Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Despite playing without senior starter and second-leading scorer Joe Leach, Wawasee's varsity boys basketball team beat Whitko 64-39 Saturday night and improved to 5-0 on the season.
Leach sat out with an injury, but the Class 3A No. 7 Warriors still won their fourth straight game by at least 20 points.
The Warriors are seventh in the state in defense, giving up just 36 points per contest.
Wawasee junior Brandon Geiger led all scorers with 16 points, including an 8-of-8 performance from the charity stripe. Geiger pulled down four rebounds and added two steals.
Whitko committed seven turnovers in the first quarter, allowing Wawasee to take advantage and go on a 10-0 run. The scoring drought by Whitko ended when Cory Snep when hit an outside jumper.
The host Warriors led 15-5 after the first quarter of play.
Wawasee senior frontliner Lance Zimmerman picked up two quick fouls and sat on the bench most of the first quarter. He finished the game with four fouls.
"When Zimmerman went to the bench early with foul trouble we were down two of our starters," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "Our kids picked up the slack and did a great job. This is the type of game that a coach learns what his team is made of."
Whitko came out in the second quarter and cut the lead in half to 15-10. The Warriors then took advantage of key turnovers and missed shots and went on a 10-0 run. Whitko never got close again.
"We cut the lead in half to start the second quarter and we just fell apart," said Whitko coach Rob Irwin. "We are not getting the hard play we need to from our starters. I got stubborn and played three sophomores and two juniors most of the game."
One of those juniors was Trent Rowland, who led the Wildcats with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.
Wawasee used a quick run in the second half to increase their lead and put the game away. They outscored Whitko 20-9 in the third.
"We need to find guys who want to play," said Irwin. "We need to have guys who want to give us the
effort on both sides of the ball. We are going to play the ones who show me they want to play."
Wawasee got balanced scoring from their other four starters while Leach was in street clothes.
Tylor Trobaugh scored 15 points with 5-8 and added two steals.
Barry Singrey added 13 on7-of-9 shooting from the foul line. Singrey led all players with
nine rebounds. Andrew Mock scored 11 points and had two steals. Mock also scored on a four point play in the third quarter.
"We are a seasoned team and tonight we learned what our bench was made of," said Mishler. "We are
much deeper on the bench than we were two years ago when we made our Final Four run."
Kaden Krull, a sophomore, came off the bench for Whitko early in the game to give the
Wildcats some inside presence. He finished with 4 of 4 from the foul line. Whitko shot 9 of 17 for the game from the charity stripe.
"Kaden earned himself a starting job tonight," said Irwin. "He gave us some strength on the inside to Alter some play from Wawasee. This was his first varsity game where he played some quality minutes. We need to have players who want to play."
Cory Snep's shooting improved in the second half when he scored eight of his 13 points.
He finished the game 3 of 5 from three-point range. Brenden Hart came off the bench to add four points, converting on his only three point shot and hitting 1 of 2 from the charity stripe.
"I know we played a very quality team tonight and they are going to win a lot of ball games," said Irwin. "But we have to find guys who want to give us quality minutes and show they want to play. We made way too many turnovers tonight."
Whitko fell to 1-3 on the season.
"We seem to relax when we have the lead and we play good basketball," said Mishler. "I am excited to get into Northern Lakes Conference play and get some good close games under our belt to see where we are as a team."
'We need to have our guys play well or they will sit on the bench," said Irwin. "We will play our three sophomores and two juniors. We just need to get some quality play. Kaleb Swender needs to get out of his offensive slump. We will improve before the year is out."
Wawasee opens Northern Lakes Conference play Friday when it hosts Warsaw, while Whitko travels to West Noble Tuesday and then to Tippecanoe Valley for its Three Rivers Conference opener Friday.
WAWASEE 64, WHITKO 39
Whitko 5 13 9 10 - 39
Wawasee 15 13 20 16 - 64
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
*Swender 0-1 1-2 1 1 1
*Rowland 6-8 2-6 2 0 14
*Snep 5-8 0-1 1 0 13
*Warner 1-5 1-2 3 0 3
*Wilkinson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Metzger 0-3 0-0 2 1 0
Hart 1-3 1-2 1 1 4
Krull 0-2 4-4 1 0 4
Totals 13-30 9-17 11 3 39
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
*Mock 4-10 1-1 3 2 11
*Trobaugh 5-8 4-4 2 2 15
*Geiger 4-7 8-8 4 2 16
*Singrey 3-5 7-9 9 0 13
*Zmmrmn 1-2 2-2 4 0 4
Sticther 0-3 1-2 1 0 1
Granger 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Amadeo 1-2 0-0 3 0 2
McBride 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Speicher 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 18-37 25-28 28 6 64
Three-point goals - Whitko 4-9 (Snep 3-5, Hart 1-1, Metzger 0-1), Wawasee 3-12 (Mock 2-5, Trobaugh 1-3, Geiger 0-1, Stichter 0-3. Turnovers - Whitko 22, Wawasee 19. Fouls - Whitko 21, Wawasee 19. Fouled out - None.
JV - Wawasee (5-0) 36, Whitko 27
Wawasee record: 5-0
