Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SOUTH WHITLEY -ÊThe game between Whitko and Southwood may have taken place Friday night, but the glory went to Day.
Derrick Day.
Day exploded in the second quarter, scoring 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field and 2 for 2 from the free throw line to lead Whitko to a 75-49 win over Three Rivers Conference rival Southwood.
Southwood held a 6-5 lead with 4:11 left in the first frame, but that was the last time the Knights held the lead in the contest.
At the 3:11 mark, Alex Frantz hit two free throws to start an 10-1 run that put Whitko up 18-9 going into the second quarter.
After Southwood's Colby Halderman hit the first basket of the second quarter, Day hit a three-pointer to start his amazing run. At the 4:17 mark, Day hit another trey, and followed with three straight baskets to put the Wildcats up 39-17 with 2:52 left in the quarter.
In all, Day hit four three-pointers, three two-pointers and two free throws in the third. He missed just one basket in the quarter on his way to scoring 20 of Whitko's 27 second-quarter points.
The 20-point spurt by Day helped Whitko increase its lead from nine to 23 through the second frame, and the Wildcats took a 45-22 advantage into the halftime break.
"We got a great shooting performance from Derrick Day tonight," said Whitko coach Don Zawlocki. "He scored 20 points in the second quarter, and that was the spark that blew the game wide open."
Whitko picked up where it left off in the third frame, as Marc Walter hit a free throw and John Woods hit a basket and a free throw to put the Wildcats up 49-22.
However, Southwood was not ready to give in. At the 4:37 mark in the third frame, Southwood senior Todd Dale hit two free throws to start a 11-0 run for the Knights. Of those 11 straight points, Dale scored nine and Robert Enyeart scored two to cut Whitko's lead to 51-35.
With just about a second left on the clock, Brad Walpole stopped the Southwood run with a basket of his own to make the score 53-35 going into the final quarter of play.
Walpole started the fourth frame the way he ended the third, hitting two free throws to add to the Wildcat lead.
Whitko continued to dominate offensively through the end of the fourth frame, outscoring Southwood 22-14 to pick up the 75-49 win.
Day led all scorers with 25 points, while Frantz added 13, Woods had 11 and Walpole scored 10.
Dale led Southwood with 15 points, while Enyeart chipped in 13 and Halderman netted 10.
"Jeremy Coble is one of the leading scorers on our team, but he focused on defense tonight," said Zawlocki. "In the first half he really frustrated Todd Dale and held him to just two points, and those came on free throws. Jeremy sacrificed his points to help on the defensive end."
The win improves Whitko's record to 2-1 in the TRC and 8-4 overall. Southwood falls to 0-3 in TRC play and 4-4 overall.
WHITKO 75, SOUTHWOOD 49
Southwood 9 13 13 14 - 49
Whitko 18 27 8 22 - 75
Southwood FG FT R S Pts.
Dale 5-8 4-4 2 0 15
Holderman 5-11 0-0 1 0 10
Mckee 0-5 0-1 6 1 0
Holley 3-6 1-3 4 0 7
Enyeart 4-7 5-9 3 1 13
Chambers 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Rogers 0-1 4-4 0 0 4
Siddall 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 17-39 14-21 18 2 49
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
Walters 0-5 3-4 4 1 3
Coble 2-6 0-0 1 1 5
Walpole 3-7 2-2 2 1 10
Frantz 4-8 5-5 5 0 13
Woods 4-12 3-3 7 0 11
Day 9-12 2-2 7 0 25
Shepherd 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Wendel 1-2 1-2 4 0 3
Smith 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Rupley 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Alspaugh 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 25-54 17-20 30 3 75
Three-point goals - Southwood 1-7 (Dale 1-3, Halderman 0-2, McKee 0-2), Whitko 8-13 (Coble 1-3, Walpole 2-4, Day 5-6). Turnovers -ÊSouthwood 8, Whitko 5. Fouls -ÊSouthwood 13, Whitko 20. Fouled out - none.
JV - WHITKO 50, SOUTHWOOD 31
