Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PLYMOUTH - Second-year Whitko boys basketball coach Steve Pickett admitted right away he didn't know what to say after his team upended highly favored and third-ranked Plymouth 63-53 on its home floor Saturday in the sectional championship.
It didn't matter.
The hugs. The handshakes. The celebration at half court. The stunned look in the eyes of Plymouth's players, fans and coaches. That said it all.
Whitko entered the sectional with a 9-11 record, but an eight-point win over CMA, a 23-point thrashing of Rochester and a 10-point win over Plymouth (19-3) in the title game has Whitko at 12-11 and in the regional for the first time since 1996.
Whitko will host Benton Central (19-4) Wednesday. Benton Central advanced by defeating West Lafayette 63-52 in the Frankfort Sectional.
In a class tournament designed to steer away from David and Goliath matchups, this was one of those matchups, on paper at least.
On the court, where the game was decided, Whitko etched its name in the history of Hoosier Hysteria by pulling off the upset.
"Nobody gave us a chance to win this game," Pickett said. "The only people that believed were our boys. Right from the start the boys believed they could win. I told them to get to the fourth quarter, that's where we wanted to be. Nobody gave us a chance to win, but doggone it, we did it. I'm so proud of these boys."
Throughout the entire interview, Pickett referred to the team as "the boys." Saturday night against the third-ranked Pilgrims, those boys played like men.
Pickett described his team as a bunch of physical, blue-collar workers. Nothing pretty or special, but they got the job done.
Plymouth led 17-12 after one quarter of play. A three-point play by sophomore Ben Garber brought the Wildcats within two, 17-15, with 6:40 remaining in the half. After being tied at 17, 21 and 23, Whitko took a 25-23 lead on a pair of Alan Robbins free throws at the 1:58 mark. It was the first Wildcat lead since sophomore Brad Walpole made it 2-0.
After outscoring defensive-minded Plymouth 21-9 in the second stanza, Whitko led 33-26 at the break.
Against Tippecanoe Valley in Friday's semifinal game, the Pilgrims' defense suffocated the Vikings, allowing them only 30 shots.
Whitko took 38 shots against Plymouth, making 22 of them, 58 percent.
The Wildcats ended the game 0 of 2 from three-point land. Where Whitko hurt Plymouth was inside.
The Wildcats didn't do anything special. What worked for them was a simple turnaround in the paint or a layup.
Against a Plymouth team that was bragged up for its defense, Whitko got numerous open looks under the basket.
Coming off the bench, Garber led Whitko with 15 points, while starters Alex Frantz and Adam Wendel scored 11 each, Josh Hoffman 10 and reserve Robbins eight.
"I don't like to single people out, but Ben Garber played a tremendous game offensively and defensively," Pickett said.
Whitko's bench outscored Plymouth's 27-4.
The Pilgrims cut Whitko's lead to eight, 43-35, by the end of the third quarter, but a pair of free throws from Wendel and a basket from Goble put the Wildcats up 12.
Six-foot-4 senior Brent Houin made good on a pair of free throw attempts with 4:07 remaining to cut Whitko's lead to six, 49-43, but an 8-0 run put the Wildcats up 14, 57-43, with 1:36 to play.
"When it got to the point where it was 47-41, I was wondering if 50 would win," Pickett said. "I was kind of surprised at how high the score was. Their difficult game with Valley the night before didn't hurt us."
Senior Kevin Stuckmeyer led Plymouth Saturday with 18 points, while Ben Sndyer added 11, Houin eight and Jon Slein and Scott McNeil six each.
Whitko led 63-50 with four seconds left after Wendel hit 1 of 2 free throws. A desperation three went through the net for Plymouth at the buzzer to account for the 10-point difference.
The host Pilgrims have not advanced from the sectionals now for two years. Before a loss to Valley in the 2000 sectional championship, Plymouth hadn't lost a sectional game since 1993, when Bremen won the title.
WHITKO 63, NO. 3 PLYMOUTH 53
Whitko (12-1) 12 21 10 20 - 63
Plymouth (19-3) 17 9 9 18 - 53
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
Wendel (G) 2-6 7-9 5 1 11
Walpole (G) 2-3 0-2 3 0 4
Frantz (F) 4-5 3-4 4 0 11
Hoffman (C) 4-6 2-2 9 2 10
Goble 1-4 0-0 5 1 2
Garber 7-11 1-2 4 1 15
Woods 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Robbins 1-1 6-6 0 2 8
Totals 22-38 19-25 31 7 63
Plymouth FG FT R S Pts.
Stuckmeyer (G) 6-16 6-10 2 0 18
Snyder (G) 4-9 0-3 0 1 11
McNeil (F) 2-3 0-0 0 0 6
Houin (F) 2-5 4-4 9 0 8
Slein (C) 2-3 2-2 4 2 6
Davis 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Clinton 1-3 0-0 1 0 3
Wallace 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Chamberlin 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Scott 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Totals 19-42 13-21 18 4 53
Three-point goals - Whitko 0-2, Plymouth 6-16 (Snyder 3-8, McNeil 2-3, Clinton 1-3, Wallace 0-1, Chamberlin 0-1). Turnovers - Whitko 14, Plymouth 14. Fouls - Whitko 23, Plymouth 22. Fouled out - none.
