SOUTH WHITLEY - The Whitko Wildcats and Tippecanoe Valley Vikings are heading in opposite directions.
Defeating Valley 53-45 at home Friday in boys basketball action, the Wildcats (5-2, 1-0 Three Rivers Conference) increased their win streak to five games, while the Vikings (2-5, 0-1 TRC) dropped their fourth-straight game."The first two games, I just didn't do a good enough job of coaching, to be honest," Whitko coach Rob Irwin said about his team beginning the season at 0-2. "We were shooting awful, and we kept shooting. That's not a very good thing to do. Now, we're more selective and we're starting to shoot the ball better."
In each team's first conference game, Whitko sophomore Logan Irwin and junior Zac VanDeWater were the hot shooters, scoring 30 and 15 points, respectively, combining to score 87 percent of Whitko's points.
After picking up two quick fouls to open the second quarter, Irwin was sent to the bench, but VanDeWater responded by scoring 13 points in the frame.
"That's the best quarter Zac's played all season," Irwin said of VanDeWater, whose first two points came on a putback dunk. "It was the most aggressive he has been. It was nice that we were able to stay close with Logan on the bench."
Once Irwin was back on the floor, neither team found scoring easy in the third quarter, as each tallied six points, leading to a 35-35 game going into the fourth.
"In the second half, we didn't score, but in the third quarter, we didn't let them score," Valley coach Bill Patrick said. "Our defense, it was fine. It was just going into the last quarter, we found ourselves with nine fouls and they had one or two. It's a big difference from the foul line. When you're in that situation, anytime you touch them, they may go to the free-throw line."
Given Valley's foul situation, Whitko was in the bonus with six minutes remaining, and Irwin took advantage of it by hitting 9 of 12 attempts, helping guide his team to the victory.
"It would have been a big win," Patrick said. "We didn't play too well against Peru Tuesday (losing 66-38 at home), but tonight I felt we got a really solid effort. Our kids played hard and competed. We got beat, but there were a lot of positive things."
One of those positives was the play of senior Zach Owens.
Going tit-for-tat with VanDeWater in the second quarter, Owens scored 17 of his team-high 20 points in the first half. However, the Whitko defense tightened in the second half, allowing him to only score three more points.
"They kept track of him and played a little bit different defense," Patrick said of Whitko's ability to slow Owens in the second half. "They tried to come out on him and force him to put the ball on the floor. I thought they were looking to double team him a little bit. We probably should have given him a break too. He played the whole game, and he might have gotten a little tired in the second half."
Owens played the whole game because he needed to with his team in a close battle.
Ahead 42-38, Whitko went into a stalling offense that almost backfired in the fourth quarter.
Trailing by four, the Vikings waited through a two-and-a-half minute possession and scored on consecutive possessions to tie the game at 42-42 with 2:32 remaining.
But just as fast as Valley tied it up, Irwin put them back down by drilling a contested three-pointer with 2:13 remaining.
"That was a big 3," Patrick said. "It was a tough shot. If he misses that, we have the basketball and it's a totally different game. He's just a good player and he hit some big shots."
After losing seven-straight games to Valley, Whitko has won the last two, heating up the rivalry even more.
"Coach (Patrick) has them ready to play every time we play them," Irwin said. "It's conference, it's Valley/Whitko - it's the way it's supposed to be."
