MISHAWAKA — In a very rare visit to Mishawaka for the Wawasee Warriors boys basketball team, the Cave was not hospitable in a 77-47 loss to the Cavemen Friday night.

The Cavemen catapulted to a 24-13 out of the gate in the first quarter and held Wawasee to a lone three-point make in the second quarter while stretching the lead to 29 heading into halftime.

Chris Mitchell scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the first half to lead the Cavemen (4-1), including 11 in the opening eight minutes. TJ Hursey and Jacob Schmatz each had 11 points to aid the winners in which 11 different Cavemen scored at least one basket.

Wawasee were dealt a pair of blows recently in finding out senior Jacob Thompson was lost for the season with a shoulder injury as well as classmate Ryndan Aaron left the program for personal reasons. The remaining squad, which now have just one junior in Chase Myers ahead of all sophomores and freshmen, never found a rhythm in the Cave.

The Warriors (3-5) continued to fire from outside, but hit just 12-of-55 shots from behind the arc, and made only three of its 11 two-point attempts. Aaron Voirol led the Warriors with 12 points on four treys and Jeff Moore sank three bombs for nine points.

The Mishawaka JV opened the night with a 53-49 victory.

Wawasee will use the holiday break to prepare for the meat of the Northern Lakes Conference schedule, jumping back into play Jan. 4 with a visit to NorthWood. Mishawaka will continue its run against NLC schools with dates against Elkhart Memorial and Concord on the 28th and 29th of this month as part of the NIC/NLC Shootout.