Whiteland boys win at Indian Creek

A theme persisted throughout Thursday’s intra-county boys basketball game between host Indian Creek and Whiteland.

The Braves would draw close to the Warriors, or even take the lead; then, Whiteland would pull away again.

It happened three different times, and Whiteland staved off the threat each time, finally seizing control in the game’s final five minutes for a 50-38 victory.

The Warriors (8-6) held the Braves (6-11) to just one point over the game’s final 5:46, after Indian Creek had whittled a 39-31 lead down to 41-37.

“We had some stretches where the turnovers got us and shut down our offensive flow,” Whiteland coach Nate Cangany said. “Holding Indian Creek to 38 points, I felt like we competed a lot better defensively.”

The most pronounced example of the game’s flow, and arguably the one that determined the outcome, happened late in the first half. The Warriors had methodically built an 18-13 lead with about six minutes remaining in the half, but Indian Creek responded with a pair of 3-pointers, from Javan Crouch and Ethan Garriott, to take a 19-18 edge with 4:42 remaining.

Whiteland responded by outscoring the Braves 12-2 the rest of the half to build a 30-21 lead at intermission. The Braves made a couple of second-half runs, cutting the lead to four points each time, but never drew closer than that.

Warriors sophomore Austin Willoughby was a key factor in that second-quarter surge. He attacked the basket repeatedly and scored five of his team-high 14 points during that stretch. His aggressiveness earned him eight free throws overall (he hit six), just one less than Indian Creek’s team attempted.

“We saw that I was getting a lot of open looks toward the basket, and Coach told me to keep playing aggressive around the rim,” Willoughby said. “Indian Creek’s really scrappy, so it’s hard to pass against their zone, so I’d come up, set the screen and then my teammates could get involved and make plays.”

Willoughby also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Quinten Gillespie came off the bench to add 13 points for Whiteland.

Indian Creek, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out how to run its offense now that senior forward Ethan Williams, their leading scorer, will miss the rest of the season due to knee surgery. Mason Britt and Gavin Hillenburg each scored 12 points for the Braves, but the team hit just 14 of 54 field-goal tries (25.9%). Whiteland, meanwhile, connected on 17 of 37 from the field (45.9%) and 11 of 14 from the free throw line (78.6%).

“I thought we did a good job covering up their shooters, but we just ran out of gas,” Braves coach Drew Glentzer said. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well. I thought we had some good looks. We had a pretty good flow offensively (before Williams’ injury). We’ve got six games or so to figure out how to play on offense.”

Indian Creek, which plays in Class 3A, played its second game in two nights against Class 4A competition. The Braves lost 70-45 at Mooresville on Wednesday.

“We were trying to keep guys fresh,” Glentzer said. “Playing 4A teams back to back was a little rough on us in the fourth quarter. We struggled offensively.”

The Braves are off until Feb. 12, when they host Indianapolis Herron. Whiteland plays Saturday at Shelbyville.