No. 1 NorthWood rolls, Glenn edges South Bend Washington in 3A regional finals

SOUTH BEND ― Maybe the prettiest picture of Saturday’s Class 3A-Regional 10 boys basketball championship game at the Great Western Forum in South Bend Washington came after it was over.

Two Northern Indiana Conference rivals ― coach Travis Hannah’s John Glenn Falcons and coach Ryan Varga’s Washington’s Panthers ― reaching out to shake hands and even to hug one another.

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That, folks, is what high school basketball in the state of Indiana should be about and was Saturday. The Falcons (17-10) continued their recent mastery of the Panthers (18-6) with a sixth straight victory in their series, this a 58-54 triumph which sends John Glenn into its first semistate since the 2004-05 season under legendary coach Gordon Mosson.

“They (the Panthers) are a good team, and they have a lot of kids with a lot of pride,” Glenn coach Hannah said. “I knew they were going to come out and punch us in the mouth early. We found ways to make plays. There aren’t a lot of teams with 10 losses that get to this point (the semistate). It’s been a roller-coaster ride for our kids. But they just stick with it.”

The Falcons will find out Sunday from the IHSAA who their northern semistate semifinal opponent will be and where the game will be played next Saturday. In 2005, the Falcons finished 20-7 under Mosson after losing 56-46 to Harding.

Also advancing Saturday at Washington was Class 3A’s top-ranked NorthWood, a 72-35 winner over Lake Station Edison in the Class 3A-Regional 9 title game to improve to 25-2 with its 17^th straight victory.

Glenn trailed 14-13 after a seesaw first quarter before pulling away late in the second quarter to go to the locker room at halftime up 30-24.

Three-pointers by junior guard Chase Miller and junior guard Joe Chrapliwy then gave the Falcons a 36-26 lead with 6:15 left in the third quarter before Washington would start chipping away.

The Falcons’ lead was still nine at 52-43 with 5:48 remaining in regulation, but Washington went on an 11-1 run over the next 5:14 and took the lead 54-43 on Ty Grundy’s free throw with 34 seconds remaining in regulation.

But with the Forum going nuts, the 6-foot Chrapliwy made a 3-pointer from the corner with 20 seconds left and then hustled back on defense to get a hand on a shot by Washington senior guard Terrence Reid with 5.9 seconds remaining. The ball ended up in the hands of 6-foot-4 senior center Brycen Hannah, the coach's son, who made a pair of free throws to clinch the victory.

“I was just thinking about getting the shot for the team,” said Chrapliwy, who knew this outcome would be different than Glenn’s 52-31 NIC victory over the Panthers in Walkerton on Dec. 16.

“We’ve had these guys’ number the last couple of years; we knew they’d be coming out with a vengeance,” said the stocky senior Hannah, who would finish with game-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds. Chrapliwy, meanwhile, scored 19 points with the help of three 3-pointers, one fewer than Miller, who had 13 points.

“When we shoot it well from the perimeter, we’re pretty good,” coach Hannah said after his team shot 54 percent to match Washington’s similar percentage.

Reid had a team-high 16 points, fellow senior Marcus Norman added 15 and freshman Steve Reynolds had 10 for coach Ryan Varga’s Panthers.

“Our kids put themselves in position to win,” a disappointed Varga said in the quiet Washington locker room. “That’s all you can pretty much ask for. We had it right there and gave ourselves a shot at it. We just didn’t win. (Reid and Northern) have been glue guys for a long time. I can’t ask for more from them – they play extremely hard every time they step on the floor, and they leave it out there.”

JOHN GLENN 58, SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON 54

Class 3A-Regional 10 Championship at South Bend Washington

JOHN GLENN (58): Brycen Hannah 7 7-8 22, Joe Chrapliway 7 2-4 19, Noah Dreibelbeis 1 2-4 4, Chase Miller 4 1-2 13, Joey Shoue 0 0-0 0, Ty Larkin 0 0-0 0, Carson Krueger 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 19 12-18 58.

SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON (54): Marcus Northern 6 1-2 15, Steven Reynolds 4 0-0 10, Terrence Reid 6 4-6 16, Erick Nocentelli 2 2-2 6, Jason Dockery 1 1-2 3, Ty’shaun Grundy 1 2-3 4, Devin Devries 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 20 10-15 54.

3-point goals: John Glenn 8 (Chase Miller 4, Chrapliwy 3, Hannah 1), South Bend Washington 4 (Northern 2, Reynolds 2). Shooting: John Glenn 19 of 35 for 54 percent; South Bend Washington 20 of 37 for 54 percent. Rebounds: John Glenn 28 (Hannah 8), South Bend Washington 12 (Grundy 4). Turnovers: John Glenn 13, South Bend Washington 8. Total fouls (fouled out): John Glenn 12 (none), South Bend Washington 18 (none). Records: John Glenn 17-10, South Bend Washington 18-6. Officials: David Uran, Matthew Hans, Matthew Miller.

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Top-ranked Panthers make it look easy vs. Lake Station Edison

Coach Aaron Wolfe’s Panthers scored the game’s first 10 points and then had a 14-point unanswered run to start the second quarter while having their way with No. 8 Lake Station Edison in a 72-35 victory for the IHSAA Class 3A-Region 9 championship Saturday.

