DUNLAP — The sign being displayed by the Concord student body said it all, “Thou shalt not win at McCuen Gym.”

The Concord Minutemen accomplished the goal of going through the home portion of the regular season undefeated after posting a 52-38 high school boys basketball win over the visiting Westview Warriors Friday night.

“We have talked about championships all season and one of them was not losing a game at home,” Concord coach Steve Austin said. “Next on the list is the sectional next week and then the regional.”

It was Senior Night for as DuWhan Alford, Franko House, Dakota Simon and Dylan Wynne who played the final game of their careers before the McCuen fans.

“Back when I was a South Bend St. Joseph the Concord job always appealed me because of the support from the fans,” Austin said. “You combine our crowd with the Westview fans that travel well and it makes for a great environment. This was a game of two teams that played well and that creates a good atmosphere.

“Our student body has been great this season. They are well organized. At the start of the season they game me a list of what was going to be happening at each game. We came out to watch them before the game. You have to give back to them. We are a family and the student section is a part of that family.”

The game was a defensive struggle in the first half with Westview holding a 12-9 lead at the end of the first period while Concord was up 15-14 at halftime.

Things changed in the third quarter as the Minutemen were 9-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range, as they outscored the Warriors 22-14.

“We hit our shots in the third and also had better movement,” Austin said.

A key shot came at the end of third as House threw one up from behind the half-court line that was nothing but net. Instead of being down by six going into the fourth Westview trailed by nine (37-28).

“The shot at the end of the third was a momentum changer,” Westview coach Rob Yoder said. “It’s not why we lost the game, but it did change the way we had to do some things.”

“I really just threw the ball up and it want in,” House said.

The 2A Warriors enter the sectional next week having lost two of their final three games, but the losses were to 4A schools in Goshen and Concord.

“A game like this will make us better,” Yoder said. “I thought our defense was pretty good. We gave up some offensive rebounds early on that hurt us and we had a few too many turnovers. But we also did some good things.”

House led the Minutemen with a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds. House made 7-of-12 fields goals, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

“It was really nice to win this one for our fans,” House said. “We came out in the third and really wanted to push the ball more on offense. This game should help us get ready for the postseason.”

About the Ball State recruit Austin said, “We want him to have the ball in his hands as much as possible. He is a good passer. When he makes up his mind he is going to score he scores.”

Sophomore Filip Serwatka chipped in with 15 points for the Minutemen. He hurt the Warriors as several of his baskets were the result of offensive rebounds.

Alford added seven points and a team-high six steals.

“We got contributions from a lot of players,” Austin said. “We have been talking to the guys about how if you are not shooting well there are other things you can be doing. You can still rebound or play defense.”

As a team, Concord was 5-of-11 from long distance in the contest.

“If we have to give up shots to Concord I would rather they be from 3-point range,” Yoder said. “There is a greater chance they are going to miss and that means we have the opportunity to get a rebound.”

Junior Jordyn Bontrager scored 15 points and sophomore Chandler Aspy 10 to lead Westview.

The Warriors had their share of successes against the Minutemen.

“Westview did things against our defense that gave us problems,’ Austin said. “Westview executes so well. This was a great game for us. We mixed up some of our zone defense. Westview even ran one of our plays that we use to get lobs.”



Concord 52, Westview 38

WESTVIEW — Jordyn Bontrager 5-10 1-2 15, Brett Yoder 0-0 0-0 0, Chandler Aspy 4-6 2-2 10, Nic Raber 1-3 0-4 2, Kyle Miller 2-7 1-2 6, Jamar Weaver 2-5 0-0 5, Cody Litwiller 0-0 0-0 0. Team: 14-31 4-10 38

CONCORD — Franko House 7-12 3-4 20, DuWhan Alford 3-5 0-0 7, Filip Serwatka 7-9 1-1 15, Ramon Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Adam Glanders 2-4 1-2 6,

Jacob Kronk 0-1 0-0 0, Dakota Simon 1-2 0-0 2, Dylan Wynne 0-1 0-2 0, Brett Austin 0-0 0-0 0, Danny McMahon 0-0 0-0 0. Team: 21-37 5-9 52

Westview    12    2    14    10    —    38

Concord    9    6    22    15    —    52

3-point goals: Westview 6-13 (Bontrager 4-7, Miller 1-2, Weaver 1-4). Concord 5-11 (House 3-4, Glanders 1-2, Alford 1-3, Simon 0-1, Wynne 0-1).

Fouls: Westview 11, Concord 12.

Rebounds: Westview 14 (Raber 5, Bontrager 4). Concord 20 (House 9, Serwatka 5, Alford 4).

Assists: Westview 6 ( Bontrager 2, Aspy 2). Concord 9 (Johnson 3, Glanders 2, Serwatka 2).

Steals: Westview 3 (Raber 2). Concord 10 (Alford 6).

Turnovers: Westview 15, Concord 11.

Officials: Ron Day, Brian Allen and Tim Hinz.

Records (next games): Concord (19-1) meets the Elkhart Central-Warsaw winner next Friday at 6 p.m. in the 4A sectional at North Side Gym in Elkhart. Westview (18-3) meets Bremen Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the 2A sectional at Westview.

JV score: Concord won 45-33. (Concord: Jared Long 8 points, Ryan Tepe 7, Dylan Troyer 6, Trevor Wilmore 6. Westview: Kolton Miller 12, Buchanan Carpenter 10).