Employing a quick and effective offense, host Whiteland outlasted Indian Creek 69-54 on Tuesday night in the opening round of the annual Johnson County tournament.
The defending county champion Warriors didn’t put a step wrong — and now they will take another big step Friday night, when they host Class 4A No. 5 Center Grove in a semifinal showdown.
A daunting task for sure — the Trojans routed the Warriors 81-52 on Dec. 16 — but for now Whiteland is enjoying this win, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
“We had seven guys score for us tonight and we shared the ball and did a nice job there,” Whiteland coach Nate Cangany said. “There were some times we had some breakdowns and turnovers, but we played a pretty solid game overall.
“Our record (6-9) doesn’t show it, but I feel like we have played pretty decent at times.”
Like this time.
The game was marked by its fast pace, good defense, few errors and patient — yes, patient — shooting. Both teams were not above passing the ball three, four sometimes five times to get the clear shot.
After a tight first quarter, the Warriors put on their track shoes and raced out at one point to a 15-point lead with two minutes to go in the half.
Indian Creek kept pace and then went on a 9-5 run to cut the deficit to a seemingly manageable 36-25.
But in the second half, the Braves continued to trade baskets with Whiteland and couldn’t put together a big enough run to worry the Warriors.
The Braves did whittle the lead down to eight late in the third and then seven early in the fourth, but that was it.
Whiteland did a good job in keeping Indian Creek from any larger spurts, grabbing rebounds, loose balls and hitting timely shots.
Not helping the Braves’ cause was turnovers. Indian Creek only committed eight in the first three quarters, but had seven in the fourth alone and at inopportune times that allowed Whiteland to score.
The Braves had no answer for that. They also had no answer for Whiteland’s starting five, four of which hit double figures for the game.
Junior Wiatt McLaughlin led the Warriors with 18 points, while senior forward Brayden Roy added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Austin Willoughby added 14 points and Jazz Banwait had 10.
“Austin put a lot of pressure on himself this year, but he broke out of his funk,” Cangany said. “I’m really happy for him.”
Indian Creek’s Adam Crouch led all scorers with 21, while sophomore teammate Bobby Emberton had 13. Landon Sichting had 11 for the Braves, who fell to 7-4 and had their three-game winning streak snapped in the process.
“This was one of our more complete games,” Cangany said. “We’re going to work hard. We know Center Grove is a good team and we’re excited for it, but we know we have a long way to go.”
