PREP BOYS BASKETBALL REWIND: NorthWood wins NLC; Goshen loses in OT to Plymouth

Feb. 3—For the second-straight season, NorthWood boys basketball is outright Northern Lakes Conference champions.

The Panthers won the conference crown Thursday night by beating Concord, 54-42, and Warsaw beating Mishawaka, 57-54.

Those two results meant NorthWood was 6-0 in NLC games, with Warsaw and Mishawaka both 4-2 in conference games with one NLC contest left for each team. The Panthers will look for their second-straight undefeated NLC record when they visit Mishawaka this Friday, Feb 10.

It's the fifth time NorthWood has won the NLC title, joining the 1972, 2000, 2007 and 2022 teams.

"I am proud of our team as we feel blessed to compete in the Northern Lakes Conference," said NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe to The Goshen News Friday morning. "The players, teams and environments are always special. Winning the Northern Lakes Conference with a rich basketball pedigree is a testament to our players' hard work, dedication, selflessness and ability. As coaches, we are blessed to coach the guys in our locker room every day."

The game between the No. 1 (Class 3A) Panthers (15-2) and Concord (9-8, 3-3 NLC) Thursday was close throughout. NorthWood only led 11-9 after the first quarter, 26-23 at halftime and 41-33 through three quarters. The Minutemen were then able to cut that deficit in half, down to 43-39 with 5:35 remaining in the contest.

NorthWood closed the game on a 9-3 run from there, though, to pull away with the victory.

Minutes later, Warsaw completed a double-digit comeback on Mishawaka to clinch the outright title for the Panthers.

Senior Cade Brenner had another big night for NorthWood, scoring a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including making five '3's'. Senior Ian Raasch was perfect from the field, making all six jump shots and all five free throws to give him 17 points. Sophomore Tyler Raasch had 12 points, while junior Ethan Wolfe added two to round out the Panther scoring.

For Concord, Lucas Prough was the only one to reach double-digit scoring with 12 points. The Minutemen's final NLC game will also be Friday, Feb. 10 when they take on Northridge (8-9, 2-4 NLC).

GOSHEN LOSES TO PLYMOUTH IN OVERTIME

For the fourth time this season, the Goshen boys basketball team played an overtime game.

Just like their overall record, their mark in overtime contests is now even.

After being tied at 42 through four quarters of play, Plymouth outscored Goshen, 15-9, in the extra session to win, 57-51, Thursday night.

The RedHawks are now 8-8 overall, 2-4 in NLC games and 2-2 in overtime contests. Their OT wins have come against Jimtown and Mishawaka, while the losses were to South Bend St. Joseph and the Pilgrims.

"We've played a lot of close games in my 15 years here," said Goshen coach Michael Wohlford in a phone interview with The Goshen News Friday afternoon. "We're a highly competitive team, no matter who we're playing most of the time. It's just kind of what it is with Goshen basketball; we play a lot of close games. Even some of the games we've won handily or lost handily, they were in the balance in the third quarter still."

Senior Quinn Bechtel had 17 points to lead Goshen's offense, while juniors Gage Worthman and Ryan Eldridge scored 14 and 11, respectively, in the contest.

A key stat from Thursday's game was free-throw shooting. Goshen went just 5-of-9 from the charity stripe, while Plymouth made 19-of-31 free-throw attempts. The RedHawks were called for 23 fouls while the Pilgrims only had 13 called against them throughout the contest.

For the season, Goshen has attempted just 46 free-throws in its six NLC games combined. By comparison, their opponents have attempted 112.

"When you're not a great shooting team on a consistent basis, you've got to get some easy money somehow, and we just haven't been able to get to the free-throw line somehow," Wohlford said. "... It's never officiating when it's that big of a discrepancy. We just don't do a good enough job of drawing fouls. That's something we need to work on. It's something we need to coach better."

Goshen will next play Tuesday when they travel to Lakeland (11-6) in a non-conference contest. It's final NLC game is Feb. 10 at home against Wawasee (6-12, 1-5 NLC).

OTHER SCORES FROM THURSDAY

Fairfield 66, Garrett 43

Alex Hofer led with 19 points, while Mitchell Miller added 12 to pace the Falcons to an NECC win over the Railroaders. Fairfield is now 4-12 overall and 3-4 in conference games.

Elkhart 71, New Prairie 56

Damarion Anderson had a huge game for the Lions, recording 26 points and eight rebounds in a big NIC win for Elkhart. After trailing by five at halftime, the Lions outscored the Cougars, 43-23, in the second half to improve their record to 6-11 (5-3 NIC) on the season.

South Bend Adams 79, Jimtown 50

The Jimmies dropped to 3-14 (0-8 NIC) on the season with the loss to the Eagles.

Northridge 74, Wawasee 54

A full report from this game can be online at goshennews.com/sports.

West Noble 80, Westview 69

West Noble clinched at least a share of the NECC championship with the win, as they are 8-0 in conference games with two contests remaining. All other NECC teams have at least two conference losses. A full report from this game can be online at goshennews.com/sports.

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.