The Mail-Journal, Volume 26, Number 43, Milford, Kosciusko County, 9 December 1987 — Page 9

Sports

Team effort lifts Panthers

NAPPANEE — A strong team effort and timely shooting carried North Wood past visiting Northridge, 68-62, in a Northern Lakes Conference boys’ basketball game Saturday in Nappanee The Panthers, 2-1, needed a solid performance to offset Northridge’s Gary Zimmerman. The Raider connected on 15 of 21 shots

Wawasee at Warsaw TIPOFF: 7:30p.m. SITE: Warsaw H.S., Warsaw. RADIO: Warsaw: WRSW AM 1480 WAWASEE: 23Overall 0-1 NLC STRENGTH: Steady play from Wawasee's backcourt and improvement up front have keyed the Warriors' march towards the break even point. Darin Atwood, Matt Dick and Matt Koble can score, but also are good passers. Wawasee's bench play has been above average the last couple of games. Koble, Dick and John Frasure have helped solidify the Warriors' attack. KEY MATCH-UPS: The guard setup with Darin Atwood and Wacsaw's Ty Woodruff should go a long way in determining the outcome. Woodruff is one of the Tigers' top scorers. The battle between Fred Steffen and Brandon Creighton should be interesting. WARSAW: 0-4 Overall 0-2 NLC STRENGTH: Intelligence. Warsaw lacks the talent it has enjoyed the last several years, but any Al Rhodes-coached team must be smart. The Tigers also have one proven player in Ty Woodruff. KEY MATCH-UPS: The Tigers must control Wawasee's inside game, particularly, Steffen. The Wawasee center has started slowly, but could dominate Friday. The guard match-ups look to be very important in this NLC contest.

Sixth man vocal at Wawasee

Wawasee’s Northern Lakes Conference opener against Concord was exciting. The outcome, a 66-46 Concord win, proved meaningless against the sixthrated Minutemen. Despite the 20-point loss, the Warriors were anything but losers. Wawasee played solid basketball for three quarters, only to falter under Concord’s intense defensive pressure in the final period. Unlike the Warriors’ basketball team, Wawasee’s faithful never wilted. It was the best support of a Wawasee basketball team since the Lady Warriors played for the state title a few years back. Darin Atwood brought the fans into the game from the beginning, hitting a three-pointer seconds into the game. The shot sent the Warrior fans into a frenzy The support level gained intensity as the Warriors played the highly-touted Minutemen evenly during the first 16 minutes. Wawasee’s student body was the catalyst in the support. They cheered for their classmates in way way unknown to former Wawasee students.

Smith sets record, Warriors win

SYRACUSE — Brad Smith established a school record and Wawasee claimed all but one first place in routing East Noble, 126-46, in a non-conference boys’ swim meet. Smith set the school mark in the 50-yard freestyle in 22.64 seconds. The senior also added a victory in the 100-yard freestyle. “He’s worked real hard this year,” said Wawasee coach Tim Caldwell of his record-setting swimmer. “He’s got a lot of talent — this record will not be his last.” Other Wawasee winners were Brian Neff in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle races. Christner Tungard won the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, while Paul Morel won the 200 individual medley. David Keener continued to

Grace whips Tri-State

ANGOLA — Ben Teske scored 26 points and former Concord star Tyler Coley added 25 as Grace whipped Tri-State University, 93-86, Tuesday evening. The win raises the Lancers’ mark to 11-1. Tri-State fell to 3-4 Grace dominated the first half, taking a 48-33 halftime lead. TriState could get no closer than the final seven point spread.

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from the field, including five of seven three-pointers, in scoring 40 points. The Panthers trailed by four, 17-13, after one period, but took the lead for good in the second. Brent Reinhardt and Rob Prenkert led the Panthers’ second period surge as the hosts built a 34-30 halftime lead.

