Wawasee Basketball: Chargers Break The Pressure
LIGONIER – In a moment of chaos, West Noble looked as composed as it had all night.
A supremely executed press break yielded West Noble an uncontested layup at just the right time, helping the Chargers pull away for a 39-32 boys basketball win over Wawasee Saturday night.
With Wawasee calling for its ‘bomb squad’ defense to pressure West Noble and desperate for a turnover, the Chargers executed one of the most fluid press breaks Charger coach Jim Best could draw up. Leading 34-30 after Wawasee’s Jacob Hand hit a pair of free throws, all five Chargers touched the ball, ending with Takota Weigold laying in the ball well behind the Wawasee defense.
The lapse in defense by Wawasee on the play, which is designed to flow with its pressure, was the grenade that blew up what was ultimately a very close contest throughout.
“We missed an assignment on the press and went the opposite direction than we were supposed to,” said Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham. “We lost track of their trail guy and he was standing wide open and they get the layup. The bomb squad stuff we will get better at, it’ll help us increase the tempo of the game.
“That aspect is actually one thing I like about this team is there is a lot of room for growth,” Everingham said. “We are going to get a lot better. We would have to liked to sneak this one out and get two wins out of the weekend. But in reality, we just have to let this one go and get better ahead of Whitko next Saturday.”
The game was tied at 27 heading into the fourth quarter, but five straight points from Trevor Franklin, the second make a three from the wing, gave West Noble a 32-27 lead.
A pair of minor details for the Chargers also made a big difference. After Austin Miller stole a pass and laid in for two to pull Wawasee back to 36-32, Mason Stover missed the front end of a one-and-one for the Chargers. But the volleyball tips for the rebound ended up off a Warrior out of bounds and back with the white and red. Josh Gross would then hit a pair of free throws to put West Noble up six.
As the second quarter was unwinding, Wawasee drew a favorable mismatch as Trevon Coleman was being guarded on the wing by David Flores. Coleman beat him both ball side and in the key for six points. But as Wawasee stole some momentum, West Noble got a basket right at the horn when a putback by Franklin kept West Noble within a point at 14-13.
“When West Noble went to their smaller lineup and then brought in (Flores), that was when we had to take advantage of it with Coleman inside, and we didn’t,” Everingham said. “We did for pockets of time in the first half, but then we got away from it, and that’s on me. We rolled the dice on shooting three-pointers, and tonight we didn’t hit them. We live and die off them in the first two games, and we knew that coming in, and we didn’t take wide open ones tonight and then shot contested ones and missed them.”
Coleman would lead Wawasee with 12 points, but no other Warrior had more than five points, and Coleman did not score in the fourth quarter. Franklin led West Noble with nine points while Stover collected eight points.
Wawasee, which spent a lot of energy in a last-second, 38-36 win Friday night against Manchester, falls to 1-2 overall with its next contest next Saturday night at Whitko. West Noble, which collected back-to-back wins over Lakewood Park and Wawasee, sits at 3-1 overall with Whitko up next on Thursday.
The JV game went to Wawasee in a 45-19 decision.