NAPPANEEE - Whitko High School freshman Logan Irwin may have been recovering from a concussion, but it was he who left the Columbia City Eagles feeling dazed Tuesday at NorthWood High School.
After being cleared to play two-and-a-half hours before Whitko's sectional game with Columbia City, thanks to a concussion Friday against NorthWood, Irwin scored a game-high 23 points in a 54-49 Sectional 21 victory.Whitko improved to 16-5, while Columbia City finished its season at 7-14.
"We found out they were going to go ahead and let him play - as long as he could play and until he said he needed to come out," Whitko coach, and father of Logan, Rob Irwin said.
"He did run at 3:30 (p.m.) today, and that was the first time he had run since Friday," he added. "We tried to get him to shoot yesterday, and he got sick."
In the opening half, the frosh's shot was a little astray, going 2 for 7, but in the second half, he began to find his game, mostly penetrating and getting to the free throw line, where he hit 9 of 10 second-half attempts.
Trailing the entire game, after holding a brief 9-8 first-quarter lead, Columbia City did find a way to climb back, tying the game at 33-33 in the third and 35-35 to open the fourth.
However, each time the Eagles knotted the score, it was Irwin who scored Whitko's next points, serving as a real downer to the guys in maroon and old gold.
"Good players take the basketball when they need it," Columbia City coach Dave Parker said of Irwin, who also had six rebounds, three steals and two assists in the win. "They make the plays that need to be made, and regardless of whether or not he's a freshman, he's a good player. I'm gonna get sick of watching him for the next three years."
Irwin's biggest antidote to a Columbia City run came late in the game following two free throws by Eagles junior James Schmidt, cutting the Whitko lead to 49-47 with 34.3 seconds remaining.
Eight seconds later, Irwin had driven the ball down the court, penetrated the lane, drew a foul, made the bucket, let out a scream and followed it with a free throw, upping the lead back to 52-47 with 26.1 seconds left in the game.
"That was kind of a backbreaker," Parker said. "That was a disappointing play, because we're smarter than that. That was it."
It actually appeared the Eagles were done well before that, but 8-for-16 shooting from behind the three-point arc kept things close.
Columbia City's last trey came from Schmidt following an Eagles missed free throw, which resulted in a four-point possession for the Eagles, and cut the lead to 47-45 with 1:02 to play.
"You just can't make mistakes against their offense, because they have guys that can shoot that three," Rob Irwin said. "It seemed like, when we made a mistake, they nailed them tonight."
Despite missing all four of their three-point attempts, Whitko still came out on top, a trend that Rob Irwin has noticed during the entire season.
"This group just finds ways to win most nights," he said. "This is just another one of those nights where they found a way get it done."
And when you have a one-two punch of Logan Irwin and sophomore Zac VanDeWater, finding ways to win gets a little easier.
While Irwin was having his first-half struggles, VanDeWater went 3 for 4 from the field and 4 for 4 from the free-throw line en route to a 10-point, four-rebound first half.
"Zac played really well," Rob Irwin said of VanDeWater, who finished with 16 points and six boards. "He didn't just settle for three-pointers, which he had been doing. He took the ball to the hoop and got some inside-outside stuff."
Following its first sectional win since March 4, 2003, Whitko will now prepare to face West Noble Friday (5-15) at 6 p.m. West Noble is in the semifinals thanks to a first-round bye.
In their Dec. 16 game in Ligonier, Whitko defeated West Noble 73-70 without 6-foot-9 center Kaden Krull, who had six points and five rebounds in the win over Columbia City.
"Right now, we just want to heal up," Rob Irwin said. "We want to give Logan another day to get back to completely normal. We'll walk through West Noble (today) and practice hard Thursday. We played them without Kaden the first time. So, hopefully, Kaden can make a big difference."
