Whitko Goes Into New Season With Guards GaloreSOUTH WHITLEY — Whitko goes into the 2019-20 boys basketball season with a number of experienced guards from a team that went 13-10 overall and 6-3 in the Three Rivers Conference last winter.
“We have experience coming back,” says fourth-year Wildcats head coach Eli Henson. “We have good guard play.”
Juniors Brett Sickafoose (16.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 2018-19) and Drake Lewis (10.2 points and 3.2 rebounds last winter) and senior Clayton Ebbinghouse (8.0.points and 2.3 a year ago) started all 23 games in 2018-19.
Ebbinghouse, who stands 6-foot-2, knocked down a team-high 55 3-pointers last season while 6-2 Sickafoose made 47 and 5-11 Lewis 20.
William Rickard, a 6-2 sophomore, began to make a big impact right after Christmas last season.
Those four look to be starters as IHSAA Class 2A Whitko opens the season Wednesday at home against 4A Columbia City.
Henson says three juniors — Cameron Sapp, Andrew Swartz and Kyler Bryant — battling it out for the No. 5 spot. Spencer Sroufe, a 6-7 player who averaged 17.7 points and 11.7 rebounds, has graduated.
“Whoever we can count on for a little post presence,” says Henson. “One thing we know we’re going to struggle at is rebounding.”
At 6-3, Swartz is the tallest among the top seven this season. The varsity roster also features 6-2 junior Aiden Hoffman, 5-7 junior Keith Miller, 6-4 junior Dale Reiff, 6-foot sophomore Slater Craig and 6-4 sophomore Mason Streby.
“Rebounding and defense is all about heart,” says Henson. “Just because you don’t have the size doesn’t mean you can’t go battle for rebounds.
“I’m trying to teach a little toughness. Get a little nasty and go after the ball.”
Henson looks for his Wildcats to play at a high tempo.
“We don’t have a lot of depth, but we’ve been conditioning since the end of the (2018-19) school year,” says Henson. “These guys are in pretty good shape. Fatigue shouldn’t be an issue.
“We want to get up and down (the court) as much as possible with structure. We know we can’t get into foul trouble. We have to make sure we’re playing smart on defense.”
The Wildcats play a number of larger schools in the first part of their schedule, including Columbia City, 3A Bellmont, 3A Wawasee and 3A Tippecanoe Valley.
“If can survive the early games and show we’re capable of playing some good basketball we’re going to have a lot of momentum going into Christmas break,” says Henson, who will take his team to the Plymouth holiday tournament on Jan. 3.
“We think we can compete with 1 through 22 on our schedule.”
Henson, who has won 36 games as Whitko coach and 99 overall as a team coach including his days at North White, will be assisted in 2019-20 by Logan Irwin (varsity assistant), Mark Rickerd (junior varsity) and Nate Walpole (volunteer assistant).
