PONETO – ACAC boys basketball really kicked into high gear on Saturday night. The weekend preview of the ACAC Tournament that lies ahead certainly didn’t disappoint, especially in Poneto.
Bounce took a Saturday night trip out to Southern Wells to fulfill a promise made this summer when the Raider fans voted the cozy Raiderdome the best gym/arena in Northeast Indiana after Outside the Huddle’s series counting down our favorites. What to expect? I wasn’t quite sure as Heritage has had some up and down moments and the host Southern Wells just recently broke through into the win column.
What I didn’t think, especially at chunks of the first half is that we were looking at a second half showdown with teams neck and neck.
Will Rickerd made that happen, scoring the last five points of the second quarter, all within the final minute to make it a 29-27 game at halftime. Though in favor of Heritage at that point and almost entire first half, Rickerd’s knockdown triple late in the second, followed by free throws with one second left breathed new life into the Raiderdome.
Oh, and there was plenty of life. Honest to goodness fans at Southern Wells, including student sections for both teams, almost made things feel normal in my first ever event inside this domed wonder of a facility. In the end, Heritage eeked out a 66-61 win over the host Raiders to hopefully carry momentum into the conference tournament.
“We can’t take winning for granted because it is not easy; winning a conference game on the road, not easy. We’ve got to go do the same thing on Tuesday,” Heritage coach Adam Gray said. “We’ve got a lot to clean up, but our kids they fight, I am just very proud of them and their effort.”
Much of the first half saw Heritage’s ever changing zone kind of confound the Raiders. Shifting from a 2-3 to a 3-2 (that sometimes resembled both a 1-2-2 and a 2-1-2) made Heritage hard to break down. The gaps changed frequently and Southern Wells was kept guessing. Their three point shooting really kept them in it during the first half, but after trailing 20-14 at the first quarter break, it took what seemed like eons for Southern Wells to get on solid footing. While they tried to get things brewing, Nyles Knapke was torching the Raiders from downtown, hitting four first quarter three pointers to make up the majority of the Heritage scoring.
Dalton Wasson proved to be the thorn in Southern Wells’ side to start the second half. Despite some really good looks near the rim – including Owen Vickery’s one legged step back that he buried with 2:21 to play – Wasson was knocking down the most timely shots. The Raiders got it down to one point early and two points on that Vickery shot that I’m sure was his best mimic of Luka Doncic. Each time, Heritage fired back and if they weren’t hitting shots, their length and offensive rebounding was giving them second or third looks.
“We knew coming into this year that we had some really good shooters that we could put on the floor. That is an advantage for us pretty much every game just with the different options we have,” Gray said. “There are not going to be many nights where none of them are shooting it well.”
Clinging to another two point lead in the final minute of the third, Heritage was able to rotate the ball to Knapke for a three right in front of the Patriot bench. It was another example of Heritage’s wide cast of characters being able to step in while Southern Wells focused on face guarding Luke Saylor with Austin Harris. Not to say that Saylor didn’t get his looks. Moving well without the ball, Saylor worked the baseline well and still led the game in scoring. His biggest highlight however came in the closing seconds of the third on a chase down block that helped Heritage maintain a five point lead at the final quarter break that they quickly moved to eight early in the fourth.
But it never felt like a done deal and that is to Southern Wells’ credit. They fought on the boards and the loud crowd reverberating around the Raiderdome really seemed to get the Raiders going defensively.
Branson Rheinhart and Knapke exchanged three pointers around the six minute mark of the fourth but the long rebounds and hustle of Saylor often kept Southern Wells just a step behind and making them try to play catch up at Heritage’s pace. Again though, Rickerd struck with a a step back triple with 3:49 to play to cut the lead to 58-52 for Heritage. The shot came off a multiple minute series that showed how strong Heritage was in transition but also how feisty the host Raiders were in not going away and capitalizing on Patriot miscues. Still depth played a major role for Heritage who saw just five players score, but got major minutes and energy from the likes of Deontae Cobbins, Leroy Lepper and Howard Kaiser even if they weren’t the ones knocking down the triples that propelled Heritage.
“I think Luke appreciates it, having shooters around him, knowing it’s not all on him. As much as he can do a lot, he knows we always have two guys in the corners he can throw it to if he drives in and he gets swarmed,” Gray said. “There is a lot he can do and it is also just a big benefit for us that, in theory, we could put five guys on the floor that all shoot it well like Southern Wells does. Just having those guys around makes us pretty tough to guard I think.”
Southern Wells got the lead down to two points again with 41.1 seconds left after a Saylor steal and finished had inflated the lead again back to six. The final close margin came after a Tanner Johnson block gave way to a Rickerd drive where he was fouled, coming down hard and forcing Evan Reynolds to shoot the free throws for him. Then with 31 seconds left and Gray urging to hold the ball, Wasson buried yet another three pointer to seal the game for Heritage, avoiding multiple comeback attempts by the Raiders.
Wasson’s five three pointers gave him all 15 of his points to follow up Knapke, who scored 21 points on seven made three pointers – a school record for three point makes – and Saylor (22 points, 10 rebounds). Rickerd led Southern Wells with 17 points.
As the ACAC Tournament approaches, the Patriots still have some things they need to focus on, including free throws. The Patriots were 5-of-17 from the line.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
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