Each week, Bounce will pick the results of a handful of the best girls games and handful of the best boys games in the area.
I bounced back – pun intended? – from a bad first week, but those games against out of area teams really hurt me. Oh, and picking the Bellmont boys.
Let’s give it another go this week.
LAST WEEK: 9-5
OVERALL: 12-11
GIRLS
Warsaw at Carroll, Wednesday
Carroll has shown major signs of growth lately, including last week’s early effort against Homestead. The Chargers are close, but Warsaw is another massive test for them as the Tigers seem to be clicking pretty well right now. BOUNCE PICKS WARSAW
Bellmont at Bishop Luers, Wednesday
Two intriguing teams in the area and this is a great test of the SAC versus NE8 theory. A really good NE8 team up against a solid, middle of the pack SAC squad. BOUNCE PICKS BELLMONT
Northrop at East Noble, Wednesday
East Noble has had a tremendous start and one that has built a lot of confidence. The Knights will need to avoid getting rushed out of the gate and hope that Northrop has a bit of a slow start off their tough weekend loss. Win or lose, we could truly know who the Knights are out of this one. BOUNCE PICKS NORTHROP
Bluffton at Woodlan, Friday
The Tigers got off to a monster start and and if they are to contend in the ACAC, they need this one to stay alive. That said, this is a tough road trip as Woodburn is not an easy place to play. If it wasn’t for a NE8 tilt elsewhere on Friday, this would be the game of the week. Both of these coaches are getting the best out of their programs and growing depth right now and it could be a toss up. But Bounce can’t say toss up, can he? BOUNCE PICKS BLUFFTON
Norwell at Columbia City, Friday
The biggest game of the week, I don’t care about class, conference or boys/girls. This game is the standard for the entire week and should be a monumental Friday clash. Each team is very good executing really tough game plans and you can bet that Amy Shearer and Eric Thornton are both putting their best work to play all week long in practice.
To me, this comes down to who can bear down best defensively and avoid major runs. Both teams are more than capable of going on an 8 or 10 or 12 point run. Which defense can avoid that? Who can actually stop the opposing team’s well run offensive sets? BOUNCE PICKS COLUMBIA CITY
Bellmont at East Noble, Friday
The week doesn’t get any easier for East Noble, does it? Bellmont’s program is the perfect blueprint for how East Noble can become a consistent threat or even contender in the NE8 for years to come. I have early confidence that is where the Knights are headed, but the Braves are already there. BOUNCE PICKS BELLMONT
Northrop at Bishop Luers, Friday
Northrop is still right in the hunt of the SAC and they will get a solid conference test here with a Luers team who remains undervalued, perhaps even by me. Destini Craig, though not a “true big”, battling for rebounds with Addie Shank is highly intriguing. BOUNCE PICKS NORTHROP
BOYS
Leo at Bishop Luers, Tuesday
Luers is coming off a big win against a ranked team in Class 2A while Leo pushed area #1 Wayne last week. Nolan Hiteshew didn’t play for Leo last Friday against Heritage so that means the Lions are in need of another playmaker against a deeply athletic Luers squad. Landon Ruoff looked good last week so Leo may look to him to push physicality. Really good non conference game, which seems to be the scheduling plan of both teams early. BOUNCE PICKS LEO
Lakeland at Fairfield, Tuesday
While a lot of area teams have tough non-conference games this week, look at the NECC where two of the top teams are going to play each other with major conference implications the first week of December. Fairfield may have better depth while Lakeland has the most dominant player in the game in Nate Keil. The way the Lakers were able to stifle Fremont’s offense last week has me calling for a mild upset. BOUNCE PICKS LAKELAND
New Haven at Wayne, Wednesday
Talk about not taking scheduling breaks. These two teams have both had a gauntlet in front of them early in the season. Ajani Washington has been a freak everywhere on the court and a dual between him and Jevon Lewis and/or Chase Barnes may even be better than Lewis versus Jackson McGee of Leo last week. The emergence of JC Cottrell for New Haven adds confidence in the Bulldogs, but Wayne is Wayne and playing at home, this team just looks super comfortable so far. BOUNCE PICKS WAYNE
North Side at South Side, Friday
Why is this game here? Well, the rivalry continues to be intense for the Reichert-Hey Trophy. North Side has started this season looking like everything we wanted to expect of them and the duo of Jaxson Fugate and Eugene Young is making their claim for the best duo in the area. South Side played hard last week in loss and Cadell Wallace is bringing a lot of energy, but do the Archers have enough depth? BOUNCE PICKS NORTH SIDE
Blackhawk Christian at Norwell, Saturday
Welcome to The Castle, a place where the path to victory is never easy for opposing teams. Ashton Federspiel has been a huge bright spot for Norwell, but now he is going to get his biggest task. And Kellen Pickett is a big task. BOUNCE PICKS BLACKHAWK CHRISTIAN
Woodlan at Leo, Saturday
If you’ve seen these two do battle over the past few years, you know that it is rarely boring and often ends in the closing minutes or seconds. Having it early in the season now is a good shift for Leo, who often seemed to have less to prove late in the season against Woodlan. Woodlan has needed to establish depth and last week, junior Mason Moore stepped up big for them to make the Warriors a bigger threat. In a game of matchups though, Leo still looks stronger. Let’s see if this comes down to a Braden Smith buzzer beater or not, shall we? BOUNCE PICKS LEO
Carroll at Columbia City, Saturday
Columbia City stumbled out of the gate mostly because shots weren’t falling at times they needed them to. Their win over Canterbury perhaps remedied that with Matt Mulligan looking like the threat he was all summer. Carroll though is beating teams in a lot of ways, shooting the ball well and have been quick off the dribble. BOUNCE PICKS CARROLL
Westview at Central Noble, Saturday
Another early game with potential NECC title implications. The Warriors have looked the part of conference frontrunner with Wyatt Zepp, Wiley Minix, Luke Helmuth and most recently Kaden Grau all posting good to great numbers. On the other end is a Central Noble team off to a 3-0 start with Drew Pliett playing the best basketball of his high school career. Why do I have the feeling this isn’t the last time we will see this pairing play this season? BOUNCE PICKS WESTVIEW
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