Whiteland’s Gavin Stubbe shoots the ball during Thursday’s game at Indian Creek.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Making its way to the mountain hasn’t been a problem for Whiteland this season.
Getting over it has.
Prior to Thursday night’s game at Indian Creek, more than half the Warriors’ dozen losses were by five points or less — including two that required overtime.
Whiteland reversed that unflattering and oft-infuriating trend with its 51-41 victory, led by sophomore backup wing Gavin Stubbe’s 15 points and 14 from junior guard Wiatt McLaughlin.
The Warriors improve to 7-12; Indian Creek is now 9-6.
“Our guys have been doing a lot of really good things. If there’s one big that that we’ve lacked, it’s consistency,” Whiteland coach Nate Cangany said. “Shooting the ball with consistency. Defending long possessions consistently.
“When you look at the five (Mid-State) conference games we’ve lost by a total of 17 points, we lost three on last-second shots. Winning is fun. And I want our guys to experience that.”
Indian Creek, which never led, rallied to tie the score at 30-30 with 3:56 remaining in the third quarter. The Braves were still hanging around at 43-41 after sophomore guard Adam Crouch canned a triple with 5:04 left in the final quarter.
Those were the Braves’ final points, with Whiteland closing with an 8-0 scoring run.
One major factor was Whiteland’s reserves outscoring Indian Creek’s, 25-4. Aside from Stubbe, soph Ethan Edwards swished two 3s on his way to eight points, and backup point guard Maalik Perkins made both ends of a crucial 1-and-bonus free throw opportunity with 40.1 seconds remaining.
Seniors Austin Willoughby and Brayden Roy contributed eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds, respectively.
“I would say we needed this win pretty bad because we had a stretch of some close games,” Roy said. “It’s a nonconference game, but it’s important to win this. Sectional is about a month away, so if we can keep stacking up wins, it will be a good confidence boost for us.”
The Warriors held a 28-22 lead at the half, one point shy of the seven-point spread they led by on three different occasions in the second quarter.
Whiteland raced to a 10-4 advantage to begin the game, but the Braves rallied to tie it at 12-12. Seven consecutive points by the Warriors appeared to put the visitors back in control, but Indian Creek again charged back thanks largely to Landon Sichting’s nine points prior to intermission and the team’s 5 of 6 accuracy from the free throw stripe.
The 6-foot-4 Sichting, a sophomore post, led the Braves with a game-high 17 points and team-best eight boards. Crouch was next with seven points.
Whiteland dominated the final rebound tally, 41-25, as McLaughlin grabbed nine and senior guard D.J. Helm had seven.
So many rebounds usually means an excess of missed field goal opportunities. The Warriors finished 18 of 51 (35.3%) compared to Indian Creek’s even chillier 14 of 45 (31.1%).
The Braves play another county opponent Saturday at 1:30 p.m. when they host Greenwood Christian. The Warriors are idle until Feb. 10, when they host Mid-State leader Decatur Central.
