Healthier Malchow, hot-shooting Zeider help Winamac rout N. Newton

Potthoff, Hines also score in double figures

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Will Malchow Justin Potthoff

WINAMAC — Will Malchow’s ankle is healthier, and with his help, the Winamac boys basketball team was able to bounce back from their first loss to beat visiting North Newton Tuesday.

Positioned often near the baseline and in the short corner against North Newton’s zone defense, Malchow scored a game-high 16 points to lead four players in double figures in a 60-22 win.

Parker Zeider hit four 3-pointers and added 14 points for Winamac, who improved to 6-1. Justin Potthoff and Jaybin Hines added 10 each.

Jared Kutsch scored six points to lead North Newton (1-6).

North Newton committed 27 turnovers, including 13 in the third quarter against Winamac’s fullcourt press. Winamac did not commit a foul in the second half.

Winamac also hit seven 3-pointers while North Newton made just one.

Winamac was coming off a 54-32 loss to Class 1A, No. 5 Triton Friday. They had been averaging 63 points per game prior to that game. Triton led the state in defensive scoring average last year, and they are allowing just 36.1 points per game this year.

“We struggled to find the shots that we wanted,” Winamac coach Mike Springer said. “I’m not sure that we shot the shots that we’ve been normally shooting. What they made us do was take longer in the possessions, and we just weren’t ready for that. We’ve been scoring fairly quickly or in transition, and they were getting back on defense really well. They were not giving us easy looks at the basket.

“I think our kids responded in practice fairly well. We still got to know when we play against somebody that’s going to cut off some driving lines and they’re going to cut off ball reversals and how do we respond to that physical and mental toughness? That’s something we’ve got to show ourselves that we can do that against a really good team if we want to be a really good team.”

Winamac scored on their first three possessions, including two 3s from Zeider and an Ethan Burgess layup, but the Spartans hung within 8-7 on a 3-point play from Kutsch.

But Zeider scored in transition and then hit another 3, and when Malchow scored on a putback as he was fouled, the lead was up to eight.

North Newton trailed 15-8 after one quarter and hung within 20-13 on a Kutsch driving layup before Winamac closed the half on a 10-2 run. Sean Stark got a steal and went coast to coast and finished with a runner. Hines scored in transition off a Stark assist.

Domanic Hudec scored on a driving layup, but a Hines steal and layup, two Hines free throws and an Evan Burgess layup just before the halftime buzzer on a sharp Hines assist gave Winamac a 30-15 halftime lead.

Winamac went to a fullcourt press in the third quarter and had a Christmas feast off North Newton turnovers. Malchow had four buckets in the paint and also hit a pair of free throws, and Potthoff also hit a pair of 3s and scored eight points in the quarter.

“We’ve worked on it, not a lot,” Springer said of the press. “But we’ve worked on it enough in our zone press that we felt like we could use it today. We felt like defensively at the halfcourt, we could force them into some turnovers if we talked on defense and if we forced the ball into the screen. I think we did a really good job of those little things right there against their ball screens.”

Malchow said the team needed to work on the press in case it sees Rossville in the Indiana Kitchen Classic semifinals at Delphi Dec. 29. Winamac opens the tournament with winless Frankfort while Rossville (5-1) opens with North Newton.

“That’s why we’re working on it with them,” Malchow said of the press. “We know they’re not that good, but we had to try it because Rossville’s in the Kitchen Classic, and they are looking pretty good, so we want to get it worked in.”

Malchow sprained his ankle against Carroll (Flora) in a scrimmage Nov. 20.

“It was a pretty bad sprain, and it was my first one, so it made it worse,” Malchow said. “Because after it gets a little rubbery, it’s not as big a deal the second time or third, but I gave it time to heal, and now I think I’m back at it.”

Said Springer of Malchow’s recovery: “I think he’s getting there. There’s a few things that he still struggles with, but he’s confident. He’s able to move. He’s able to cut. It was such a bad injury, that it has just taken him longer than what we thought to get back, but he’s a kid that works hard every day in practice, and with him getting back to full tilt, he’s going to make everybody else work harder in practice, and that’s going to make us a better team because of his presence and what he brings to the team.”

A Malchow steal and layup, a Zeider 3-pointer and a Hines left baseline driving layup to start the fourth quarter capped off a 20-0 run.

Malchow said Zeider’s 3-point shooting opens driving lanes. Malchow, Hines and Potthoff are all capable of driving to the basket.

“I think people know he can shoot it, but they’re not sure,” Springer said. “When Parker makes that, it obviously spreads the defense out a little more. They were pretty compact in there, and he had good looks at the basket, and he made them to start the game. Their defense had to expand, and when that happened, the guys were open in the middle, and we started scoring from there, and then we were able to get good looks just about anywhere anytime we wanted.”

Winamac 60, North Newton 22

NORTH NEWTON (22) (1-6)

Ben Levy 1 0-0 2, Dayton Oxley 2 0-0 5, Domanic Hudec 2 0-0 4, Jared Kutsch 2 2-3 6, Nick Bartrom 1 0-0 2, Cash Kosinski 0 0-0 0, Ryan Johnson Jr. 1 1-2 3, Dallas Scheidt 0 0-0 0, Fredy Acosta 0 0-0 0, Aaron Turner 0 0-0 0, Hayden LaCosse 0 0-0 0, Duke Mark 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 9 3-5 22

WINAMAC (60) (6-1)

Jaybin Hines 4 2-2 10, Justin Potthoff 4 0-0 10, Will Malchow 7 2-3 16, Parker Zeider 5 0-0 14, Ethan Burgess 1 0-0 2, Kannon Hoover 1 0-0 3, Sean Stark 1 0-0 2, Hutch Martin 0 0-0 0, Evan Burgess 1 1-2 3, Johnathan Kletz 0 0-0 0, Hunter Haschel 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 24 5-7 60

Three-point field goals:

North Newton 1 (Oxley),

Winamac 7 (Zeider 4, Potthoff 2, Hoover)

Total fouls: North Newton 6, Winamac 5

Turnovers: North Newton 27, Winamac 6

Score by quarters

North Newton 8 7 4 3 – 22

Winamac 15 15 20 10 – 60