Concord’s Filip Serwatka led all players with 29 points, 14 rebounds and one block in his team’s 65-51 victory over Wawasee. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

ELKHART – Offensively it was perhaps the most consistent game the Wawasee basketball team had played all year. Defensively? Not so much.

The Warriors traveled to McCuen Gym Friday night to take on Northern Lakes Conference foe Concord. Records meant nothing to a Concord team that entered the game with just two wins. The Minutemen played their best offensive game of the year and downed the Warriors 65-51.

There were two options the Warriors could have taken with their defensive strategy. Option one was to let Concord’s stud, Filip Serwatka, play his game and shut the rest of the team down. Option two was to shut Serwatka down and make the rest of Concord’s team step up. Neither were accomplished.

Aaron Voirol was 3-5 from the floor in Friday’s loss to Concord.

Serwatka was the story of the game. The 6’5″ senior tore up Wawasee’s defense from start to finish. He scored the first eight points of the game for the Minutemen, had 17 of the team’s 31 first half points and finished by leading all scorers with 29 points. Serwatka also pulled down 14 of Concord’s 27 rebounds.

Though the game was still well within reach, Serwatka seemingly put the exclamation point on Concord’s performance with back-to-back alley-oop dunks to start the third quarter. The Warriors simply had no answer for the big man.

Those athletic dunks can be seen by clicking this link.

“It’s difficult for us to shut down someone like Serwatka inside when we’re playing from 12 points down,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “We did some nice things offensively, especially in the second half but we just couldn’t get enough defensive stops and couldn’t get to the line.”

Wawasee hit an impressive nine three-pointers in the game. Alex Clark led the Warriors with three makes from deep, he also led the team with 13 points and three assists. The issue was that Concord also had a good night from beyond the arc as it hit seven threes, most of which came while Wawasee sat in a zone defense. That left Concord shooters open way too frequently and they did not miss their chance as six Minutemen hit from deep in Friday’s game.

Jake Hutchinson was a perfect 2-2 from deep in Friday’s game.

When the Minutemen weren’t busy making it rain, they were scoring inside by attacking the basket and getting second chance points, another area where Wawasee had to do better. The Warriors lost the battle on the boards 27-18 and were outscored 13-5 on second chance points.

When it came to attacking the basket, Concord was fearless inside and, in turn, were fouled more often and took advantage of the opportunities at the charity stripe. The home squad was 14-17 from the line. Wawasee did not play fearless inside and only made it to the free throw line a total of four times in the game.

The Warriors were able to chip a 16-point second half deficit down to 10 points with under five minutes left in the fourth quarter, but it never got closer than that.

Were there positives? Of course, every game has its fair share of ups and downs, but ultimately Wawasee players, coaches and fans are left scratching their heads once again as the team picks up its seventh straight loss while the program’s NLC losing streak now stands at 26 games.

Wawasee (5-8, 0-5) will turn right around and play Lakeland Saturday night. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. Concord (3-12, 1-4) will travel to LaPorte on Saturday for a 7:45 p.m. tip.

The junior varsity game provided fans with a lot of entertainment. Wawasee’s Trevon Coleman hit a basket in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter to force overtime with Concord. In the extra session it was Parker Hatfield that played the role of hero by hitting a go-ahead shot with two seconds left to give the Warriors a 37-35 victory. Aaron Beer led Wawasee with 11 points. Hatfield added five points and seven rebounds.
Watch the video below to see Hatfield’s game winning bucket.