Whiteland players celebrate after defeating Center Grove for the Johnson County tournament title on Saturday at Indian Creek.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
When Whiteland’s boys basketball team dropped a one-sided game at Center Grove in December, Warriors coach Nate Cangany said that his team was “out-physicaled” throughout.
The two teams met again Saturday night for the Johnson County tournament championship, and the Warriors made sure they weren’t going to get beat up again, setting the tone early and holding on down the stretch for a 46-43 victory at Indian Creek.
Whiteland (10-6) won its 10th county championship overall and third in the last seven seasons.
“We kind of said we beat ourselves in that game,” Cangany said of the December loss. “We let them bring the intensity to us. This time, let’s go show them what Whiteland is really about, and let’s go give ourselves a chance to win doing our stuff.”
Mission accomplished.
The Trojans (7-5) scored the first four points of the game, making it look like a repeat of that December meeting might be on tap. But the Warriors owned the rest of the opening quarter, getting two baskets eaach from Austin Willoughby and Wiatt McLaughlin while holding Center Grove scoreless for a span of almost seven minutes. A 3-pointer from Ethan McComb got the Trojans as close as three points in the middle of the second period, but Whiteland closed the half strong, stretching its lead to 21-14 on a Max Sullivan 3 in the final minute.
Two free throws from Kyson Jones early in the third gave the Warriors their biggest lead of the game at nine points.
“They won the toughness battle all night,” Center Grove coach Zach Hahn said. “They played a great game, and they were really physical with us, and I think our guys kind of shied away from it. … We responded a little bit better in the second half than we did in the first half, but when you give teams confidence and they feel good about themselves, you can’t change it at halftime. That’s really hard to do.”
The third quarter was Center Grove’s best, as they upped the energy level at the defensive end and used that to fuel a comeback bid. Tyler Cerny who had seven of his 11 points in the period, twice got his team within a pair, the second time on a 3-pointer with 3:55 on the clock that made it 29-27. Once again, though, the Warriors answered, getting a McLaughlin free throw and another 3 from Sullivan to take a 33-27 advantage into the fourth.
The final eight minutes turned into a bit of a foul shooting contest; after the two teams attempted just one free throw in the first half and 11 through the first three quarters, they combined to take 23 in the fourth. Whiteland, 10 of 14 in the period and 16 for 22 overall, hit just enough of them to hang on.
But that doesn’t mean the Trojans didn’t have their chances. Down 40-33 after a Dylan Gross 3-pointer with 3:46 left, they rallied down the stretch and got to within two, 43-41, on a layup by Marcus Ankney with 35 seconds remaining. The Warriors missed a pair from the foul line that could have made it a two-possession game, but Roy was able to secure the offensive rebound, earning two more free throws with 19.5 seconds to go.
He made one, giving Center Grove an opportunity to tie it — and the Trojans got a decent look at a 3, but the shot came up short. After pulling down another big board, Roy hit two from the stripe to ice it with 4.7 seconds left.
The junior, who finished with five points and five rebounds, was mobbed by the Whiteland student section as it stormed the court after the buzzer.
“It felt good,” Roy said about coming up big in the clutch. “I haven’t been the best free throw shooter all year, but when my time came I had to step up for the team, and that’s what I did.”
Ankney, who led all scorers with 15 points, added a last-second layup to account for the final margin. Jordan Vaughns had seven points for the Trojans, while McComb and Shane Bennett added five each.
For Whiteland, McLaughlin finished with a team-high 14 points, while Willoughby was next up with 11. Sullivan scored eight and Gross six in the victory.
Technically, McLaughlin and Roy helped the Warriors finished with a 19-0 advantage in bench points — but Cangany said he doesn’t really view McLaughlin as a reserve.
“Wyatt is good every single night,” the coach said. “He is consistent, and the thing I love about him is it’s like having a sixth starter. He plays starter minutes, he’s as important as any starter we have, but he is just a team-first guy.”
“I enjoy the sixth man role,” the sophomore added. “I kind of go in with the bench players and just giving us a little spark.”
Saturday’s victory only affirmed what the Warriors have believed about themselves since the season started.
“We’ve felt like we were a good team all year,” Cangany said. “We had to learn the hard way a few games, but we knew if we can find out what wins and do it consistently, we can beat anybody on our schedule. This just kind of proves what we’ve been talking about, so we’ve got to make sure that we carry that over going forward.”
