Raiders Escape Wawasee Late
SYRACUSE – The Wawasee basketball team just cannot seem to figure out the Northern Lakes Conference. The Warriors welcomed in Northridge for an NLC contest Saturday night but the Warriors could not convert baskets late in the game in order to pull out the victory. Wawasee fell to 0-6 in the NLC by way of a 54-50 loss at the hands of the Raiders.
“It’s really big to get a close win like this,” said Northridge head coach Ronnie Thomas. “With sectionals coming up, and when you’re in a tough sectional like ours, it’s good to know that you can win these tight games.
“I think our composure was good down the stretch and our guys just really understood the situation. Our guys knew what we wanted offensively and adjusted to what Wawasee was doing on defense.”
Northridge came up with some big buckets late and converted from the free throw line to keep Wawasee from getting its first NLC win in 27 games. Tom Morrison and Christian Bach really came up big as the only two Raiders to score in double digits. Morrison had 13 while Bach had 12. Bach was a perfect 5-5 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and added three boards and two blocks.
“In games like this you have to ave guys step up, Christian Bach was that guy for us tonight,” Thomas added about his second-leading scorer.
Wawasee kept turnovers to a minimum and did not have any glaring mental gaffes, the Warriors just lacked that big, momentum swinging play. Though, to have a momentum swinging play, you have to be given the chance.
In the fourth quarter Wawasee found itself with an 8-1 advantage in fouls. After some complaining from the Raiders bench, Wawasee found itself the victim of four straight fouls. On back-to-back offensive possessions David Rocha was called for his first two fouls of the night, both for a moving screen. The Warriors were called for a moving screen an eye-popping four times in Saturday’s game. But the last two seemed to be the most questionable and cost the Warriors big opportunities at a critical time.
But what it ultimately boiled down to was Northridge’s ability to convert in big moments all game long.
“The difference between being a winner and being a champion is just those little plays,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “Northridge made the big plays in the paint tonight and that just killed us.”
Wawasee (7-9, 0-6) was led offensively by Alex Clark’s 23 points. Aaron Voirol also came up big with 14. Another crippling stat for Wawasee, however, was getting just two points off the bench in the contest.
Wawasee has one last chance to snap the NLC skid this season. The Warriors will travel to Goshen Thursday night.
“Goshen has a few guys to watch out for,” Wiktorowski said. “Austin Woolett on the inside is a legitimate post player. There’s not a lot of really good back to the basket post players in the NLC but he is definitely one of them.
“Brady Bechtel is a lot like Pete Smith that we saw tonight. He gets a lot of picks, he gets his shot off quick and he can shoot the three off the dribble. We’re going to need a good balance, inside and outside, on defense next week.”
Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.
In the junior varsity contest it was Northridge winning a 44-34 decision. Stephon Miller led Wawasee with 12 points. Joe Smith led all players with 19 points for Northridge.