They were positive, loud and creative. Oh, there were a few fans that got carried away, even giving WHS students a bad reputation. Overall, though, the fans were outstanding. Mark My Words MARK HRb WEINSTEIN What caught the ire of some elder supporters was the students’ taunting of Shawn Kemp, Concord’s 6-11 jolly green giant. Wawasee students attempted to get the All-American upset by displaying signs dealing with his

dominate the diving competition and Mark Rich won the 100-yard backstroke. BRAD SMITH

John Hans added 17 points for Grace, while Paul Zeltwanger chipped in 13 and Goshen’s Kevin Wilfong scored two. Seth Swihart contributed one point for the Lancers and Brooks Koble failed to see action. Grace visits Manchester Saturday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m.

Reinhardt finished the game with 22 points, while Prenkert added 19. North Wood increased its halftime margin to nine, 50-41, entering the final frame and held on for the victory. Both teams take a break from Northern Lakes Conference competition this week as the Panthers visit Tippecanoe Valley on Saturday. The Raiders, meanwhile, visit West Noble on Friday. CONCORD 70, ELKHART CENTRAL 50 — Concord remained unbeaten Saturday as the Minutemen withstood a scrappy hosts of Elkhart Central Blue Blazers to claim a 70-50 nonconference victory. The outmanned Blue Blazers played the sixth-ranked Minutemen closely through three periods. But, like in Concord’s game the night before at Wawasee, the Minutemen exploded in the final period to win going away. Concord, 4-0, held a 33-20 halftime lead only to see it dwindle at the outset of the fourth quarter. But a 13-2 Concord run, ignited by a Ker"o layin and Jamar Johnson f. ,d goal, sent the hosts to the win with 4:40 remaining. Kemp led the Minutemen attack with 22 points, 10 blocked shots, four slam dunks, four assists and two steals. Johnson

well-known academic deficiencies. The effort didn’t work. Kemp scored 27 points, including six dunks, had 11 rebounds, six blocked shots and three steals. Not a bad evening’s work. In thinking about the attack on Kemp, I wonder how Wawasee students would react if their grade point averages were public conversational pieces, like Kemp’s? Realistically, the grade point issue would probably not occur at Wawasee — there’s no Wawasee athlete close to Kemp’s caliber. That’s not a knock down. Just a fact. Regardless of Kemp’s classroom problems, there’s probably no better basketball player in the state. Off the court, he’s a class individual, well mannered in all his ways. For his basketball ability, he will receive a full-ride athletic scholarship to Kentucky. However, many area fans speculate Kemp will become a victim of proposition 48. So what! The rule should only help him get his feet on the ground and become a better student. Anyway, Wawasee’s fans, in general, were exceptional. If the trend continues, it could become very difficult for opposing teams to win in Syracuse. Wawasee’s sixth man could make the difference. □ The end of a very colorful era as ended in Cincinnati. Pete Rose, player/ manager of the Cincinnati Reds, officially retired from active duty Monday. Rose began playing professional baseball in the Reds’ organization in 1963. He played 16 years with Cincinnati before being traded to Philadelphia and Montreal. In 1985, Rose was traded to Cincinnati from the Expos and has since served as player/manager. Rose has a .303 lifetime batting average with 4,256 hits in 14.053 at

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added 17 points, including one three-pointer, and Steve Larkin scored 13. Johnson dished out two assists and had three steals, while Larkin was credited with three assists and two steals. Pat Dempster scored 12 points to lead Central’s attack. Freddie Williams chipped in with 10 points for the Blue Blazers. GOSHEN 39, WARSAW 38 — Thad Holden’s three-point shot with two seconds remaining in the game lifted Goshen past winless Warsaw, 39-38, in Warsaw’s famed Tiger Den Saturday. The win improved the Redskins’ mark to 2-0 overall, 1-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference. Warsaw, however, fell to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the conference. The Tigers will be looking for their first victory Friday evening when they host Wawasee, 2-3. The game, as expected, developed into a defensive struggle. After both teams traded sixpoint leads in the first half, neither team could mount more than a three-point margin in the final half. In the final period, neither team enjoyed a lead larger than two points. The game see-sawed in the closing minutes, evident by Holden’s game-winning bucket.

