NorthWood’s Trent Edwards breaks away from a slam dunk while Wawasee’s Jaydon Boyer trails the play during a game in Syracuse Friday night. (Photos by James Costello)

SYRACUSE — NorthWood’s Northern Lakes Conference contest at Wawasee got off to a very rough start Friday night.

Just over two minutes in, senior starting forward Jason Borkholder was upended going for a rebound and took a scary spill on his head. After laying on the floor for several minutes, he was taken to the hospital, and the Panthers fell back on their heels.

But ‘Wood regrouped during a dominant third quarter, building toward an eventual 54-38 Northern Lakes Conference win at the Hardwood Teepee.

“My prayers go out for Jason Borkholder. He has been one of our senior rocks this year, and I thought that was an emotional letdown for us right in the beginning of the first quarter and I think it showed,” said NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe. “But I was really proud of how our guys had to adjust the entire defensive assignments, offensive assignments when he went out.”

“The thing that we’re most concerned with right now — we’re playing a basketball game, and we know that Jason Borkholder is in the hospital. Certainly our thoughts and prayers are out to him and his family, that he can make a speedy recovery,” echoed Wawasee skipper Jon Everingham, who approached Borkholder to offer him encouragement as he was helped off the floor. “You just don’t want to mess with head injuries, so we really hope that he’s OK. Good kid.”

After a nip-tuck first quarter, a 10-2 run by the Warriors midway through the second pushed Wawasee out to a 22-19 halftime advantage. But the Panthers stepped up their full court press in the second half, turning their hosts over six times in the third period on the way to a dominant, 14-3 frame. All told, the Warriors turned the ball over 18 times, and NorthWood capitalized with 21 points off those mistakes.

“I thought we defensively played really, really well in the third quarter, and I think that’s probably the difference in the game,” said Wolfe. “We were able to get a few points off of turnovers, and it kind of shifted the momentum. I’m very proud of our guys coming out in the third quarter and doing some nice things.”

“Third quarter we got a little rattled, and I probably should’ve called a couple timeouts there,” said Everingham. “We weren’t real ball tough in that third quarter. We had six turnovers, and they kind of fed off of that energy and turned maybe a three- to five-point game into a 12-point deficit. I didn’t think that we came out with maybe enough energy and focus as we did in the first quarter, and that cost us the game.”

Panthers senior reserve Josh Stratford stepped up big in Borkholder’s absence, putting up nine points with six rebounds and three steals.

“Josh Stratford stepped up for us tonight. He is a senior for us, and Josh ends up with nine points and six rebounds. And they could not be more timely. Very proud of him,” Wolfe said.

But NorthWood also got big contributions from sophomore Jamarr Jackson, who finished with 14 points and four rebounds, as well as Trent Edwards, who was his usual steady self with 17 points — including a breakaway dunk a little more than three minutes into the fourth period — alongside three rebounds, two steals and an assist.

“Trent Edwards has been very consistent for us this year. Obviously, he’s a very gifted scorer, but he also is a talented passer and can rebound the ball. I think a lot of teams are focusing a lot of pressure to take him away, and I think that’s the difference when you get a senior who has been through those situations, for him to be able to perform consistently,” said Wolfe.

Wawasee got its biggest contributions from senior Ethan hardy, who notched a team-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting — and two of his misses came from 3-point land with the Warriors hurrying to cut down their deficit late — to go with another team-high six rebounds.

Ethan Hardy gets around Iaan Raasch during the first half Friday.

“I’ve got to do a better job of coaching. I’ve got to do a better job of getting him more shots. When a guy is shooting at the percentage that he is in basketball games, we’ve got to do a better job of getting him shots. He was dominating inside,” said Everingham. “When we got behind we started taking some quick shots from outside, when really we should’ve been pounding it underneath and trying some high-low stuff. But unfortunately it didn’t work for us.”

The Warriors slip to 7-4 and an 0-2 NLC start. Friday’s loss was the first in five games for Wawasee, which has had a busy stretch in early January with four games in the span of only seven days. They’ll look to bounce back at Elkhart Memorial next Friday night.

“We’ve won four out of our last five. And I’ll tell you we’re not overly athletic, and we’re not super big and strong. We don’t pass the eye test, but we play with so much emotion and effort that it kind of makes up for some of these deficiencies that we have physically,” Everingham said. “But when you play four games in seven days the way we have to play, and we don’t play that many guys, I think that came into play just a little bit.”

NorthWood improves to 9-3 overall with a 1-1 NLC mark. With their fourth win in three games, the Panthers now turn their attention to Northridge next Friday.

“We’re very fortunate to be playing in the Northern Lakes Conference. We view this conference as a very special conference for a 3A basketball team,” said Wofle. “We are trying to make steps each week toward March, and the tests and the battles that we get constantly night-in, night-out, I think help our preparation. Tonight we were able to get a conference win on the road, which in this league you never have any of those pencilled in.”

Fans were also treated to a halftime mini-game by players from Special Olympics Indiana Kosciusko County and volunteers collected donations for the organization.

Players from Special Olympics Indiana Kosciusko County celebrate on the floor during their halftime game.