Wawasee’s Trevon Coleman flies in for a bucket against Tippecanoe Valley Tuesday night during Wawasee’s 41-37 overtime win in the first night of the Wawasee Boys Basketball Sectional. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – Game one of the Wawasee Boys Basketball Sectional Tuesday night saw an upset while game two was the furthest thing from an upset. Wawasee took out Tippecanoe Valley in overtime, 41-37, in game one while the defending champion NorthWood Panthers had no trouble in ejecting Lakeland, 78-35, in the night’s second contest.

Bracket Buster

Wawasee had won just one game since the middle of December. That didn’t matter much as the Warriors took the largest lead of the second half had when it mattered most after Trevon Coleman hit two free throws with 24.2 seconds left in overtime. Wawasee had a 41-37 advantage, and that was the winning edge as Valley could draw no closer.

Tippecanoe Valley’s DJ Heckman led the Vikings with an emphatic 14 points, two coming on this and-one in the fourth quarter.

“We had a little bit of a different game plan and we felt good about that,” said Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham. “It was just whether or not we could handle the pressure of the sectional. We lost how many games, 16 or 17, but you wouldn’t know that from our group. We are a very confident group.”

Coleman hit the biggest shot of the evening, backing down his defender and dropping in a bucket with under 20 seconds to go in regulation to tie the game at 35. There were seven lead changes in the fourth quarter, with Valley holding a 34-33 lead after Alec Craig hit a layup with 1:03 to go. Tanner Trippiedi went 1-2 from the foul line, giving Valley a two-point spread setting up the Coleman equalizer.

Craig, who dropped 32 on Wawasee Friday night in Valley’s win over the Warriors, was held primarily in check, and partly from his own doing. Craig was benched at the 4:14 mark of the second quarter after picking up his third foul. From there, DJ Heckman stepped up and hit a pair of shots for Valley to keep the game close. Heckman finished with 14 points, Craig with 12 points on just 4-14 shooting.

“He picked up his third, that changed the game totally,” said a somber Tippecanoe Valley head coach Bill Patrick, whose team closes at 10-14. “There’s not much you can do about that. I didn’t agree with the one, I thought it was a cheap foul. But it’s tough to play without him. We rely on him for a lot of scoring and defense. We had our chances but didn’t get a stop when we had a two-point lead and we gave up a three…there were so many times when we gave away cheap points that in a close game you can’t do.”

Coleman led Wawasee with 14 points and Tyler Smith added seven points for the Warriors, which move to 6-17 on the season but are alive to face West Noble (8-14) in Friday’s first semi-final.

“Confidence,” noted Everingham of West Noble. “They are a real confident group. Especially from the outside. And then combine that with Larry Nicholson on the inside. They are a dangerous team, I’ve been saying that all year from when we played them. They have beaten some really good teams. It’s just the same thing in the sectional, it will take your best effort to win and that’s what we have to do.”

Runaway Train

In what was a 43-point blowout in favor of the Panthers in game two, the contest was actually just a three-point game in the second quarter.

NorthWood’s Luke Zurcher soars above the rim for an eventual two.

NorthWood opened with a 17-6 run to start the game, only for Lakeland to score the first eight points of the second quarter to get the score to 17-14. From there, it was all Panthers, which scored 10 of the last 14 points of the quarter, then blew the Lakers out in the second half, posting a 28-8 frame in the third.

The Panthers shot 60 percent from the floor (31-51) in the game, including a 5-5 night from Trey Bilinkski (11 points), Vinny Miranda going 8-14 (22 points) and Luke Zurcher with a 6-11 performance (15 points). NorthWood also dominated the battle of the boards, 34-15, and efficiently turned Lakeland’s 11 turnovers into 20 points.

Lakeland (8-15) had Britain Issacs and Cole Harp finish with eight points each.

NorthWood (21-2) will meet Fairfield (11-12) in a Friday night semi-final rematch of the 34-point Panther romp over the Falcons in mid-December.

“We try to focus on the process, and every game is a new story,” said NorthWood head coach Aaron Wolfe. “I felt tonight could have unfolded a multiple of different ways. As long as our guys could stay in the moment, give their best effort and focus of the process, we’ll be happy regardless of the outcomes.”

NorthWood guard Vinny Miranda led the Panthers with 22 points in the win over Lakeland.