bats. He played in 3,562 games with the three teams. The full-time manager's best season as a player was in 1969. He hit .348 with 218 hits, including 16 home runs and 82 runs batted in. The power statistics are careerhigh marks. He will continue managing Cincinnati. □ There’s little doubt which college basketball conference is the strongest this season — Big Ten. Os teams listed in this week’s top twenty rankings, four Big Ten squads are listed. Five teams are in the top thirty. lowa heads the conference’s elite teams, standing third in the country. Indiana, which lost to top-ranked Kentucky over the weekend, is sixth. Perhaps two of the strongest Big Ten teams round out the top 20 — Purdue and Michigan. The Boilermakers have struggled this season, but still own a 5-1 record. Michigan, meanwhile, holds a 5-1 mark, losing only to fourthranked Arizona. Illinois is ranked 27th and should move up as the season progresses. With five very talented teams, along with some sleepers — Ohio State and Wisconsin — the Big Ten race should be very interesting this year. □ The Mail-Journal’s sports prognosticating panel certainly is living on the edge of mediocrity. Only the panel’s leader, Homer Miller, is above the level with his .647 percent ranking. The final four members stand one-game above the break-even point or one-game under. This weeks games should increase the members’ percentages. Games on tap this weekend include Wawasee at Warsaw, Fairfield at Goshen, Plymouth at Triton, Northridge at West Noble, Bremen at Concord, Tippecanoe Valley at Whitko, Grace at Manchester, Notre Dame at DePaul, Ball State at Purdue and Goshen College at Tech.

With the score even at 36, Warsaw attempted to milk the clock for the final shot. However, Holden fouled Don Jones, who calmly sank two free throws for a 38-36 Tiger lead. Goshen, like Warsaw, worked for the final shot. After allowing 20 seconds to run off the clock, the Redskins called timeout to set up the game-winner. The inbounds pass came into Holden, who stood behind the three-point line, and launched the winner. The Tigers’ last second effort to score failed, sealing Goshen’s win. Holden led Goshen’s balanced attack with 15 points. Mike Essig, Goshen’s leading scorer before the game, was held to eight points. Ty Woodruff scored 16 for the Tigers. CONCORD 66, WAWASEE 46 — Concord proved too strong for Wawasee Friday evening as the visiting Minutemen buried the Warriors, 66-46, in a Northern Lakes Conference contest. The Warriors played the sixthranked Minutemen evenly through the first half, only to see Concord pull away in the final 10 minutes of the game. Shawn Kemp led the Minutemen with 27 points, while Matt DicPkrored 11 for the Warriors.

HOMER MILLER ( .647) — Warsaw, Goshen, Triton. Northridge, Concord, Whitko, Grace, DePaul, Purdue, Indiana Tech. MARK HUFFMAN (.529) — Warsaw, Goshen. Plymouth, Northridge, Concord, Whitko, Grace, ND, Purdue, Goshen College. DERK KUHN (.529) — Warsaw, Fairfield, Triton, West Noble, Concord, Whitko, Grace, DePaul, Purdue, Indiana Tech. DALE TOBIAS (.529) — Warsaw, Goshen, Plymouth, Northridge, Concord, Whitko, Grace, ND, Purdue, Goshen College. MARK WEINSTEIN (.471) — Wawasee, Fairfield, Plymouth, Northridge, Concord, Whitko, Grace, DePaul, Purdue, Indiana Tech.

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> fIU ■ ' ’'Bl I slftSr"*** ™SrßS®*Sj WM 3>fr-: BrKI < . IBz I*3 < *Et TOO LATE — Fred Steffen, right, waits too long to defend Concord’s Shawn Kemp hi Friday’s NLC contest. Kemp, in scoring 27 points, had little trouble slamming the Warriors. (Photo by Mark Weinstein)

Wed., December 9, 1987 — THE MAIL-JOURNAL

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