Goal Remains The Same For Warriors
SYRACUSE – The regular season has not gone exactly as the Wawasee Warriors basketball team had envisioned. The team hit a long losing skid in the middle of its season but has since recovered and appears to be peaking at the right time heading into the sectional 21 field at West Noble.
While the Warriors slid to an 0-7 record for the fourth year straight in the Northern Lakes Conference, the senior-heavy squad can shake that streak off and turn its focus to cracking a different code, winning a sectional game.
Wawasee has gone one-and-done the past three seasons after being the sectional champion in 2010 and runner-up in 2011. Getting back to that title game this year, and ultimately winning it, has been the clear-cut goal for Wawasee since losing in the first round last season on its home floor.
Wawasee will jump in right away, taking on Whitko in game one of the West Noble bracket, a 7 p.m. Tuesday start. The winner will get Tippecanoe Valley, which drew the bye, with the first semi-final game at 6 p.m. Friday.
“I don’t think we’ve stopped talking about it,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “It’s their clear goal. They want to be a team that people see as a threat in that sectional.”
Wawasee has a 4-1 record against sectional opponents this season with just Friday’s game against Tippecanoe Valley left. The team’s lone loss came at NorthWood in January, 64-51. But that was a game the Warriors led at the half.
Since that game Wawasee has seen consistent and improved play from seniors Alex Clark, Gage Reinhard and Aaron Voirol. When those three are on, it is tough to count Wawasee out against any team. Having three scorers to rely on is something that Wiktorowski sees as a key in getting by NorthWood if the two team’s paths cross again.
“NorthWood is the team to beat right now,” Wiktorowski stated. “They have three kids that are amazingly consistent. (Dakiyron) Fox, (Braxton) Linville and (Vincent) Miranda are all averaging over 16 points a game right now. But, when we get our three guys scoring together, we can play with anybody.”
NorthWood will play West Noble Wednesday in the second game, which follows Fairfield and Lakeland. The Wednesday winners will play in Friday’s second semi-final. The West Noble championship will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
In addition to the quality play from those top three, Wawasee has gotten a recent boost from sophomore Aaron Beer. Beer cracked the lineup earlier this month and has become a reliable asset around the perimeter.
The Warriors have also had a nice boost in bench production in recent weeks. Jeffrey Moore, Jake Hutchinson and David Rocha have all come in and given quality minutes for Wawasee as of late and all have the knack for hitting a big shot from deep. Stori Bright is really the lone true post player for the Warriors, but Jayce Boatwright’s continued development has allowed the team to give Bright much-needed relief in that spot more frequently this season.