SYRACUSE - Averaging over 90 points a game while looking for their first win of the young season, Wawasee High School's varsity boys basketball team played host to West Noble Saturday night.
The potent Wawasee offense didn't disappoint the fans, as the Warriors hit 20 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold off the Chargers 99-92 and improve to 1-2.Leading by 14 points going into the final quarter Wawasee needed the free throws to hold off a late charge by West Noble.
The Chargers cut the lead to five at 85-80 with 3:12 to play in the game. Trevor McKibben hit six-straight free throws to help secure the win.
McKibben finished the game 15 of 16 from the free throw line, 14 of them coming in the fourth quarter. He led the Warriors with 19 points, while adding five rebounds and one steal.
"It was a little rough tonight," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "When you're trying for your first win it's hard to figure out how to get it. Both teams struggled a little bit tonight."
The high-scoring Warriors took control of the game early with a full-court press that caused West Noble to commit 12 turnovers in the first half. Wawasee led 30-23 at the end of the first quarter.
"We pretty much play our game the whole way," said Mishler. "We don't usually go from our game plan too much."
West Noble came up with easy lay-ups as the Chargers began to break the full-court press to keep the game close. The answer for the Chargers was Nick Spenser as he continued to break through the press.
Spenser finished with 45 points, leading all scorers in the game while pulling down eight rebounds. He finished the game 19 of 27 from the field.
After leading 46-38 at the half, Wawasee began to pull away in the third quarter. The Warriors made defensive adjustments and finished the third with a 14-point lead.
"We made some adjustments with 3:00 minutes left, we had to make some changes to stop them," said Mishler. "Our guys have to be more aware of the situations on the court and not get too greedy."
Riley Stichter gave Wawasee a boost in the third quarter by scoring six points. He finished the game with 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field. His only miss came on his first shot of the game. Stichter also finished with 11 rebounds and three steals.
Keegan Beer came off the bench for the Warriors and contributed with eight points in the third quarter, including a three point-basket that sent Wawasee on a 6-0 run. He finished the game with nine points and also had one steal.
"Riley gave us some good points tonight," said Mishler. "He finally played the game we knew he could play. He made some dumb fouls but he did a good job."
Ross Stichter played his first game of the season and contributed 16 points in the game, including four three-point baskets. He also had three steals and four rebounds.
"Ross had a good game tonight," said Mishler. "We couldn't have asked for much more of him tonight for his first game. He hasn't been on the court but maybe 20 times since summer."
Wawasse shot 30 of 72 from the field, including 11 of 42 from three-point range. At the free throw line, the Warriors finished the night 28 of 33.
"The key to the game for us tonight was the offensive rebounds we battled for early in the game," said Mishler. "We shot an unusual 24 percent from three-point range and we got 56 percent of the offensive rebounds in the game. We also shot 80 percent from the free throw line."
Grant Ruch contributed 13 points to the Warrior cause. Wes Kaiser also finished with 11 points and three rebounds.
West Noble got 15 points from Kyle Grimm, who led all players with 13 rebounds. Mario Pizana came off the bench to finish with 14 points for West Noble.
The Chargers finished the game 35 of 59 from the field and were 17 of 23 from the free throw line.
"We are a young team and we have some seniors that can shoot," said Mishler. "Our goal is to continue to improve and for them to wrap their hands around the game."
