SYRACUSE — A major component to the Wawasee boys basketball team's success this year may be the health of senior Jacob Thompson. In the past two seasons, the 6-foot-5 Thompson has had his campaign cut short due to a shoulder injury, his right shoulder as a sophomore then his left as a junior. Last season's injury occurred during the Carroll Holiday Tournament on Dec. 30. In the team's next game against NorthWood on Jan. 6, he was obviously affected, shooting just 2 of 17 from the field. That NorthWood loss was his last of the year and the first of 10 losses in Wawasee’s final 12 games, although the Warriors did knock off Tippecanoe Valley in the regular season finale. After beginning at the season at 8-3, Wawasee finished its season at 10-13, so keeping Thompson healthy is a priority. “I think he's looking extremely strong,” Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said. “He's been in the gym everyday working as hard as I've ever seen him work. We couldn't ask for much more in these first eight days.” Despite missing so much time the past two years, Thompson returns with the most experience on the team, having played as a freshman. Along with the experience, he also returns with the most talent, garnering looks from Division I schools. In 12 games last year, Thompson averaged 24.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.2 steals. “He'll have a lot of the scoring responsibility,” Mishler said. “More important than that is his overall leadership to the younger guys. How he leads is probably how they'll respond.” Other returnees with experience are senior Ryndan Aaron and junior Austin Lutz, along with sophomore Alex Clark and junior Chase Myers. Those four returnees will attempt to fill in for the experience lost with the graduation of Jake Clark, Trent Koble, Bauer Schmeltz and Zac Patrick. “We're going to depend on them a lot, especially the seniors for the leadership and just sort of stamping what we want to do each and every day in practice, plus games,” Mishler said. As a junior, Aaron averaged 8.8 points and 2.6 rebounds, while Clark scored 4.7 points, Lutz averaged 0.7 points and Myers played sparingly. Along with the returning letterwinners, other Warriors who will be expected to contribute are a trio of sophomores. “Gage Reinhard, Stori Bright, David Rocha — are three sophomores that didn't see any varsity, but are going to have to contribute right away,” Mishler said. “We have some freshmen that are competing, a lot of other sophomores that will be competing for spots too. It's wide open right now.” The rest of the varsity roster may lack experience, but a few will need to help the Warriors get wins. “Everyone has an opportunity to contribute,” Mishler said. “How they take that opportunity and how hard they work will dictate where the season goes.” The young players begin play Tuesday at home against Fairfield. Prior to beginning their Northern Lakes Conference season Dec. 14 at Warsaw, the Warriors’ first five games are against Fairfield (8-13 last season), Angola (4-18), Manchester (4-17), West Noble (13-11) and Whitko (13-10). Of the five, West Noble did knock off Wawasee in last year's sectional and brings back a majority of those players. But according to Mishler all five are dangerous. “The local out-of-conference teams around here are as strong as a lot of the (NLC) teams,” he said. "Every game this year is going to be a battle. West Noble beat us in the sectional. They have everyone back. It's going to be a test every time we step on the floor.” And his team is ready to get back on the hardwood, putting last season's 10-13 campaign behind it. “It was a learning season for some of our young guys,” he said. “Hopefully that will pay off for us this year. We're quite young, so hopefully we can take some of the lessons we learned last year and put them toward development this year.”
