Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE -ÊThe Wawasee Warrior boys basketball team hosted Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge on Saturday night with one thing in mind.
With one game remaining in their conference schedule, the Warriors hoped to stay alive in the race for first place and they did just that with a 51-41 win over the Raiders.
The Warriors' record now stands 4-2 in the conference and 13-4 overall.
Next up for Wawasee is a Thursday date at Goshen to determine the conference champion.
Goshen stands on top with a 5-1 record and a share of the conference crown guaranteed.
Wawasee's fate is now in their own hands, as a win over Goshen on Thursday will give the Warriors a share of the championship with Goshen and perhaps Concord and Warsaw.
"Our kids began the season with some goals and to be on top of the conference was one of them," said Warrior coach Phil Mishler. "We were real disappointed in our loss to Concord. They are a quality team but we didn't start very well and we didn't finish, but now we have given ourselves a second chance and we feel good about that."
The Warriors will get that chance on Thursday because they played good defense and took care of the ball on this night.
The first half stayed close with the Warriors shooting the ball very poorly but they got nice play from senior Ryan Stichter, who came off the bench to score seven first-half points.
It was Stichter's performance, and a shot from Ryan Kauchek at the buzzer, that gave the Warriors a two-point lead at 20-18 going into the dressing room.
"That was about our only bright spot offensively in the first half," said Mishler as he talked about Stichter's play. "If it hadn't been for our defense and the boost from Stichter offensively, I don't think we could have gone into half feeling as confident as we did. We felt real good with our defense in the first half and knew if we did that in the second then we would be in the game regardless of what we did on the offense end."
The second half belonged to Wawasee as it extended the lead to five by the end of the third and then a big three from Kyle Lantz with just over four minutes to go in the game extended the Warrior lead to 43-34. His three, along with two from Stephen Conrad, gave the win to the Warriors.
From there on out, it was a matter of Wawasee hitting their free throws as Northridge was forced to send Wawasee to the line.
The Warriors did just that as they finished on top by the score of 51-41.
Wawasee's defense was outstanding all night as the Warriors kept pressure on the perimeter people of Northridge.
"One of our goals was to force 16 turnovers," said Mishler. "We only created 14 but many of those led to baskets at our end."
The Warriors only turned the ball over nine times.
"I feel comfortable," said Mishler, "that if we get a lead with a few minutes remaining we can take care of the ball and hit our free throws."
The Warriors next game will be their biggest as they will travel to Goshen on Thursday.
