Wawasee Basketball: Another Step Forward
SYRACUSE — After a 2-21 campaign just a season ago, the Wawasee boys basketball program was aiming to find anything positive to champion to start the 2016-17 season. After Saturday’s 61-44 victory over West Noble brought the team’s record to 3-1, it’s safe to say that the Warriors are getting comfortable and feeling confident under new head coach Jon Everingham.
“Id rather be 4-0, but 3-1 is obviously the next best choice,” the competitive Everingham said with a smirk after Saturday’s win. “What’s good with our start is that we haven’t gone into a game yet thinking that we’re going to lose. It’s all about the culture and the mindset that we’re trying to accomplish, and that’s throughout our whole program. The JV is 4-0, freshmen are 3-0 and we’re 3-1. So, as a program we’ve won 10 of our first 11 games. We just could not have asked for a better start throughout.”
The start to Saturday’s game was a positive as the Warriors held a lead through much of the first quarter before the visiting Chargers ended the opening frame with a buzzer-beating three from Trevor Franklin. West Noble led 17-15 going into the second. The Warriors opened the second on a small run and would carry a 28-24 lead into the break. After halftime, Wawasee made clear that it was the better team on the court.
The Warriors opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run and would outscore the Chargers 15-3 in the frame. Theere was no fluke in that spread, Wawasee was efficient on offense and stout on defense as a whole. The home team connected on three shots from behind the arc and allowed no field goals from West Noble in the third. The Warriors went on to outscore the Chargers in the fourth as well, 18-17.
For the fourth time in as many games Trevon Coleman scored in double figures for the Warriors. He led all scorers with 15 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Tyler Smith added 14 for the Green and Gold while Cameron Schlabach had nine. Eight Warriors scored in total for Wawasee, keeping up with the theme of getting things done as a team.
“I was expecting this,” Everingham offered when asked if he saw the team gelling so well this early on. “I think it’s just part of the mindset that I was trying to sell to the guys. Now, look, we’re four games into a 22-game season. But we certainly have, to this point, accomplished something that I thought were reachable. It’s nice to win basketball games, especially when these kids have not experienced much winning.
“I’m excited for the kids and I’m proud of them because we’ve taken a different approach and it seems to be a different guy making big plays every night. Last night Ryan Edington had a huge second half for us when, before the game, I couldn’t have even told you if he was going to play. Then, after seeing no minutes last night, Cameron Schlabach steps up and scores nine big points tonight. (Jairus) Boyer is another guy that I’ve been really, really proud of with his play recently.”
There is definitely a positive energy with the team at the moment and with the Warriors lone loss coming to a ranked Angola squad, 3-1 is certainly looking like a “best case scenario” four games into the season. The schedule ramps up in the coming weeks as Wawasee hosts Whitko (3-0) next Saturday and then Class 4-A No. 5 Warsaw (3-1) on Dec. 16.
“We’re just going to stick with what we’ve been doing,” Everingham explained. “I thought it was a big step to win that Fairfield game and we’ve been taking little steps since then. Tonight was another one of those positive steps. We’re just going to focus on, although it’s cliché, the week ahead. We’re just looking for ways to continue getting a little bit better everyday. I think if we keep doing that, we can be competitive with some really good teams.”
West Noble was led offensively by Takota Weigold’s 11 points. The Chargers fall to 1-3 on the season.
Wawasee’s JV downed West Noble 36-30. Dalton Pearish led the Warriors in scoring with 12 points.