By Stu Swartz
Goshen High School’s boys basketball Redskins play their only January home game Friday night.
NorthWood’s Panthers are coming to town for a showdown of Elkhart County and Northern Lakes Conference rivals.
Goshen dropped road decisions to Concord and Warsaw the first two Fridays of this month and journeys to Elkhart for a clash with Memorial at North Side Gym on the 29th.
The Redskins then wrap up the regular season with seven games in February.
GHS coach Brian Bechtel said, “We are trying not to feel frustrated about those last two games. We learn by watching the films and focusing on our weaknesses.
“We lost to two outstanding teams on their home floors, so we just have to keep things in perspective and be the best team we can be the rest of the way.
“We obviously are still working on developing more scorers and that’s tough for kids who are not used to being scorers. The idea is to create better opportunities for them and knock down shots.
“Beyond (senior) Taylor Kolbus, we need to get the other four starters to average between 8 and 12 points per game to attain the proper balance we need to be successful.
“A lot of momentum comes from putting the ball in the basket. Offense feeds off defense, but defense can also feed off offense. Those create the runs it takes to win games.
“I am not unhappy with our defensive effort, but we allowed both Concord and Warsaw to get the ball too deep in the lane. We have to keep teams away from the basket.
“I scouted NorthWood at home Tuesday against Lakeland. Cameron Williams (6-4 junior) was able to catch the ball deep and wound up scoring a career high.
“Our big focus this week is playing more physical on defense, stopping their cuts and not allowing their scorers to move where they want.
“Michael Paulp (5-9 junior) does a great job moving without the ball. We must be aware of where he is because he can also shoot the 3-pointer. He also has a good dribble pullup move so we need to meet him on the catch.
“NorthWood looks first to Williams on the inside because he is playing with a lot of confidence and really developing his post game. We can’t let him catch, turn and shoot.
“NorthWood is patient on offense and doesn’t do things to beat themselves. They play a lot like us and we appear to be two evenly matched teams.
“We knew January would be a difficult month with Concord, Warsaw and Memorial on the road. They are three of the better teams in the NLC.
“This is our only home game of the month and we are excited about it. We expect a good crowd from both schools and we want to protect our court.
“It will be ‘Middle School Night’ for our basketball program and it is also ‘Coaches vs. Cancer Night’ for Coach (Aaron) Wolfe and myself.
“Our baseball program has a fish fry going on in the cafeteria that night and our varsity game will air on SBT-2 (10:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday).
“Our records are close to identical, we are similar in youth and styles of play. It should be a close and entertaining game.”
