By Greg Keim
Taking control of the rebounding and mixing up their defenses in the second half were the keys in a come-from-behind win by the Concord Minutemen.
Concord trailed the Wawasee Warriors 51-34 at halftime before winning 81-71 in a Northern Lakes Conference high school boys basketball game Friday night in Syracuse.
The Minutemen outscored the Warriors 47-20 over the final two quarters.
“Unbelievable,” Concord coach Steve Austin said. “This is probably the greatest comeback win I’ve had in my coaching career.
“All we told the kids at halftime was to go up strong with the ball and slow down. We wanted them to still play fast, but slower in their minds.
“We missed an awful lot of layups in the first half.”
Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said, “Concord took control on the boards in the second half. They limited us to one shot while they got rebounds and had point-blank putbacks. That is the only was a 17-point lead disappears.
“Concord switched defenses on us, but so did Elkhart Memorial. We got good looks at the basket in the second half, they just wouldn’t go in.”
Five-ten Larone Smith played a huge role for the Minutemen in the second half, scoring 22 of his game-high 27 points.
Smith’s layup at 1:00 of the third period gave the Minutemen their first lead since a 5-0 advantage in the first quarter.
“Larone played a super game,” Austin said. “He was confident and when he penetrated he hit every shot.”
Mishler said, “Smith did a great job of getting some outlet passes and scoring easy baskets.”
Six-eight sophomore Jason Spriggs added 12 points, 6-5 freshman Franko House 11 6-3 senior Doug Acker and 6-0 junior Anthony Yoder eight apiece.
Spriggs grabbed 13 rebounds as Concord outrebounded Wawasee 24-9 in the second half.
The Warriors started missing form the outside in the second half. Wawasee was 8-of-17 from 3-point in the opening half before finishing 11-of-41.
Six-four junior Riley Stichter and 6-3 freshman Jacob Thompson scored 17 points apiece to lead the Warriors. Five-ten senior Keegan Beer chipped in with 11.
Concord (11-3, 2-3 NLC) hosts NorthWood Saturday, Feb. 6 and Wawasee (6-6, 2-3) entertains Lakeland tonight.
