Wawasee Still Figuring Things Out
SYRACUSE — It is sort of like the pieces to the puzzle are there but nobody can figure out where to put them yet. Or maybe there are still a few pieces missing. Whatever the case there seems to be more questions than answers for a young and growing Wawasee boys basketball team.
Tuesday night the Warriors hosted DeKalb and were handed their fifth consecutive loss despite outscoring the Barons in the second half. Wawasee watched its opponent walk away with a 58-49 victory.
This might sound like a broken record at this point but a lack of offensive production in the first half left Wawasee with a large hole to dig itself out of for the rest of the game. Wawasee trailed 12-6 after the first quarter, but was then outscored 14-5 in the second frame. Going into the break the Warriors were shooting just 11-percent from the floor.
In the third quarter it looked like much of the same was going to happen as DeKalb locked in on defense and Wawasee struggled to find shots. But as the quarter wore on the Warriors found better looks and started hitting open shots. The gap began to close and confidence seemed abundant after the home team scored five points in the final 30 seconds of the third.
Wawasee’s offense stayed productive throughout the fourth quarter, but mental mistakes on defense left DeKalb with too many open looks. The 15-point hole the Warriors dug in the first half would prove to be too much to overcome.
Wawasee (1-8) shot exactly 50-percent in the last two quarters. The turnaround between halves was impressive and frustrating all at the same time. The inconsistency from Wawasee offensively is maddening at times. That is seen on the faces of the players, coaches and fans.
Jayce Boatwright paced Wawasee with 13 points and three steals while Jairus Boyer scored 11. Tyler Smith added nine points and led the team with four rebounds. DeKalb was led by Hunter Cone’s 20 points. Seth Edmondson (16 points), Isaac Brown (12) and Will Crisman (10) made up the rest of the Barons scoring output.
The up and down nature of the team can easily be attributed to the growing pains of a team still trying to get its footing on a varsity court. With Trevon Coleman just getting back into the mix this past Saturday Wawasee is back to creating chemistry among its rotations.
“Right now our biggest problem is putting ourselves in a tough position early on,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “We have trouble coming out and meeting the other team’s confidence and aggression. It seems like we take a punch, see that we can take it and then get after it in the second half. We just need to turn that second half aggression into four quarters.
“DeKalb is a pretty good team, we stayed within 10 of them for most of the game. I think that’s another step forward. We have to find better consistency on offense, that’s one of our biggest challenges right now and you saw it here tonight. We’re making small steps each game, we just need to put four quarters together.”
Wiktorowski and the Warriors will try to look at their puzzle from a different angle before hosting No. 4 NorthWood (10-1, 1-0) Friday night.
The junior varsity team continued it stellar season with a 53-42 win. Bennett Hoffert led Wawasee with 19 points, followed by Will Geer’s 13. Hoffert also had four assists and a steal. Geer led the team with three rebounds. Wawasee is now 8-1 on the year.