NORTH MANCHESTER - Within the first two minutes of Tuesday's game at Manchester High School, it was apparent Wawasee senior Trevor McKibben was in for a good night.
Making his first three three-pointers, McKibben had nine points by the 6:08 mark of the first quarter and went on to score a career-high 37 points and make nine three-pointers.His performance led the Class 3A No. 8 Wawasee Warriors (4-0) to an 86-60 win over the Manchester Squires (1-2) in varsity boys basketball action.
"He came, and offensively, was on," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said about McKibben.
McKibben had made just nine three-pointers coming into the game, but matched that total in one game, going 9 for 17 behind the arc, with one of the misses being a half-court buzzer-beater that almost went in.
"Our guys did a good job of recognizing it and getting him the ball," Mishler said about McKibben's hot streak. "You have to have people step up. Some nights just aren't going to be your night. For a few of our guys, it wasn't their night. Fortunately, we had others step up."
Wawasee used McKibben's hot shooting to take an 18-1 lead by the 2:23 mark of the first quarter, but a Manchester team that went 2-19 a year ago, didn't throw in the towel.
"Mentally, we're a lot stronger," Manchester coach Aaron Cripe said. "I don't see our guys complaining to the referees. I see our kids playing strong. If they get fouled hard, they don't react. Mentally, we're just stronger."
Staying mentally strong against a team averaging 88 points per game, Manchester actually cut the Wawasee lead to 32-25 following a bucket by Aric Howard with 2:52 remaining in the second quarter.
Getting the score below double digits may have been a victory in itself for the Squires, who were defeated 122-78 last year at Wawasee.
"(One hundred and twenty two) came up a lot in practice this week," Cripe said. "We talked about 122, 122, we're not giving up 122, we really want to play tough defense. The only thing is, you have to still attack when it's there."
Wawasee does rely on an uptempo offense to generate numerous turnovers, which may lead to easy points, but Mishler saw that backfiring a bit against Manchester.
"It's been on our minds for a long time - just relying on our defensive pressure to get turnovers," he said. "We've got people not moving. When we've got people not moving on all five guys, then, another team can take advantage of that. That's where we need to be careful. We just assume we're going to get a turnover instead of getting back and making it happen. We've just gotten a little bit lazy."
The Warriors did force 29 turnovers, 17 of which were off steals, led by Jake Clark's five.
"It's fun to go up-and-down the court," Cripe said about playing the Warriors. "It's a fun game, but it's really important that once our guys beat the press, they set up our offense and run the offense. For the most part, they did a really good job tonight."
Manchester's 6-foot-4 Scott Baker finished the game with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, grabbing six rebounds and recording four blocks along the way.
"He's an athletic, big body who's gaining confidence with each game," Cripe said about the senior. "I really expect good things from him."
Although Baker may have had better numbers, Cripe may have been more impressed with the effort of senior Austin Flack, who finished with 10 points, six rebounds and three steals.
"Austin Flack has really grown up for us this year," he said. "He is a court leader and I'm so proud of him. He played 32 minutes tonight against one of the toughest teams in the state of Indiana that runs and guns."
McKibben may have stolen the show with his shooting, but senior Riley Stichter remained consistent, scoring 19 points to go with six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
"Riley's always going to get his points, just from putbacks and inside play," Mishler said about the 6-4 Stichter, who's averaging 16 points per game this year. "He's such a good finisher that it's hard to stop."
Next up for the Warriors are the Whitko Wildcats Saturday in Syracuse
Wawasee and Whitko played twice last season, with Whitko winning a 75-71 affair in South Whitley on Dec. 12, but falling 60-59 in the opening-round of Class 3A Sectional 21 at Columbia City. In the sectional loss, Whitko point guard Logan Irwin scored 44 points, but missed a shot at the buzzer.
"It's going to be a whole different game, because they have a very experienced, capable player in Irwin getting the ball where it needs to be," Mishler said about playing the 3-1 Wildcats. "It's going to put a lot of stress on our pressure. We've just got to make sure we have all five guys moving. When we do get a turnover, which are going to be fewer than we've been getting, we take advantage of it and capitalize on it."
