IS IT AN UPSET OR IS IT A SHIFT?
Lets talk about Tuesday night and how there were some of what we’d refer to as at least moderate upsets on the plate on the boys side.
Norwell over Mississinewa. Woodlan over Garrett. Lakewood Park over Bluffton. Angola over Wawasee. For many reasons, in many ways, you could absolutely call this a series of upsets. Are they? Or is there a shift in teams that we thought would be lower and teams we expected to be higher when the season began?
There were a lot of preseason questions about Norwell, but after beating Northrop to open the season and their 69-67 overtime win against Ole Miss on Tuesday, could Norwell be a NE8 contender? Josh McBride‘s stat line was significant – 23 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals – but to have five other players with seven or more points and four with four or more rebounds, it adds depth we weren’t sure the Knights had. Cooper Bunn hit all three of his shots and Cade Thornton knocked down three triples for Norwell.
Woodlan came out strong and held off several charges from Garrett to avenge a loss a season ago to the Railroaders. In the end, a 20 points third quarter helped the Warriors hold off Garrett with a couple of young varsity players having breakout games. Freshman Camden Brooks led Woodlan with 14 points while sophomore CJ Bullock added 10. The game was also notable for the return to the court of Garrett junior Isaiah King, who tore his ACL this summer and was expected to miss more time than he did. King scored eight points in 13 minutes of action.
Lakewood Park‘s 64-58 win over Bluffton was a fun one. We knew we’d get a battle between seniors Avery MacFarlane (LP) and Declan Grieser (Bluffton). But the Panthers had many other characters play a big part, especially important with it being a breakout game for sophomore Gavin Grieser, who had 13 points. But the Panthers countered hard with Kobe Marquardt‘s 19 points and 11 from Madden Knox and a big effort from MacFarlane with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. Bluffton did rebound Friday with a conference win over South Adams, led by 16 from Maddox White.
Wawasee is undergoing their own changes so its possible that Angola‘s 48-41 win Tuesday isn’t a surprise to some – but the Warriors changes are additions of talent so keep that in mind. Its not so much that the Hornets won but it introduced the area to fairly fresh name in junior Jacob Fraley. The Hornets only graduated one player, so to have a junior come up from being JV last year to lead the way in this win was important. Fraley, a scrappy guard, scored a game high 16 points including 10 of Angola’s 14 in the fourth quarter. It also shows that the Hornets are rolling early this season; they also picked up a 26 point conference win over Central Noble Friday, paced by 21 points from Niles Knox where all 10 varsity players scored. On Saturday, the Hornets picked up a win over Concord paced by Knox’s 28 along with 24 from Ryan Stuckey.
If you want any more upsets/shifts later in the week: Heritage dominated Leo and South Side upset SAC contenders Snider. South Side got the job done in overtime behind six different double digit scorers, headed by 14 points from Jayvon Irby.
HISTORY FOR WARSAW ISN’T FINISHED YET
Warsaw dominated NorthWood on Tuesday night, beating the Panthers 84-15, including holding NorthWood to just one point in the fourth quarter and scoring more points (17) in the first quarter than NorthWood did all game.
That is the score, but it is far from the lead.
The win was the 800th in the history of Warsaw girls basketball and the 30th consecutive Northern Lakes Conference win for the program. The program hitting a win milestone is significant, but the 30 straight conference wins is one of the more impressive feats in the area in recent years. On Saturday, they topped Wawasee for the 31st straight NLC win.
Is history over yet for the Tigers? Hardly. Joslyn Bricker‘s 24 points on Tuesday moved her up a very impressive scoring list at Warsaw, directly into the #2 spot for the girls. Up next? All-time great Jaclyn Leininger, who was the 2004 Miss Basketball. Leininger set several Warsaw records in her career, but the big one was the 1,607 career points. Bricker, after the NorthWood win, sat just 234 points from Leininger’s almost unbeatable mark. On Saturday, she scored 23 in a win over Wawasee to take that distance behind Leininger down to 211 points.
Record smashing three point shooter Brooke Zartman added seven makes to her record career total against NorthWood and then 6 more against Wawasee.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF IT
The Warsaw boys were on the other side of things this week, dropping games to both Homestead and Huntington North.
On Friday, Mack Welker scored 31 of Homestead’s 48 points in the 48-37 win for the Spartans. Drew Jones‘ 10 points was the only double digit mark for Warsaw in the game, where they actually led at the end of one. Homestead pushed on them from there, showing some depth in their lineup despite Welker doing the heavy lifting in the scoring column.
The game lends to something else this week with Homestead: keep an eye on freshman Mason Weaver and sophomore Ryder Imel, both in coach Chris Johnson‘s starting lineup right now. Although the Spartans graduated a lot last spring, it is rare for any Homestead team to start underclassmen, let alone two of them.
Mydin Burgher scored a career high 25 points on Saturday for Warsaw, but they still fell to Huntington North 60-51, not winning a single individual quarter. Instead, it was the Vikings’ Titus Schultz who took control of the game, scoring 26 points, connecting on 4-of-6 three pointers and a perfect 10-of-10 from the foul line. Dalton Husband added 16 points for Huntington North, while Brayden Freiburger had a game high 10 rebounds.
BOYS QUICK HITS
Eastside‘s Nolan Baker blocked 9 shots to go with his 16 rebounds Monday in a loss to Edgerton (OH)….South Side‘s Terrance Jordan and Central Noble‘s Nick Freeman went to battle Tuesday but it was Jordan and the Archers with the win. Jordan scored 26 points, while Freeman countered with 23….Blackhawk Christian coach Matt Roth won his 75th game on the Braves sidelines Tuesday, 86-73 at North Side; the Braves were led by Bryce Lacross‘ 25 points and 22 from fellow sophomore Drake Sefton….Lavell Ledbetter posted a 14 assist, 10 rebound effort for New Haven Tuesday in a win over Northrop….Lakeland announced that Keyan Arroyo broke the program’s single game steals record opening week with 8 against the Fort Wayne Hawks….Homestead sophomore Ryder Imel made his varsity debut Wednesday with 23 points and seven made three pointers against Manchester….Sophomore Ian St. John of Columbia City had a breakout game Saturday, scoring 31 points on Peru….Cam Summers hit a game winning three for Bellmont against Canterbury on Saturday; Jack Schultz paced the Braves with 18 points.
GIRLS QUICK HITS
On Monday, Leo outscored Concordia 29-12 in the second half for a win behind 16 points from Leah Shappell. Earlier in the game, Concordia‘s Alivia Bolinger surpassed the 1,000 career point mark….Ava Myers (22 points) and Lily George (21 points) were just five points off matching DeKalb (48 points) themselves in a win for Carroll (58-48) on Tuesday….Riah Johnson hit the go ahead bucket Thursday for Lakewood Park in a win over New Haven; she finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds….Norwell girls hit 14 three pointers in their win over Huntington North on Friday….Bluffton‘s Konley Ault scored a season high 32 points Saturday in a win over Southern Wells.
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