SYRACUSE – An off-shooting night, coupled with an aggressive NorthWood squad, led to Friday night's 76-67 Northern Lakes Conference loss by the Wawasee boys basketball team at the Hardwood Teepee. Starting two seniors, two sophomores and a freshman, NorthWood (4-5, 1-1 NLC) didn't play like a young team, taking it to the senior-laden Warriors (8-4, 0-2 NLC) from the beginning. "We were very surprised how aggressive they were when we scouted them, just because of how young they are," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said about NorthWood. "That takes a lot of good coaching to get that done. They were as physical as any NLC team we're going to face." That physicality held Wawasee to 33.3-percent shooting (20 of 60), with 6-foot-5 star guard Jacob Thompson struggling the most while wearing a brace on his right shoulder. Just prior to last season's opening game, Thompson injured his shoulder in the team's scrimmage and later had season-ending surgery. This season, Thompson has appeared to be at 100 percent, averaging 25.3 points a game, but was held to 11 against NorthWood on 2-of-17 shooting, missing his first seven shots. Despite his off-night, Mishler said it wasn't the braced shoulder that was to blame. "He's been banged up," Mishler said. "We have that brace on, (for the same reason) as an ankle brace. It's just to make sure it's protected." Benefiting from Thompson's struggles, the NorthWood Panthers didn't trail the entire game, building its lead as large as 63-44 early in the fourth quarter. Wawasee did make a surge, using its pressure defense to get within 67-59 with 2:47 remaining in the game, but that was as close as the Warriors would get. "We've lost some close games this year, where our kids have been on the losing end after playing well for stretches," NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe said. "Tonight was probably our best win of the year." To get that win, the Panthers handled the Warriors' frantic defense well, making 27 of 50 shots (54 percent) and committing 15 turnovers. "An emphasis for us this week was being able to control the ball and attack," Wolfe said. "I thought we were fortunate to make some perimeter shots tonight and we were fortunate Wawasee did not make some of their perimeter shots." Making 6 of 20 three-pointers, NorthWood watched as Wawasee struggled, making 8 of 31, with two of those makes coming on back-to-back possessions to close the game. "In varsity basketball games, some teams make shots and other teams miss shots," Wolfe said. "If we would play them again, probably more of their shots would go in, regardless of what we're doing. I do want to give credit to our kids for a good effort." With neither team really lighting it up from the outside, NorthWood relied on 6-foot-4 sophomore Zach Zurcher, who had a team-high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, while also hauling in a game-high 10 rebounds. "Zach Zurcher had a coming-out party," Wolfe said. "He can be a very versatile, offensive player, where we know he can score on all areas of the floor. There were multiple times where he may have been our only defensive rebounder and he was able to bring in the ball, which is extremely important." Along with Zurcher's point total, NorthWood got another 20 from 6-foot-4 sophomore Jonathan Wilkinson, as well as 16 from senior Jakyah Qaiyim and 12 out of freshman Braxton Miller, who made 4 of 12 three-pointers. For Wawasee, senior Jake Clark had a game-high 24 points, while senior Trent Koble matched Thompson's 11 points. "Our rhythm was broken and we're a rhythm team," Mishler said. "We weren't able to do what we wanted to do." With the loss, Wawasee joins Northridge as the only 0-2 teams in the NLC, and things don't get any easier as Class 4A No. 9 Elkhart Memorial comes to town Friday night. "The NLC, as far as I'm concerned, is one of the strongest conferences right now, and even better than it's been in the past," Mishler said. "At the end of the game, we talked about how tough it's going to be and how easily a good team can go 2-5, 1-6 in this conference pretty dog-gone easy with a couple off-nights. You can still be a very good team, capable of winning a sectional. We're just going to need to concentrate on keeping our heads up and knowing we're facing some very good ball clubs."
