Whitko’s Robbie Owsley had one of the toughest jobs in the state Friday night, guarding NorthWood’s Braxton Linville. The Panther senior lit Whitko up for 29 points in a 64-50 win. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SOUTH WHITLEY – When NorthWood needed it, Braxton Linville became it. The star guard for the Panthers was a perfect 14-14 from the free throw line, and provided enough juice for Class 3-A No. 2 NorthWood to hold off a pesky Whitko side, 64-50, Friday night in boys buckets.

Linville was 8-8 from the line in the fourth quarter, getting to the stripe seemingly at will. But a huge three from Linville was part of an 8-0 run in the fourth. Whitko had clawed back to trail just 46-42 after River West nailed a three. But Linville sank two from the line, and after Vincent Miranda hit two free throws, Linville nailed the three from the left corner to put Wood up 11.

NorthWood’s Luke Zurcher attempts to save a ball to teammate Vincent Miranda.

Linville scored 29 points in the game, 13 coming in the fourth quarter before exiting to a standing ovation from the Panther contingent that made the long drive from Nappanee. Linville also had nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block, but had to do a balancing act for much of the game after picking up two fouls in the first 1:46 of the first quarter.

The three-headed monster of Linville, Miranda and Dakiyron Fox scored 57 of the Panthers’ points. Miranda had 15 himself, but also danced the line with four fouls in the fourth – the third and fourth coming one second apart right after Linville’s huge three. Fox had a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds, but had just one point in the second half.

“Our experience was beneficial tonight and our guard play helped us through,” said NorthWood head coach Aaron Wolfe. “It’s always good to close out a basketball game going into sectionals. We had our leaders step up and close this one out.”

Whitko didn’t back down from its stiffest test of the season. The Wildcats had numerous chances to put the heat on NorthWood, but couldn’t get shots to fall. Whitko was 17-54 from the floor Friday night (32 percent), but had nearly a half-dozen threes rattle in and out, as well as point-blank looks at the bucket in the first half that resulted in empty possessions.

A 10-9 Whitko lead quickly turned into a 17-10 NorthWood advantage, and several two-possession situations turned into double-digit Panther leads as Whitko couldn’t stop Fox or Linville diving to the bucket.

Whitko’s Tanner Gaff goes to the hoop against NorthWood’s Dakiyron Fox.

Nate Walpole did what he could for Whitko, scoring 24 points but was a salty 2-12 from three-point range. Walpole was 8-8 from the free throw line, scoring 15 of his points in the second half mostly on sheer willpower. West was held to 11 points, five below his season average, and Devon Adkins also scored 11 points. Adkins hit a big three to end the third quarter, and combined with West’s trey to open the fourth, which helped slice a 12-point NorthWood lead to four.

“We played really well tonight, but just didn’t shoot the ball well,” said Whitko head coach Roger Fleetwood. “To beat somebody that much better than you, you better make a good percentage of your shots. We played them as tough as anyone all year. We went toe-to-toe with them, man-to-man for 32 minutes knowing how good they were. I am extremely proud of our effort and our toughness. To win sectional games, you have to have toughness, and this was a good showing of that.”

NorthWood moves to 20-2 on the season, and has the potential to enter the state tournament next week as Class 3-A’s No. 1 team as top-ranked Griffith lost earlier in the week to Bowman Academy. The Panthers will host Sectional 21 and will face West Noble (4-18) in the first game Tuesday.

“It’s always nice to host the sectional and I know our guys will be comfortable at The Pit,” Wolfe said. “I know West Noble will offer a tough challenge, and we’ve seen them a few weeks back. In my experience, previous games don’t weigh very much for the next game. The players seem to write their own stories for the next game.”

Whitko (13-9) will take on Bremen (4-18) in Tuesday’s lone game at the Class 2-A Westview Sectional, a 7 p.m. tip. Bremen is the only team in the sectional without double-digit wins, but Fleetwood isn’t sleeping on the Lions.

“If the rest of us played the schedule Bremen plays, we would have records like they have,” Fleetwood said. “They play seven 4-A schools, and that’s seven losses. Take that away and they are right there with everyone. The cliche of everyone is 0-0 to start the tournament, well, it’s truly that with this sectional. There isn’t more than 10 points difference between the best team and worst team.”

The JV game was all NorthWood in an 80-37 final. Kaden Gongwer led NorthWood with 20 points and Luke Holland added 14 points. The Whitko JV had Alex Bechtold drop in 15 points and Shad Ebbinghouse offer 10 points.

River West launches a three-point shot against NorthWood.