SYRACUSE – It took the Goshen Redskins three quarters to get a lead at Wawasee High School Thursday night, but once they got it, they cherished it. In a Thursday night Northern Lakes Conference meeting, the Goshen boys basketball team (8-8, 4-3 NLC) nabbed it first lead against the Wawasee Warriors (9-8, 0-6 NLC) on a three-pointer by junior Jesse Good with three seconds remaining in the third quarter, 33-32. From there, Goshen never looked back, holding on for a 51-44 victory. “They just kept battling,” Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said about the Redskins. “They kept believing, battling and did the small things right. Eventually, they got some shooters open. They’re a nice shooting ball club. I thought we did a nice job of shading the shooters and being out to contest the shots. I thought we did well in the first half, then we let a few get open.” Wawasee stayed within 44-41 with 1:21 remaining, following a pair of free throws by senior Jake Clark, but Goshen put together a 7-0 run before Wawasee senior Trent Koble hit a three-pointer with one second remaining, making the final deficit seven points instead of 10. “We were tougher in the second half,” Goshen coach Brian Bechtel said. “Wawasee’s physical play really bothered us in the first half. We weren’t finishing at the basket very well. I just thought we played with more toughness (in the second half).” Mishler also noticed his guys struggling with easy buckets, as the Warriors missed several from right underneath the basket. “They all add up,” Mishler said. “Lay ups add up, the free throws add up. We just weren’t able to finish. We need to learn how to finish ball games.” Wawasee finished the game making 16 of 52 field goals (31 percent), but it was the shots from the lane that were the most glaring misses. “We made them take some really challenged shots,” Bechtel said. “I also think we’re a little fortunate they didn’t finish around the basket. I thought as a team, they missed a lot of bunnies. That could have been a difference in the game, for sure, at the end.” Goshen junior Sam Stegelmann also proved to be a difference, scoring 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while also posting eight rebounds and four steals. But it wasn’t just the 6-foot-4 Stegelmann that gave the Warriors problems. Good tallied 15 points in the win, accompanied by another eight from senior Warren Kay and seven out of senior Louis Kissinger. “We’re a team that’s pretty spread out,” Bechtel said. “We don’t have one guy we go to. I think we’ve had guys that have stepped up on different nights.” Wawasee used to have a go-to guy in junior Jacob Thompson, but after he suffered a shoulder injury early last month, he was lost for the season. Now, the Warriors are scoring by committee, as Koble led the way against Goshen, scoring 13, followed by Clark’s 11 and junior Ryndan Aaron’s nine. “We have to just keep getting better,” Mishler said. “We’re just sort of trying to find our identity. We’re working hard at it. One thing we can always count on is, our guys will always go out there and give it all their effort. Hopefully, we’ll start hitting some shots and be able to maintain that throughout an entire game and get some stops defensively. Hopefully that’ll start paying off toward the end. We need it for sectional time.” With Thompson already out, Wawasee fans received another scare when Clark jumped up in pain after aggravating a shoulder injury with six seconds remaining in the game. After showing visible discomfort, Clark was taken into the locker room, but like he’s done all season, he’s expected to be back in the lineup Saturday afternoon at Central Noble. “He’s been playing all year with a labrum tear,” Mishler said. “Any time his shoulder is popped, it goes out of place. He’s been fighting through it. It’s his senior year and he’s been manning it up.” Despite Clark’s ability to play through injury, Wawasee has dropped five of its last six games and sits at 0-6 in the NLC for the first time since the 1998-99 season, when the Warriors finished the season 1-21 overall. Since Elkhart Memorial joined the NLC for the 2000-2001 season, the Warriors have never gone 0-7, but that could happen with a road loss at 12-5 Plymouth, which 4-2 in the NLC, Thursday night. On the other side, Goshen’s win gave the Redskins their first winning campaign in the NLC since they won the title in 2002-03. “That was a huge goal for us, going into the season,” Bechtel said about being above .500 in the NLC. “The guys felt like they could do that, but we needed to steal one on the road. We’ve come close. We lost at Warsaw by two (45-43), after playing really well. We knew this was our final chance to get that. So, a big goal was knocked off the list.”
