Whitko’s Spencer Sroufe lays in a shot for two against Wawasee Saturday night. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SOUTH WHITLEY – The look on Jacob Hand’s face following the final horn of Whitko’s 44-43 overtime win over Wawasee Saturday said it all.

Hand nailed a three-pointer from about 25 feet to give the game its final margin, a point short and a last gasp spent once again. As Hand shook his head in disbelief walking off the court, another tough loss for him and the Warriors once again started to set in.

Jairus Boyer slices in for a layup for Wawasee.

“We need to be able to get the ball into the paint,” said Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham. “We just have to develop. We had some things planned for the man-to-man and they came out in a zone, and we didn’t get a chance to show what we had for the man-to-man. I feel good about our team. We need to stay really competitive. If we win games this year, it’s going to be by five points or less. We just need to learn how to make plays down the stretch. Drag them out to deep water and make a play late in the game.

“There’s some learning involved in that. We have to learn how to do that.”

Hand did all he could, ramping up his scoring touch with 20 points on 8-13 shooting and added nine rebounds, four assists and a steal. Hand did all of that roaming around the tall timber reserved for Whitko’s 6-7 phenom Spencer Sroufe, who did his fair share of altering shots and affecting decisions for most of the night. A tale of two halves had Sroufe quiet for much of the first half, but doing most anything he wanted the second half and into overtime.

Sroufe had seven points in the first half, but also had two fouls and was teetering on a third on a pair of occasions without malice. But the second half for Whitko went squarely on the shoulders of Sroufe, who scored all but three of the Wildcat output. His make tied the game at 34, and later altered a layup attempt by Trevon Coleman and blocked Jairus Boyer’s shot attempt in the final 30 seconds.

Jacob Hand has a laugh just before tip-off.

River West missed a final shot in regulation, sending the game into overtime tied at 34, and Sroufe promptly scored Whitko’s first four points of the extra frame. Hand’s three would pull the Warriors within three at 40-37 with 24 seconds left, but a no-call on a Hand drive in the lane, of course with Sroufe contesting, had Whitko’s Brian Collins step to the line and sink two free throws for a 42-37 spread.

Marshal Miller would sink a three to keep Wawasee in it, but West sank two free throws with 4.9 seconds left.

“I thought that was a big game for Spencer’s confidence,” said Whitko head coach Eli Henson of Sroufe, who finished with 21 points and 13 boards. “He had really been struggling the last three games. To get him going like that, our whole game plan was we’re getting it inside to him.”

West, one of the key worry points for Everingham coming in, was just 2-9 from the floor and finished with eight points. Collins would finish with nine points and Brett Sickafoose chipped in eight points.

Coleman, who came in averaging 10 points per night, played just over five minutes and didn’t score after an off-court disciplinary decision from Everingham limited his minutes. Jairus Boyer picked up some of the scoring slack with seven points.

“The bottom line is the reason I coach is to take young men and turn them into men,” Everingham said of the personal decision. “Sometimes there are lessons to be learned and that’s what we are doing. We do sacrifice some playing time from time to time. Trevon is a great kid and he’s going to respond well from this.”

Whitko improves to 3-3 overall and Wawasee sits at 1-3 overall.

“That’s a big win for us because we were really struggling,” Henson said. “We lost three in a row and games where we just weren’t playing well overall on both ends of the floor.”

Whitko’s River West attempts his second free throw to ice the game for the Wildcats against Wawasee in a 44-43 final Saturday night.