By Stu Swartz
Goshen High School’s boys basketball Redskins have a chance to go back over the .500 mark Friday night.
But, it will take a solid effort against Elkhart Memorial’s Crimson Chargers who will be playing on their home floor — North Side Gym.
These Elkhart County and Northern Lakes Conference rivals met about a month ago in the Elkhart holiday tournament with Memorial hanging on to win a 41-39 thriller.
They could meet a third time as both are part of a Class 4A sectional field which will also include Northridge, Concord, Elkhart Central and Warsaw at North Side in early March.
This is the last of four consecutive Friday night NLC games in January for the Redskins who then get busy with seven games in February to wrap up the regular season.
Home games are with Mishawaka on Feb. 2, Plymouth on the 5th, Westview on the 19th and South Bend St. Joseph’s on the 23rd. Road tests are at Wawasee on the 11th, East Noble (afternoon game) on the 13th and West Noble on the 26th.
“We would like to be .500 in January and need a victory to accomplish that,” said GHS coach Brian Bechtel whose Redskins lost road games to Concord and Warsaw before defeating NorthWood at home this month.
“We already know Memorial quite well. They are a very talented team which like to play a physical style. We must play solid defense and turn them into jump shooters, rather than allowing them to get to the basket.
“We are at a point in the season, after 12 games, where the kids know what to do. We have shorteneed practices a bit to keep them fresh while still maintaining that mental edge.
“We have tried to sharpen our skills and worked on our timing with the post feeds. It’s important to keep the improved shooting touch we showed in the NorthWood game.”
Warren Kay, 6-1 sophomore, was a clutch performer against NorthWood with a season-high 11 points.
Taylor Kolbus, 6-7 senior, had 14 points and 14 rebounds to give him totals of 183 and 130 through a dozen contests.
Carson Roberts, 6-1 junior, tallied a season-high 13 points against NorthWood.
“It was good to get scoring from other areas,” said Bechtel. “Warren Kay was looking at the basket and knocked down some big shots.
“Memorial has made some changes since our game in December. Urston Smith (6-2 sophomore) is now starting. He took their team’s most shots in a win at Northridge last Saturday and made three 3-pointers.
“They are focusing more on getting (6-7 senior Michael) Kibiloski touches in the paint. And, (6-3 senior Antonio) Sanders continues to give them a whole new dimension.
“This will be our fourth game at North Side Gym this season, so it feels like a second home to us. It is a great place to play.”
Goshen lost a season opener to Elkhart Central at North Side and will return in March for at least a fifth (they hope more) game at historic North Side which opened in November of 1954.
In that holiday tournament game, Johnson scored 17 points and Kibiloski 15 for the Crimson Chargers. Kolbus tallied 17 and Roberts nine for the Redskins.
History Lesson
This will be the 49th Goshen-Memorial boys basketball meeting since the Elkhart school split in 1972. The Crimson Chargers have now doubled up the Redskins, 32-16.
Goshen won the inaugural, 56-54, in February of 1973 when Roger Tuggle was in his first season as head coach of the Redskins.
Barry Kauffman scored 23 points for GHS, Scott Sherman 11, Jamie Albrecht seven, Stan Burt and Joe Liechty both six and Kenny Miller three.
Ron Smith, one of the top point guards in Elkhart County history, tallied 18 for Memorial that night while Roy Jackson scored 12 and Jimmy Powers 10.
Goshen nipped Memorial, 66-65, in a 1998 sectional overtime thriller at North Side on a late free throw by Justin Kincaid. Jon Swartz scored 28 points for Coach Mike Sorrell’s Skins, Thomas Kline 25, Phil Mikel six, Josh Kurtz four and Tom Hoogenboom two.
