<p>For the Daily Journal</p>
<p>Going scoreless in a quarter is never a great recipe for winning.</p>
<p>Despite doing so in the opening period Friday night, Whiteland still managed to make a game of it before taking a 46-39 loss to visiting Perry Meridian in Mid-State Conference boys basketball action.</p>
<p>An 11-0 first quarter was really one part of the story; the other part was the Warriors’ defense, which helped create 18 Falcon turnovers.</p>
<p>“Our defense was really good,” Whiteland coach Nate Cangany said. “(Jayden) Taylor is really talented and I like his game, but we knew if we dug in defensively, we were going to give ourselves a chance.”</p>
<p>That chance came in the second quarter, which was the exact opposite of the first. Whiteland (0-3, 0-2) outscored the Falcons, 17-10, thanks to not only the defense but an offensive spark from 6-foot-3 senior leader Chase Ferguson, who made his debut after missing the first two games with an injury.</p>
<p>Ferguson nearly atoned for the Warriors’ poor first quarter, hitting both his 3-point shots and both his free throws.</p>
<p>Additionally, he helped clog up the middle as Perry Meridian, for all its speed and patience, couldn’t penetrate inside the key and were forced to make do with their outside shooting.</p>
<p>Whiteland though, couldn’t close the gap. The Warriors’ timidity in shooting led to a frustrating night for Cangany.</p>
<p>“I felt we threw the ball around too much and not enough at the basket,” he said.</p>
<p>Still, the Warriors were only down by five entering the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>The Falcons slowly were pulling away and had a nine-point lead until Quinten Gillespie hit a 3 from the corner with 2:36 left to close the gap to 42-36.</p>
<p>Perry Meridian then froze the ball and was doing a great job of it until turning the ball over yet again. Trouble was, the Warriors couldn’t take advantage and turned it over themselves.</p>
<p>The Falcons managed to stay ahead thanks to Whiteland’s unwillingness to take the shot.</p>
<p>“We have to get some confidence to shoot the basketball,” Cangany said. “Even with less than a minute to go, we have guys who didn’t want to shoot.</p>
<p>“We have to have confidence to take the right shot and play with more purpose and stop giving the ball away.”</p>
<p>Whiteland was led by sophomore Max Sullivan’s 12 points.</p>
<p>The Butler-bound Taylor led all scorers with 20 points for Perry Meridian (3-2, 2-0). Reggie McDonald added 11.</p>
<p>Whiteland won’t have a lot of time to brood about this result, as it travels up the road to take on Roncalli in a nonconference game tonight. It’s the first stop on a four-game road trip that doesn’t see the Warriors return home until the new year.</p>
