Whitko Holds Off Central NobleSOUTH WHITLEY – River West scored 24 points and Nate Walpole had 18 points as Whitko held off a late Central Noble charge to claim a 73-67 non-conference home win Tuesday night. In spite of clearing 70 points for the third straight game, Whitko head coach Eli Henson said his team didn’t play its best when it had the ball. “We had a lot of quick shots, and had a lot of careless turnovers,” Henson said. “We started off a little bit slow in the first quarter, when they were turning the ball over a lot and we didn’t make them pay for it. We had a lot of opportunities for points in transition and didn’t convert many of them. We’d get the steal and then come down and turn it over ourselves.” Whitko carried a 33-31 lead at halftime, then West went to work, hitting three-pointers on four consecutive possessions to give the Wildcats a cushion to work with. “That was a big lift for us,”?Henson said. “A couple of those were really tough shots. River stepped up for us and got us on the right track.” Whitko needed the cushion, as their lead was down to four by the end of the third quarter. The Wildcats built the lead to 10 with 1:18 left in the fourth quarter, then held off a late effort by the Cougars, who were trying to claim their first win of the season. “We played poor on defense tonight. We were happy to score 73 and get the win, but we don’t want to give up points in the high 60s and defense,”?Henson said. That’s not what we’re going to be about. We have to be a little bit tougher and defend a little bit better around the perimeter. I thought we did a good job of defending inside, but we gave up too many easy looks for their shooters.” In the junior varsity contest, Central Noble claimed a 48-47 win over Whitko. Micah Cokl had 15 points for Whitko, with Shad Ebbinghouse adding 12 and Cody Swick 11 for the Wildcats. Whitko’s varsity team improved to 4-0 and will host West Noble (1-3) on Thursday.
WHITKO 73, CENTRAL NOBLE 67 CN 15 16 18 18 – 67 W 18 15 20 20 – 73 Whitko – River West 24, Nate Walpole 18, Alex Bechtold 8, Brain Collins 7, Alex Robbins 6, Colin Craig 6, Spencer Sroufe 4 Records – Central Noble 0-3, Whitko 4-0 JV – Central Noble 48, Whitko 47 Whitko – Micah Cokl 15, Shad Ebbinghouse 12, Cody Swick 11, Clay Ebbinghouse 4, Cade Bechtold 3, Thad Glidden 2
