Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 129, Number 8, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 23 February 2006 — Page 10

Page B4

• Advance News • Thursday, February 23, 2006

Panthers prove to be the top cat against lions

By Anthony Godson Editor With their conference schedule complete, the North Wood Panthers (15-3) continued their fine tuning for the postseason with a 62-49 win over the Bremen Lions (10-8) on Feb. 17 at The Pit. The Lions were the second straight Northern States Conference opponent for the Panthers, having faced John Glenn three days earlier. "They've got some experience and size," North Wood coach Dan Gunn said about the Lions. "They have some good players for them. Bremen's kind of a team you don't like playing, because you don't quite know which team you're going to play." Bremen entered the game with a 10-7 record, but had defeated the Plymouth Pilgrims earlier in the season, a team that had handed North Wood one of its three losses. While Gunn was concerned about which Bremen team he would be facing, Bremen coach Gary Hudson was fully aware of what he faced - North Wood senior guard Ryne Lightfoot. "He's a great ball player," Hudson said about Lightfobt, who recorded 23 points in the win. "When you average 25 _ points in the Northern Lakes Conference, you're doing something right." Along with his 23 points, Lightfoot also recorded four assists, but Gunn felt like there could have been more. "He had some nice passes," Gunn said about the senior. "He had about three or four assists that we missed." While Lightfoot played his regular game, the second half of the North Wood 1-2 punch also played well, as senior Zac Lechlitner scored 14 points to go with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Bremen's 1-2 punch of seniors Aaron Brock and Rob Zeltwanger also played well. With the Panther defense clamping down on Brock, limit-

Sprint Why search high when you can go low?

Less than fk MM ■■ a month** (other monthly charges apply) Unlimited nationwide long distance and local calling from Sprint. All-time low.

Get reliable home phone service, calling features and unlimited nationwide long distance from Sprint for less than $45 a month when you subscribe to a qualifying Sprint service. • Local phone service with our most popular calling features including Caller ID, Call Waiting and Call Forwarding • Local calling • Unlimited nationwide residential long distance including calls within the Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands Cad 1-877-SPWNT2 Click sprintcom/solutions (J)

<*»>»■»»»"■<» ctoy asm.«*dinayi — 1 t~i rrTiji nf »nH nitiH will pd Tirri-|iin ~i 1 IWM»iHm*lli«<»i»»*lrr«iliKlimTmiHm«»n»»> Maa iuticn*« ip «di«f »nr>n»»»»<i—nmSFßUTCloraßHNmKitS—»TV*«»»p»«.gl»r —iwldfuirXODral tmmutm «r*fc^'■*? Si u? M lV■' mH^oitT ■» iSSm UmißwiwNWDM •maHiSrri tjultljiti'ta! tSStmmmjSmS! fiaw iTTImSSTiU tufciDipm——* IK ii*m Nn»i« w tm mmtmju mmi mH ■ «■*■»» « rtmtmmatt H aWai «■»(»<■«. tot >—DtAll. -%»»—a a* ■*«* »Wjj*g M*a»i —i» >MM«r awm m«w US«i» >» wmwfpjDDrttD M r»m ippel a Omrn mtu* id m* *«— mmHw Hgj m pmmm

r —fT* m II E V J ppF 1 81

DAT FILE PHOTO Senior Ben Bemiller netted four points against the Lions, while also recording four steals.

ing him to nine points, Zeltwanger picked up the slack, scoring 21. "(During a time-out) we talked about some of his shots, and it seemed like when we came back, he did better," Hudson said about Zeltwanger. Zeltwanger's ljiggest quarter came in the fourth, when he shot 4-of-6 for 12 points, helping to cut a 20-point North Wood lead to nine points. North Wood's ability to get a 20-point lead developed over the course of the game. After Bremen scored the first . two points of the game, the Panthers used 15-3 run over the next six minutes to take a commanding 15-5 lead following a three-point play by junior Kelly Adams with 1:26 left in the first. Making things even worse for the Lions was senior Alex Malone picking up two fouls just over two minutes into the

game. With the 6-2 Malone forced to leave the game, Hudson turned to 5-9 senior Josh Fritz. "Josh is a very good defender, he just gives up some size," Hudson said. "I thought Josh did a pretty good job. We thought about zoning, but I don't think you want to zone against them. They're outside shooting is very good." North Wood did connect on three of its four 3-pointers in the opening quarter, while the size differential also showed. In the opening quarter, 6-3 NorthWood junior Zach Troyer nabbed six of his game-high 13 rebounds. Just a week earlies, Troyer collected 12 rebounds against Elkhart Memorial, emerging as North Wood's most reliable man on the glass. "I just think it's something he feels good about, and he's been doing it well," Gunn said about

Sports

Bi kw agj «Mjf BBT ■r . i ~ W* B ■

DAT FILE PHOTO Senior Kyle Yoder had four points and five rebounds against Bremen.

