The defensive work of Ben Vincent at the sectional helped NorthWood to its ninth tournament title. (Photo by Mike Deak)
NEW CASTLE – Coaches really prefer to have things as normal and routine as possible. NorthWood head coach Aaron Wolfe is really going to have to get creative this weekend as his Panthers are embarking on quite a unique situation.
NorthWood claimed its ninth boys basketball sectional title over the weekend and sixth in the past nine years. So, regionals have become somewhat normal for the program. What won’t be routine about this weekend’s Class 3-A New Castle Regional will be the lead-up. NorthWood will literally pack a suitcase when it heads to New Castle and the notable New Castle Fieldhouse.
Per Google Maps, door to door from NorthWood to New Castle is between 135 and 159 miles depending on the route to get to State Road 3 and the gigantic gymnasium. It’s estimating in normal traffic the trip to take a few minutes short of three hours. For comparison’s sake, the Black Swish’s trip to Banker’s Life Fieldhouse for state yielded a two-and-a-half hour drive and 148 miles door to door.
NorthWood’s not alone in having to pack the bus, as Leo (two hours, 100-plus miles) and Norwell (hour-and-a-half, 80-plus miles) all will have to pre-plan their appearances. Delta, the fourth team, will have the option of a team breakfast at home if it wants, only a half hour up SR 3 in suburban Muncie.
With a 10 a.m. start Saturday morning in its regional semi against Norwell, Wolfe and company are going to head down Friday night and stay in town. Even possibly take a tour of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, which is situated on campus. Not normal, but what can you do?
“We’ve had some regional draws where we’ve had to travel before, but New Castle is about as far as we’ve had to travel for a 10 a.m. game,” Wolfe said Monday at team practice in The Pit. “We’re getting tremendous support from our community and our administration to make it as advantageous as we can for our boys. It does pose some challenges.”
Once the Panthers are actually down in New Castle, the mission will remain the same. NorthWood stayed true to form in its two wins over West Noble and Wawasee at its sectional. As it did time and again during the season, it played its opponent close for much of the first half, then used a run in the third quarter to create separation. West Noble and NorthWood were knotted up at eight in the second quarter Friday night before the Panthers built a 13-0 run, then hammered the Chargers with an 18-0 blitz in the second half.
Wawasee had NorthWood within six at the half of the championship, but NorthWood opened the second half by scoring seven of the first nine points and absorbed all the punches Wawasee countered with as the game spread out to a 17-point decision.
NorthWood’s existence in the tournament, however, could hinge on the availability of its top scorer. Senior Trent Edwards left Saturday night’s game in the first quarter after landing on his head in a scramble for a loose ball. Edwards, who offers 15 points per game, didn’t return after the fall and was not at practice to start the week.
Picking up the scoring slack for NorthWood (18-6) was Ben Vincent, who hit three threes to start the game and finished with 16 points. Jamarr Jackson’s presence inside became noticeable with Edwards out, as was the work of Jason Borkholder and Josh Stratford. The point work of Brock Flickinger also became more important with the ball not going through Edwards’ hands on a regular basis.
Norwell hasn’t been to the regional since 2014, but Wolfe looks at the Knights as a team very similar to that of Northridge. Norwell thrives on the inside-outside game of Will Geiger and Luke McBride. Geiger is a legit All-State candidate, posting 19 points and 12 rebounds per contest while McBride has hit 57 three-pointers this season (45 percent shooter from deep) and can knock down his free throws, a 92 percent shooter (46-50).
“They have a really impressive post player in Geiger inside, as good as we’ve seen probably since Danville on the interior,” Wolfe said. “And they surround him with some highly skilled guards who can all shoot it.”
The trio of Eli Riley, Conner Torson and Drew Federspiel are all chipping in around seven points per night, Riley more of a perimeter shooter and the other two spending more time near the bucket. Coached by former Triton head coach Mike McBride, the Knights are 22-2 and emerged from the Northeast 8 Conference undefeated, which includes regional teams New Haven and Leo, the Lions (19-7) also playing at New Castle against Delta (20-4) in game two.
The winners of the two semi-finals at New Castle will come back for an 8 p.m. championship at the Fieldhouse, once touted as the largest high school gym in the country. The regional champion will play the semi-state at either the venerable North Side Gym in Elkhart or at Lafayette Jeff.