NAPPANEE - It didn't look impossible, but a Class 3A Sectional 21 championship looked kind of improbable for the Whitko Wildcats Saturday at NorthWood High School.
With Whitko trailing 39-31 midway through the third quarter, the Lakeland Lakers (18-6) spread out their offense in an apparent stalling offense, which coach Tim Sirk objected."We only did it twice, and we made a bucket and made a turnover," Sirk said of the offense which involved players in four corners, while the ballhandler rested the ball on his hip at one point. "The thinking was, they had (6-foot-9 senior Kaden Krull) in, so we could drive by him. It wasn't really something where we were trying to take time off the clock. It was just something we thought we could spread it out and get drives."
Whatever it was, the Whitko (18-5) defense began swarming, outscoring Lakeland 20-10 the rest of the way, resulting in a 51-49 victory.
"We had to go to our scramble (defense), the press stuff we do," Whitko coach Rob Irwin said. "We haven't shown much of it in the tournament, but it was do-or-die. I told the kids, 'You have to suck it up, go get them and make it crazy.' Fortunately, they got back on their heels a little bit and we got on a roll. Things just went our way."
The frantic defense handed the Wildcats their first sectional championship since 2001, advancing the squad into Saturday's Blackford Regional, where they'll face Harding (9-14) in the seccond semifinal game at noon.
With a win, they'll advance to Saturday night's championship against the winner of the day's early game between No. 8 Peru (19-4) and Delta (20-4).
On top of advancing to their first regional in eight years, the 18 wins are also the most for Whitko since a Bill Patrick-led Wildcats team finished the 1993-94 season with an 18-5 mark.
"Whitko's back on the map," freshman Logan Irwin said. "We haven't won this for eight years. Now, we've got it. We've all stuck together, been through a lot and it's been worth it."
And in the championship game, it was a player that coach Rob Irwin's been looking for all year that made the difference.
Connecting on a career-high 6 of 9 three-pointers, junior Travis Lepper posted a career-high 20 points in the win.
"From the first one I let go, I was feeling it," Lepper said. "I knew from there, coach gave me the green light. So, I just let it go."
Hitting all five of his treys in the first half, Lepper scored nine points in a row for the Wildcats, turning a 14-10 deficit into a 19-18 lead with 3:38 left in the second quarter.
"He kept us in it the first half," Rob Irwin said of Lepper's shooting. "We had a chance to be buried, but when he gets on a roll, he's hard to deal with. He did tonight - thank goodness."
If the Whitko skipper was happy to see the shots fall, Lakeland's head man may have also been happy for Lepper, but maybe wished he had gotten hot on another night.
"The kid hit some shots," Sirk said. "From what we saw, he hadn't shot that well all year. Boy, he shot well tonight."
Even with that hot shooting, Whitko still found itself in a tough spot when Lakeland senior Tanner King hit a shot in the lane midway through the fourth, accompanied with an official's whistle. The bucket would have given his team a 45-40 lead, however, the whistle was for a travelling call, negating the bucket.
"I thought that was a turning point, and a huge one," Sirk said.
"That decision, that call, was just something that was huge," he added. "It goes our way, I think we win the game. It goes their way, I think they win the game. It went their way."
And down the stretch, it was a battle between the two coaches' sons - Logan Irwin for Whitko and junior Jake Sirk for Lakeland.
Up 46-45, Irwin extended Whitko's lead to three points with a shot in the lane with 1:09 to play, but a three-pointer by Sirk knotted the score 15 seconds later.
Tied up, Irwin hit a pair of free throws with 38.5 seconds left, while Sirk came back and hit one of two, leaving his team down 50-49 with 25 seconds left.
Needing a foul, it was Irwin who Lakeland sent to the free throw line again, hitting one of two, leading to a 51-49 lead going into the final 15.2 seconds of the game.
With the game on the line, Lakeland senior Marcus Avery rushed the ball down the court, and got a one-on-one opportunity with 6-foot-5 Whitko sophomore Zac VanDeWater.
Going right at him, VanDeWater used his wingspan to block an unbalanced lay-up attempt.
"I thought, 'Don't let him get it up.'," VanDeWater said of his defense. "I wanted to contest it as much as I could without fouling, but fouling's better than giving up an open lay-up."
Avery did get the ball back after the block, but his off-balance shot off the glass went astray, and Lepper was there to get the rebound as time expired.
"We just didn't get it done tonight," the Lakeland coach said. "Did the best we could, just couldn't get it all the way done."
The loss left Lakeland's four starting seniors looking befuddled on the court, including the fantastic King, who hit 7 of 11 shots on his way to 15 points.
Being face-guarded the entire game, King scored 11 of his points in the opening half, but only got one shot off in the fourth quarter, a miss.
"A lot of teams have (done that)," Tim Sirk said of face-guarding King.
On the night, Whitko senior Ryan Bumbaugh didn't score a point. He pulled down one rebound and blocked one shot. Where he made good was on his main objective, following King.
"I thought Ryan Bumbaugh did a fantastic job on King," Rob Irwin said. "Especially in the second half."
Irwin overcame a rough shooting game to finish with 13 points, while Krull made his presence felt, hitting 5 of 6 shots on his way to 12 points and five rebounds.
Following a 10:30 p.m. pep rally Saturday, the Wildcats are now prepping for another celebration on an even bigger stage.
"I would guess most of the Pierceton, South Whitley residents are here," Rob Irwin said. "We'll go back, enjoy it and get ready for next week."