The 25-2 Panthers, the best defensive team in the state while allowing just 35 points a game, were hardly tested as 6-foot-3 senior Cade Brenner hit the first of his four 3-pointers to start the carnage and finished with a game-high 31 points to lead three NorthWood players in double digits.

NorthWood’s Raasch brothers – 6-foot-6 senior Ian and 6-foot-8 sophomore Tyler – had double-doubles. Ian finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Tyler had 10 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots, four in a first quarter that essentially discouraged coach Bob Burke’s Eagles (22-4) from trying to take flight inside the lane. Senior point guard Armoni Gonzalez had a team-high 13 points for Lake Stadion Edison.

“I wanted us to have a competitive edge,” said Wolfe, now 279-110 in his 16^th season at the school. “They competed well right from the start.”

NorthWood dominated every statistical category which mattered. The Panthers hit 52 percent from the field and held the Eagles to just 23 percent, and NorthWood controlled both boards, finishing with a 46-29 edge. The teams each had 12 turnovers in the often wild running game, while the Panthers were able to survive a pair of five-foul disqualifications (to Tyler Raasch and J.J. Payne) because the Eagles had one of their own (Travis Randolph).

“We’ve got some guys who are improving,” Wolfe said. “I thought Cade was wonderful today. I thought both Raasch (brothers) did a tremendous job, I thought Brock Bontrager was super and I thought Ethan (Wolfe, his junior son and point guard) was good and steady with the basketball. I thought we had a full performance.”

The Panthers advance to the northern semistate for only the second time in their history and will learn their opponent and destination Sunday from the IHSAA. Their last semistate trip came during the 2006-07 season under Wolfe’s predecessor, the legendary Dan Gunn, whose last Panther team lost 63-47 to Plymouth in the northern semistate that year and finished 19-6. Those Pilgrims, coached by another Hall of Famer Jack Edison, beat Evansville Bosse a week later for the state title, 72-61.

“I didn’t have a good game Monday (he had 10 points in a 57-24 victory over West Noble) and I wanted to come back and play well,” said Brenner, who was wearing a red hard hat – the school’s “Pound-the-Rock” hat – after his all-around performance which featured 11-of-22 shooting from the field.

Brenner scored 10 points in the first quarter, hitting 4-of-5 including a pair of 3-pointers, as NorthWood settled for a 17-5 lead after their 10-0 start.

Tyler Raasch then scored eight points and brother Ian added a bucket as the Panthers took a 31-5 lead with 2:55 remaining before halftime. It was 31-11 at the break only because NorthWood turned the ball over three times late in the quarter and Lake Station converted each into a basket.

“We wanted to get off to a quick start, take care of the ball and also do the job rebounding because they (the Eagles) are a good rebounding team,” Tyler Raasch said. “In the second quarter, I did the most I could with the offensive rebounds.”

Brenner had 12 points in the third quarter as NorthWood took a commanding 50-21 lead into the fourth quarter. The lead reached 37 – 70-33 – when junior point guard Ethan Wolfe made an easy layup with 2:02 remaining after which his father cleared the Panthers’ bench. The game ended with a running clock.

“Our goal all year has been to play well as a team and go as far as we can,” Tyler Raasch added.

The northern semistate may not be far enough for these Panthers, who are ranked No. 8 overall by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

NORTHWOOD 72, LAKE STATION EDISON 35

Class 3A-Regional 9 at South Bend Washington

NORTHWOOD (72): Cade Brenner 11 5-6 31, Ian Raasch 5 4-5 15, Tyler Raasch 5 0-2 10, Ethan Wolfe 2 0-0 4, Brock Bontrager 3 1-2 7, J.J. Payne 1 1-2 3, Seth Russell 1 0-0 2, Owen Roeder 0 0-0 0, Camden Ransberger 0 0-0 0, Grant Miller 0 0-0 0, Jack Zercher 0 0-0 0, Keegin Stats 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 28 11-17 72.

LAKE STATION EDISON (35): Armoni Gonzalez 5 3-6 13, Willie Miller 1 1-3 3, Adam Eastland 3 2-2 9, Travis Randolph 2 2-2 7, Maurion Turks 0 3-4 3, Vince Yzaguirre 0 0-0 0, Kaleb Young 0 0-0 0, Davon Jones 0 0-0 0, D’Marco Terry 0 0-0 0, Darryl Mosley 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 11 11-17 35.

3-point goals: NorthWood 4 (Brenner 4), Lake Station Edison 2 (Randolph, Eastland). Shooting: NorthWood 28 of 54 for 52 percent; Lake Station Edison 11 of 48 for 23 percent. Rebounds: NorthWood 46 (Tyler Raasch 13, Ian Raasch 10), Lake Station Edison 29 (Miller 8). Blocks: NorthWood 7 (Tyler Raasch 6), Lake Station Edison 2 (Miller 1, Gonzalez 1). Turnovers: NorthWood 12, Lake Station Edison 12. Total fouls (fouled out): NorthWood 20 (Tyler Raasch, Payne), Lake Station Edison 17 (Randolph). Records: NorthWood 25-2, Lake Station Edison 22-4. Officials: Danny Torok, Ronald Day, Daniel Escalnante Jr.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA Class 3A boys basketball regional at South Bend Washington