SYRACUSE – The Hardwood Teepee was as loud as it’s been all season, and arguably in several years, when Wawasee’s boys basketball team took a lead midway through the fourth quarter Friday night. The Warriors and their fans had hope their 24-game Northern Lakes Conference losing streak was about to come to an end. The fourth quarter of the game with Plymouth saw Wawasee rally from nine points down, then the lead changed hands four times before the Pilgrims pulled away late with free throws to win 53-48, extending Wawasee’s dubious streak. Warrior senior Alex Clark did everything he could to keep his team in the game early, scoring all nine of Wawasee’s first quarter points. He got help from classmate Gage Reinhard and junior Jeffrey Moore in the second quarter, as each hit a three-pointer after Plymouth pulled ahead by seven. “I thought we played pretty well in the first half,” said Wawasee coach Steve Wiktorowski. “We were right there with them. I didn’t think we came out with the same intensity in the second half, and they jumped upon us right away inside. I thought we toughened up; played with a some intensity and emotion and got right back in it.” Stori Bright remained aggressive on the boards in spite of three fouls, and it was his traditional three-point play that sent the Wawasee crowd into a frenzy and gave his team its first advantage after halftime in conference play this season. Aaron Voirol scored seven of his nine points on the night in the final quarter, including a layup that gave Wawasee its second lead of the final period. “I thought Alex Clark played close to how we want him to play, being aggressive and getting to the basket, knowing when to pull up for jump shots, looking for people,” said Wiktorowski. “When he’s got the ball in his hands and he’s doing those kinds of things, he’s pretty dangerous. “I thought Stori played pretty well with three fouls. He got a huge offensive putback and he hit his free throw when we needed him to. Aaron (Voirol) hit some big shots, Gage (Reinhard) hit a big three, Jeffrey (Moore) keeps the ball moving for us, and doesn’t turn it over. He played pretty solid defense for us.” Wiktorowski said in spite of the loss, there’s more good than bad coming from the game. In the Warriors’ two previous NLC games, at NorthWood and Elkhart Memorial, Wawasee was close at the end of three quarters only to get blown out in the fourth. Not this time. “They know they were right there,” said Wiktorowski. “That game could have gone either way. At least we put ourselves in a position to win at the end of the third quarter and played a much better fourth quarter than the last two games. In the last two, people clearly separated themselves from us. We just came up a swing or two short at the end. “We’re unbelievably frustrated, but our kids have just been tremendous through this. They have worked their tails off, and we never have a bad practice. They stay positive, they support each other. So yeah, it’s very frustrating. There’s a lot of heads down right now. But I think they know they battled, and they did more positive things than tough things ... especially when Plymouth comes right out in the second half, goes on a roll and I thought we were in trouble. And they battled right back and put themselves back in the game. “Basically it came down to the last 2-3 minutes, they were able to get a couple of good looks inside and we had trouble stopping them on the inside.” Clark finished with a team-high 17 points and Reinhard had 10. Plymouth’s Tyler England and Josh Anders tied for game-high honors with 18 points each. Now 5-7 overall and 0-4 in the NLC, Wawasee will take another shot at ending the conference losing streak at 7:45 p.m. Friday when the Warriors visit Dunlap to play Concord.
