Warrior senior Gage Reinhard hit a three-pointer about 2-1/2 minutes into the third quarter, his team led 26-19. Goshen tied the game by the end of the quarter, then used a 16-1 run to take control of the Norther Lakes Conference contest. “I thought it might have been the best three quarters of basketball we’ve played, in a tough place since Christmas,” said Wawasee coach Steve Wiktorowski. “I thought our kids played well. Their kids jumped out to a hot start and we stayed with it, and came back and took a two-point lead at halftime. “After the long halftime we came out and were physical, rebounded well. We didn’t shoot very well from three, but we put ourselves right there at the end of three (quarters). “They came down a hit a couple of shots, and we didn’t. I thought they got a couple of breaks on some loose balls and they scored off of them, and they looked great doing that. I thought we should have shot more free throws.” Goshen’s Colton Potter, who had hit only nine three-pointers all season before Thursday, hit a pair of them in Goshen’s comeback in the third quarter, and another in the fourth to extend the home team’s lead to 10 with 3:54 left. Potter finished with 11 points. “The problem in the fourth quarter was they had a couple of kids hit outside shots and we couldn’t double off of them anymore,” Wiktorowski said. “It’s difficult with their inside kid (Austin) Woolett. He had 16 points, and I thought we did a pretty good job on him. But once they started hitting outside shots, and from guys who don’t normally hit a lot of shots, then we couldn’t double off them very well. “If we could have hit a couple of shots early in the fourth quarter and put a little pressure on them, maybe that changes things.” Statistically, among the main differences was the three-point shot. Goshen made seven to Wawasee’s two. Brady Bechtel (12 points) and Jack Gingerich (10), Goshen’s two big trey threats, had four between them, but only one after the opening quarter. Reinhard finished with 18 points and Alex Clark had 14 for the Warriors, who fell to 7-10 overall and completed NLC play at 0-7. Wawasee has lost 28 straight conference games. “The NLC streak rips the guts out of everybody in that locker room,” Wiktorowski said. “I can’t help but think if we could just get over that hump that would help us a lot in the fourth quarters. But that part of the season is over, and as hard as it is to accept that, now we have to get ready for the big prize, and get ourselves ready for sectional.”
