SYRACUSE - The Wawasee Warriors revved their engine for about 27 seconds, then spun their wheels and took off.
Opening the season with a 83-50 home victory over the Fairfield Falcons (0-1) Tuesday, the Wawasee High School boys basketball team (1-0), came out with a slightly different look.Over the past two seasons, the Warriors have been go-go-go, but the squad took 27 seconds to take their first shot of the season. Then, leading 77-47 after three quarters, they killed the clock in the fourth quarter, taking just six shots and scoring eight points.
Despite slowing the game down at times, the team still found a way to smother its first opponent of the year.
"They were a formidable opponent," Fairfield coach John Wysong said. "They did a nice job."
Another difference from last year was the outside shooting.
After averaging 29 three-point attempts per game during the 2009-10 season, Wawasee opened the 2010-11 campaign with just 12 attempts, making five.
"It's up to what the opponent is going to give us," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said. "Teams have been aware that we shoot the three, so they were out in the three-point range. So, we took it inside."
By going inside, Wawasee finished the game shooting 65 percent, led by sophomore Jake Thompson's 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line for a game-high 21 points.
Wearing a shoulder brace after getting dinged up in Monday's practice, Thompson came off the bench for the Warriors, but waited just 30 seconds to get into the scoring column.
"We just wanted to hold him back," Mishler said about Thompson, who also had three steals and two assists. "He was cleared by the doctor, but we just wanted to hold him back and let him slowly get back and gain some confidence. I felt he played extremely well for the situation."
Junior Zac Patrick had a breakout game, getting the start for Thompson. In his first varsity start, Patrick went 6 of 7 from the field for 16 points.
While Patrick was making his first start, the team's longest tenured varsity player, senior Riley Stichter, also had a good game, hitting 6 of 9 shots for 15 points while also nabbing six rebounds and posting four steals.
"Thompson and Stichter, one-on-one, they're pretty good," Wysong said. "If you leave them, they'll hit shots from the outside. So, it's tough."
Fairfield was led by junior Chandler Kauffman's 15 points and eight rebounds, with sophomore Garrett Scott coming off the bench to score 13.
The point totals may have been impressive for the Warriors, but the defense was the key, forcing 23 turnovers, 17 of which were off steals.
"We've got a couple guys now, that didn't play much last year, that I think are a little more active with their hands," Mishler said about the steals, a category junior Jake Clark led with five. "They're a little quicker and more effective on the press. We're starting to understand the anticipation angles and things like that."
A year after averaging nine steals per game, if the team learns how to do that even more, opposing teams will have another thing to worry about.
"If you back the ball out, they keep attacking you," Wysong said. "They're not going to let off your swing passes. It's hard to get into things if you're not really solid. They play a lot of basketball in the offseason and it really shows up."
