Kohart Runner Stuns Warriors
SYRACUSE – It took Wawasee almost an entire game to keep pace with Angola. It took Angola one fortuitous bounce of the basketball to leave the Hardwood Teepee with a 46-44 victory Saturday night in boys buckets.
After Wawasee’s Gage Reinhard hit a running jumper to tie the game at 44 with just seconds remaining, Angola’s Kent Kohart found himself pinned in the corner as the clock ticked down. Needing to shoot, Kohart sent a half hook from the baseline, about 12 feet from the hoop as the horn sounded. For a frozen moment, the ball bounced off both sides of the rim and then trickled down through the twine, giving Angola its second consecutive season-opening win over the Warriors.
For the Hornets, a survival tactic after holding a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter. For the Warriors, a bittersweet moment that will sting for a while.
“There were tons of positives tonight,” began Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “I thought defensively for long stretches of time we were more difficult to play against. We had to make some adjustments, but that has to be our calling card, especially if we are going to compete in the Northern Lakes Conference. We have to be difficult to play against, and I thought we were more difficult to guard tonight.”
Wiktorowski wasn’t resigned to focusing on just the scoreline, given Wawasee was spanked 78-57 in its season opener Tuesday night. After falling behind 38-31 and committing three turnovers right out of the gate to open the fourth, Wiktorowski was more pleased with the resolve his team showed when the chips were being laid down.
“With a team that struggled to find wins the past couple of years, I thought there were a couple times tonight when they could have really separated from us, but we just kind of hung in there when we were struggling,” Wiktorowski said. “We brought a lot of kids off the bench. I thought our continuity was really good. There was just a lot of positive things going tonight.”
Angola made its moves when Aaron Lloyd had the ball. The bulky forward hit four threes in the contest and scored six of his 17 points in the fourth quarter. Lloyd, however, missed the end of the second quarter after picking up his third foul. Angola led 21-17 at that point, but Wawasee were in the midst of a 12-0 run to end the half and a build a 24-21 lead.
Fellow brick wall Justin Davis was effective for Angola, scoring 10 points and pulling in eight rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Alex Clark did most of his damage for Wawasee in the first half. Scoring Wawasee’s first 10 points, Clark cooled off and eventually matched Lloyd with 17 points, but got some help late as Angola shifted its defensive attention to where Clark was at on the floor.
Stori Bright continued his hustle and finished with seven points and eight boards, five on the offensive end. Sam Clark also had seven points and hit a layup to bring Wawasee within two at 44-42. Chase Myers showed the ability to score inside, hitting a turnaround jumper just before the half. Myers finished with six points.
The junior varsity game was quite an opening appetizer, running two overtimes before Wawasee pulled away with a 44-37 victory. EJ Solina led Wawasee with 10 points while Jake Honer paced Angola with 13 points.
Wawasee (0-2) returns to the court Friday night as it will host Manchester while Angola (1-0) will play its first home game next Friday against Northeast Corner Conference foe Central Noble.
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