Wawasee Boys Sting Hornets
Anthony Gadson
Sports Writer
SYRACUSE - From the opening tip to the last 40 seconds, all Wawasee's varsity boys basketball team did was run, run, run in its season opener.
The Warriors scored the most points in the state Saturday, defeating the Angola Hornets 101-48, displaying their up-tempo pace, including a full-court press and half-court traps.
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"We tried to do what we wanted to do right from the outset," Wawasee head coach Phil Mishler said. "It's just a lot of communication, mixing things up and having people at the right spots. Last year, it was a transition year to playing that kind of defense. We weren't necessarily able to read as well as we are this year. I think we're a little bit quicker and little bit stronger, but we also understand what we want to do a little bit better too."
Senior Keegan Beer definitely understands things a little more, opening the season with a 33-point effort. He also made five steals.
"That light has come on," Mishler. "He understands the game. Obviously, Keegan is not the most athletic kid you'll see out on the court. That switch has flipped and he understands if you play hard and you give it everything you've got every single time you come out on the court it will come naturally."
One thing that didn't come naturally for the Hornets (0-1) was Wawasee's (1-0) style of play, which put them down.
After nabbing a 6-4 lead on a bucket by senior Carey Daley-Manahan, Angola looked to be OK, but then Wawasee closed the first quarter on a 15-2 run, taking a 19-8 lead into the second quarter.
"We hit one three in the first quarter, and that's kind of what we've been known for and what teams are going to try to stop," Mishler said. "We were still able to score off our defense, as well as passing and layups. We felt really good about getting an 11-point lead with only hitting one three."
Mishler also had to be feeling pretty good about the play of freshman Jacob Thompson, who scored six points, grabbed three rebounds and recorded an assist to go with a steal in the first quarter.
"He does not play like a freshman at all," Mishler said of Thompson, who finished with 19 points, six rebounds and two steals. "We thought he'd make a few freshman mistakes early, but he's got the physical nature, but more importantly, he's a solid competitor. He's always searching for things to make him better. When you have player like that on your team, no matter what the talent is, you're gonna have someone who's really, really improving. The sky's the limit for him."
Along with the production of Beer and Thompson, Wawasee also got a great game out of junior Riley Stichter, who hit 9 of 13 shots on his way to 22 points to go with eight rebounds and five steals.
On the night, Wawasee forced 33 Angola turnovers, 22 coming off steals, as junior Trevor McKibben joined Beer and Stichter in the five-steal club.
"We're going to face teams that have a lot more athleticism than us, and that's going to make a difference in our defensive pressure," Mishler said. "They're going to be quicker than us and stronger than us. We just need to understand if we continue to do what we're trying to do, then just let the chips fall where they may."
Despite getting the big win, Mishler never looked too comfortable, getting quite upset with the three-second call midway through the third quarter with a 58-33 lead.
"In our system, a 20-point lead is more of a seven-point lead in regular play," he said. "It can turn around just as quickly when you're gambling like we do. You have to figure that in. You can never stop playing. When you have the rotation we have, there's really no time to stop playing. You always need to be making mental decisions the right way. You have to address that."
The rotation he had Saturday was 13-deep and included 10 guys that also played in the junior varsity game.
"Angola's a great team," Mishler said. "They have a great coach, they have a great system and they're a winning program. To win like this, it was a good confidence builder."
Wawasee's next shot at building more confidence comes Saturday at West Noble.
WAWASEE 101, ANGOLA 48
A 8 16 15 9 - 48
W 19 28 26 28 - 101
Wawasee - Keegan Beer 12-18 3-3 33, Trevor McKibben 4-9 1-2 9, Jake Thompson 8-15 1-3 19, Jake Clark 4-4 0-0 8, Riley Stichter 9-13 4-5 22, Cody Blunk 1-2 0-1 2, Trent Koble 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Hatfield 0-2 2-2 2, Zac Patrick 0-0 1-2 1, Justin Fick 0-0 0-0 0, Bauer Schmeltz 1-1 0-0 3, Cody McBride 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 39-65 14-20 101.
Angola - Nick Burlingame 5-14 0-0 10, Carey Daley-Manahan 5-9 0-3 11, Trey Salinas 2-4 0-1 4, Josh Quandt 4-5 0-0 8, Alexx Bauer 1-2 0-0 2, Logan Sellers 2-5 0-0 4, Hunter Guthrie 2-6 0-0 5, Riley Zimmer 0-0 0-0 0, Robby Boots 0-0 0-0 0, Skylar Parker 1-3 0-0 2, Joel Lopshire 0-2 0-0 0, Brady Boots 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 23-53 0-4 48.
Three-point goals - Wawasee 9 (Beer 6, J. Thompson 2, Schmeltz), Angola 2 (Daley-Manahan, Guthrie); Team Fouls - Wawasee 16, Angola 18; Turnovers - Wawasee 14, Angola 33; Rebounds - Wawasee 33 (Stichter 8, J. Thompson 6), Angola 31 (Burlingame 7); Assists - Wawasee 17 (Blunk 4, Clark 3), Angola 5 (Quandt 2); Steals - Wawasee 22 (Beer 5, Stichter 5, McKibben 5); Blocks - Wawasee 3 (Schmeltz 2), Angola 2; Records: Wawasee 1-0, Angola 0-1
JV - Wawasee 52, Angola 30
Wawasee (1-0) - L. Thompson 17, McBride 14, Fick 6, Blunk 5, Schmeltz 4, Koble 3, J. Thompson 2, Patrick 1
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