BOUNCE: Area boys hoops teams who are better than their record may indicate

Sometimes there are tough schedules. Sometimes there are just tough starts; injuries, illnesses, a youth movement.

There are a lot of reasons for a team to struggle in the first half or so of a season. So as we sit here around the midpoint of boys high school basketball season, Bounce wanted to take a look at some of the teams who are better in my mind than what their record indicates.

CONCORDIA (4-9)

The Cadets sit 0-4 in the conference and despite their record, they are overall in games with a defensive averages just six points worse than their offensive average so far this season. Outside of a couple of games, the are contending well including a loss just last Friday by 13 to South Side and competitive losses to Norwell, East Noble and Leo on their schedule that has passed.

Rashon Johnson is one of the better pure athletes on the landscape that we don’t talk about enough and there is a lot around him that works. Johnson is a constant double double threat who is scrappy and active. Freshman Charlie Bailey has shown some flashes that he could be one the SAC’s top players during his career, while senior Charlie Lang has hit some big and bountiful shots this season. Concordia has a roster full of workhorses. They are +15.3 in their four wins with only one of those coming by single digits.

WARSAW (6-7)

Warsaw’s seven losses have certainly not come to bad teams and among their wins, there is gold: Blackhawk Christian and over a then-unbeaten Goshen. But you a non-winning record next to a program like Warsaw and it raises eyebrows. But Warsaw’s opponents this season are a combined 102-62, showing just how tough this schedule is for the Tigers.

Mydin Burgher continues to be a significant bright spot for this team that is still rebuilding after a great class of 2025 was lost to graduation. Sam Lara just posted a career high 22 points in last week’s loss to state ranked Columbia City, Sam McDaniels has been able to provide big pushes at various times this season as well and Jaron Courtois has been reliable in controlling rebounding for the Tigers. They may sit at 6-7, but this is a team that is still very dangerous every night.

SOUTH ADAMS (3-7)

When you have an unbalanced record, but you are averaging more points per game (56.3) than you are giving up per game (54), it certainly means there is more to a story of a team. And that story is a five point season opening loss to current ACAC leaders Bluffton, it is a two-point loss to Fort Recovery (OH), it is a one-point loss at still-unbeaten Blackford. Make no mistake, in these games, the Starfires were very much alive, as were they in 38, 16 and 24 point wins this season.

This is a team with a lot of guys fresh out of a solid football run this fall, so it took a bit to get their feet under them. That even goes for leading scorer Tytus Lehman (14 ppg), who was a football workhorse, but had some shooting woes early that have long since been remedied including a 22 point game against Blackford. That early slow start made room for Derek McKean to step in and put up some quality games too, as the senior has been a breakout guy in the ACAC at times. But behind those two, no other consistent contributor is a senior so this group has a lot of room to grow. Sophomore Owen Roe has been impressive at 7.7 points and 2.3 steals per game.

NORWELL (9-4)

But Bounce, how can an 9-4 team be “better than their record indicates”? Simple, as we look at the forefront of the NE8, people are talking New Haven and Columbia City and Huntington North. But Norwell has been one of the better surprises this season, showing that there isn’t much of a down year when there is a McBride on the roster, let alone two of them. Even at 2-1 in the conference, they are far from out of the title picture. Yet, how much talk in the general hoops world is there about Norwell? Not enough.

Nick and Josh McBride have been terrific and have almost taken turns doing so. Not only are they shooting and scoring the basketball very well, the brothers have stepped up in a lot of ways including rebound and dishing out assists to get other involved; in last weekend’s win over Bellmont, they each had four assists and in this Tuesday’s win over Adams Central, Nick McBride dished out 12 assists, a number rarely seen on the high school scene in Northeast Indiana. Cooper Bunn and Drew Jolley have both gotten involved heavily in the offense, while Noah Comer has been a help on the glass, including 10 rebounds Tuesday in a win over Adams Central. Norwell has guys, and guys beyond the brothers, so even with their record where it is, they are probably better than we know.

NORTH SIDE (6-7)

The Legends lost their first four and five of their first six games. Once that happens, it can be difficult to flip a record. But even in those five losses, North Side lost three straight by a total of nine points to DeKalb and current SAC co-leaders South Side and Snider. Since that 1-5 start, the Legends are 6-1 with quality wins over NorthWood and Elkhart before winning two last weekend beating Northrop for their first conference win this season and then upsetting NE8 leader Huntington North last Saturday; they topped East Noble this Tuesday for their sixth win.

Max Goheen is coming off scoring 17 last Friday against Northrop and an uptick for him only means good things for a team who is averaging 61.2 point per game. Omarion Waites had a nice game in the victory over Huntington North and Sebastian Moore is averaging 15.6 points per game to lead the trio, who are all in double digit scoring on average. They are also getting a team best 7.4 rebounds per game from ultra-athletic Maalik Moore; the senior has added some highlight reel blocks to his resume this season as well.

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