Nate Thomas wins the tip for South Side. Thomas led all scorers with 24 points. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

FORT WAYNE – Though the game was played at the alma mater of actress Shelley Long, there were not many “cheers” to be had for the Wawasee boys basketball team on Friday night.

The Warriors traveled to Fort Wayne South Side High School for the first time in program history and were overmatched by a physical and lethal-shooting Archer team. Despite the great shooting night from South Side, Wawasee was bit by the turnover bug yet again, leading to a 69-45 road defeat.

Wawasee came out and hit the first basket of the game on a three-pointer from Alex Clark. A quick start is not something Wawasee has had in many games this season, and unfortunately it was just a flash in the pan for the Warriors on the night.

South Side answered with a three of it’s own and then would outscore Wawasee 18-7 the rest of the quarter. The Archers continued the shooting success in the second quarter and benefited from nine Warrior turnovers in the first, leading to a 35-19 Archer advantage at the half.

The stat sheet said it all at the break. South Side had just three turnovers, scored 11 points off of Wawasee’s mistakes, were shooting 70-percent from the field and 40-percent from behind the arc. Clark’s first quarter three was the only one made by Wawasee in the first half, off nine attempts. The Warriors were shooting just 27-percent at the break. Clark finished the night as Wawasee’s leading scorer with 19 points.

Wawasee switched up its lineup and defensive scheme after the half and decreased the South Side lead down to nine points. The sudden surge by Wawasee must have been a wake up call for the Archers.

South Side went right back into hitting shots and forcing turnovers. One player that killed Wawasee all night was Nate Thomas. The senior led all scorers with 24 points, connecting from downtown four times on Friday night.

Following the loss, Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski talked about his team’s mistakes being key but also tipped his cap to the Archers.

“Anytime we got within striking distance, we would start turning the ball over again,” stated Wiktorowski. “The turnovers really hurt us tonight. We did not handle their athleticism very well. We were not the attacking team, they clearly were.

“I thought there were too many times that we, instead of trying to attack with confidence, our guys just wanted to get the ball out of their hands. It’s a great learning experience, but I was hoping we were further along than how we looked tonight.”

Stori Bright (8 points), Jeffrey Moore (5) and Gage Reinhard (5) helped lead the scoring effort along with Clark on Friday.

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On Thursday Wawasee (4-14) will travel to Plymouth (8-10) to close out the Northern Lakes Conference schedule for 2013-14 and hope to snap a 20-game losing skid in the NLC. Wawasee will then turnaround on Friday night to play rival and potential sectional opponent Tippecanoe Valley (14-3).

Thursday’s tip is set for 7:45 p.m. at Plymouth High School while Friday’s game will start in Syracuse at 7:30 p.m.

In the junior varsity contest South Side beat the Warrior JV 37-26. Parker Hatfield, Tyler Smith, Aaron Beer and Conner Sausaman all scored five points for Wawasee. South Side was led by Joquan Rogers’ 13 points.