BENTON – Student sections aren’t known to being especially kind to opposing players, but by the time Jacob Thompson shot a pair of free throws late in the fourth quarter of Wawasee’s season opener at Fairfield Tuesday night, the Falcon faithful were respectfully chanting “N-B-A” and “M-V-P.” The Warrior junior earned the accolades with a 37-point performance in his team’s 72-58 win. Thompson’s big night marks a return of sorts. After a stellar freshman season, a shoulder injury curtailed most of his sophomore campaign. Warrior head coach Phil Mishler was pleased with Thompson’s effort on both ends of the floor. “The game time is really special for him, and I think he really thrives on that,” said Mishler. I thought he finished through plays, not just offensively. For example, when there was a missed shot, he was able to get a tip on it or get a rebound. “After the post season he had as a freshman, he thought he would come in and have a great season last year, but got hurt and had to play in a cumbersome brace. I think he’s been itching to play for a year, maybe two, by now.” Thompson got a lot of help from his friends, as Mishler’s system, designed to run opponents to the point they make mistakes, worked to perfection. Eleven players saw action, and seven scored. Wawasee’s game plan remains unchanged; throw waves of players on the court, and let fatigue hurt the other team. Tuesday night was no exception, as the lead changed hands seven times in the first 13 minutes of the game, and Fairfield trailed only 32-31 after Falcon senior Chandler Kaufman scored in the lane. Wawasee then scored the final seven points of the half, Kaufman picked up his third foul, and the Falcons got no closer than five the rest of the way. “I thought when they started getting tired at the end of the second quarter, they started making a lot of mistakes; dribbling mistakes, sort of fumbling the ball and making some poor decisions. It’s a young group that’s not used to playing at that speed, so I thought that really paid off for us, and that’s when we really gained some confidence.” After halftime, the teams traded buckets for a couple of minutes before Kaufman was whistled for his fourth foul, and the Falcons seemed to run out of energy. The lead expanded to as many as 19 in the fourth quarter before a trio of Falcon treys slimmed the final margin. Fairfield made 69 percent of its shots on the night, and actually had one more field goal than the guests from Syracuse, but they had a dozen fewer attempts, and were outscored 20-4 from the free throw line. Of the Falcons’ 17 turnovers, 13 came via Warrior steals. Wawasee senior Jake Clark added 13 points, with classmates Justin Fick and Bauer Schmeltz scoring six each, and fellow senior Trent Koble contributing five points. The fifth senior, Zac Patrick, pulled down four rebounds. “The strength of this team is our five seniors understand their roles really, really well and are willing to play their roles, and allow someone like Jacob to take the scoring lead," said Mishler. "I think Jacob is also willing to accept when they do double (team) him, and take things away, he’s a good passer and he’ll get the ball where it needs to be.” Wawasee opens the home portion of its schedule when Angola comes to town Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.
WAWASEE 72, FAIRFIELD 58 WAW 16 23 17 16 – 72 FAIR 17 14 11 16 – 58 Wawasee – Trent Koble 2-3 1-2 5; Jacob Thompson 12-26 11-14 37; Jake Clark 5-6 2-3 13; Justin Fick 2-5 2-2 6; Bauer Schmeltz 2-4 2-2 6; Ryndan Aaron 0-3 2-2 2; Alex Clark 1-1 0-0 3; Zac Patrick 0-0 0-0 0; Garrett Balser 0-0 0-0 0; Austin Lutz 0-0 0-0 0; Chase Myers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-48 2-26 72. Fairfield – Dillon Lockwood 2-3 2-2 6; Jared Larue 3-4 0-1 6; Alex Miller 3-3 0-1 6; A.J. Mast 5-9 2-4 12; Chandler Kaufman 8-10 0-0 16; Erik Parcell 1-1 0-0 2; John Stack 1-2 1-2 3; Marcus Rodes 1-1 1-2 4; Austin Christner 0-0 0-0 0;Zach Kropf 0-0 0-0 0; Brian Pluimer 0-0 0-0 0; Nate Miller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-36 4-8 58. Three point goals – Wawasee 4 (Thompson 2, J. Clark, A. Clark), Fairfield 4 (Mast 2, Rhodes, Miller). Rebounds – Wawasee 26 (Thompson, J. Clark, Patrick, Fick- 4 each), Fairfield 17 (Kaufman 4). Turnovers – Wawasee 15, Fairfield 17. Records: Wawasee 1-0, Fairfield 0-1.