Troyer. "He knows he needs to continue that for us. That makes a difference, because there were a lot of times when if he didn't get the rebound, we didn't get the rebound." Troyer's first quarter rebounding, combined with eight and seven points from Lightfoot and Lechlitner, respectively, helped propel North Wood to a 17-7 lead entering the second. During that quarter, Bremen drew to within 25-18 following a three-point play by Brock with 5:04 remaining in the half. North Wood then went on a 6-0 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes, forcing Hudson to take a time-out with 2:07 remaining and the Lions down 31-18. Following the time-out, Bremen scored the last five points of the half, cutting the lead to single digits at 31-22. Just as they had gotten back into the game, a 13-2 North-

Wood run over the first six minutes of the second half extended the lead up to 44-24. When the third quarter was over, North Wood had outscored Bremen 17-6, giving up only one field goal. "When we came out after the half, we did some good things," Gunn said about North Wood's solid third quarter. "We stretched our lead out, then got a little lackadaisical." In being "a little lackadaisical," North Wood saw its 20point lead cut to 52-41 halfway through the fourth. "We were just trying to shoot good shots," Hudson said. "North Wood kind of began to hold onto the ball, and milk the clock, and that can play into your hands defensively. If you know someone's not going to go the basket hard, then you get after them." Even though North Wood's lead never got under nine points, Bremen was successful

r 1 1 1 R| I J s3 k

DAT FILE PHOTO North Wood coach Dan Gunn provides junior Kelly Adams with some encouragement in the Holiday Tournament earlier this year.

Crafters & Vendors!

--Sixth Annual - <qj| \ Senior Living Community , .|gK in Wakarusa *f 303 North Washington, Wakarusa Saturday JrF March 18th, ■ 8:00 - 12:00 Noon gl|B If you are a vendor and would lik IPT IfIET a booth or more information v Cindy Hill a.U.

in making a run. In North Wood's previous game against John Glenn, the Falcons were able to cut a 17-point fourth quarter lead to just three. "I can't put my finger on it," Gunn said about the Panthers' last two opponents scoring 54 fourth quarter points. "I'm not quite sure why we can't do a better job of protecting the basketball at times." North Wood did protect the ball enough to make Bremen's fourth quarter run just a scare, and not a los. While Gunn will look to make adjustments following a win, Hudson wasn't too disappointed with his team, which didn't back down from the 3A sth-ranked Panthers. "Not everything is going to go perfect," Hudson said coaching basketball. "Alex got into foul trouble, and with us talking some about our shot selection, our kids battled through some adversity. I feel good that now they've made a transformation during a course of a game." •NORTHWOOD 62, BREMEN 49 At Nappanee Score by Quarters Bremen 11 11 6 21 -49 N-Wood 19 12 1714-62 NW: Zac Lechlitner 5 2-2 14; Ryne Lightfoot 5 11-12 23; Kelly Adams 1 0-1 2; Zach Troyer 3 2-2 8; Kent Schaffer 2 0-0 4; Ben Bemiller 1 2-2 4; Kyle Yoder 2 0-0 4; Nate Brown 1 1- 3. TOTALS: 20 18-21 62. Bremen: Rob Zeltwanger 7 7-9 21; Josh Fritz 0 2-2 2; Brad Harrington 0 2- 2; Alex Malone 2 0-0 4: Aaron Brock 3 3-3 9; Tyler Dendy 1 0-0 2; A.J. Sime 2 1-2 5; Tony Tatich 2 0-1 4. TOTALS: 17 13-1949. 3- field goals: NW 4 (Lechlitner 2, Lightfoot 2); Bremen 0. Turnovers: NW 11; Bremen 18. Team fouls (fouled out): NW 18; Bremen 16 (Malone). Individual Stats Assists: NW, Lightfoot 4, Lechlitner 2, Brock Armington 2, Bemiller 2; Bremen. Malone 2. Blocks: NW, Brown, Yoder; Bremen, Brock. Rebounds: NW Troyer 13, Lechlitner 4, Yoder 4; Bremen, Zeltwanger 7, Brock 7. Steals: NW, Bemiller 4, Lechlitner 2, Lightfoot 2; Bremen, Brock 2. Records: NW 15-3, Bremen 10-8.