Indi-Spence-able: Junior moves into starting lineup, helps Rochester beat Whitko

Coleman adds season-high 14, Kiser adds 12

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

On a night in which Rochester pushed up the start time of their home boys basketball game against Whitko by 45 minutes to accommodate Indiana University football fans who wanted to see their team play Oregon in the Peach Bowl, the Zebras showed off the same relentless teamwork and competitive spirit that Curt Cignetti’s crew did at the RHS gym Friday.

Brady Coleman hit three 3-pointers and scored a season-high 14 points, and Jonas Kiser added 12 for Rochester in a 59-34 triumph over Whitko. Liam Spence, making his first start after coming off the bench the first seven games, added eight points and four blocked shots and was a significant presence on both ends and as a rebounder.

Other Rochester highlights included Grant Clark’s return to the court after a six-game absence due to knee surgery – he had a nifty 3-point play to give the Zebras a 42-24 lead with 2:29 left in the third quarter – and Ashton Musselman’s first career field goal, a corner 3-pointer in the final minute to complete the scoring.

Rochester also made 13 of 17 free throws while Whitko netted just 7 of 17.

Ethan Yates led Whitko with 12 points and six rebounds.

Rochester improved to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the Three Rivers Conference. Whitko dropped to 4-6, 1-2.

Rochester beat Whitko for the fourth straight year.

Only two previous Whitko opponents had scored more than 59 points.

“I thought our offense was much better,” Rochester coach Luke Smith said. “The ball moved. Guys are attacking when they double gaps and triple gaps rather than drive into space or drive into help. They found the open guy. They screened bodies tonight. That was a point of emphasis for us all week. We’ve kind of been two ships passing in the night when our offense is not working very well, and we just said you’ve got to screen bodies, and I thought we did a really good job tonight moving the ball.”

Rochester already led 42-27 after three quarters, and they started the fourth quarter with a 14-3 run as the lead reached its peak at 56-30 on a Spence free throw with 3:10 left. The run also included 3-pointers from Coleman and Carson Paulik, a driving layup from Paulik and a cutting layup from Kiser off a Jack Reffett assist.

Rochester showed off multiple zone defenses and a man-to-man. A 3-2 zone with Paulik on top was impactful, according to Smith.

“Holding them to 34, you have to be doing something right,” Smith said. “And we mixed our defense up between a ‘50’ (halfcourt) man-to-man defense and a 3-2 defense that we call it. And they struggled with those things. All of our switches, I thought, were really good. Our midline defense where we’re getting all the way over and help was a lot better tonight too. So it was the details that we talked about all week. It’s the details now. We get the concepts. We understand the concepts, but the details are going to make the difference for us now.”

Said Whitko coach Drew Benedict: “They threw a lot of stuff at us tonight. Credit to coach Smith.”

The Zebras jumped out to a 15-3 lead, and they never trailed. Kiser and Spence made statements in the first 49 seconds: Kiser had a steal and drove the length of the court with a lefty finish. Then came a blocked shot from Spence, who raced to the other end to take a post entry feed from Kiser and hit a turnaround jumper.

Asked if being a starter changed his mindset, Spence said it didn’t.

“He told me to just play normally how I do and just go out there and be myself,” Spence said of Smith. “So that’s kind of what I did.”

Spence grew up in Rochester, but he spent his first two years of high school at Mishawaka Marian before transferring back. He calls his current teammates guys with whom he has played with his whole life.

“I never wanted to leave, but my parents wanted me to,” Spence said. “So I did wait for them to let me come back pretty much.”

Yates hit a 3-pointer to make it 4-3, but Coleman took over. He hit a layup behind the defense after Kiser fired a two-handed chest pass in traffic to him. Then he hit a 3 from the right corner. Then he hit a 3 from the left corner. A driving 3-point play from Reffett extended the lead to 12, and it never got below double digits.

“Kiser’s a really good player,” Benedict said. “He has a solid body. He’s very under control. He uses his body very well. And he shot-fakes and pivots. So we were trying to keep him out of the paint, and if he did get in the paint, we were going to stay down and be the second jumper. Let him shoot some tough 2s. Again, he’s a really good player, so he’s going to make some of them, but we’ll take that over jumping and sending him to the free throw line, which we did a couple times tonight. … When you’re ready to play and you’re playing as hard as they played defensively, that shot’s easier in the corner when it gets thrown to you. Because basketball credits playing hard, and they got credited tonight.”

Rochester also won the JV game 62-30 behind 15 points each from Aiden Wilson and Van Kiser.

Rochester 59, Whitko 34

WHITKO (34) (4-6, 1-2)

Hunter Long 0 2-2 2, Cooper Laukhuf 0 1-2 1, Ethan Yates 5 1-7 12, Chandler Cox 1 2-3 4, Caden Deneve 4 0-1 8, Lincoln Bowers 0 0-0 0, Jayden Borntrager 0 0-0 0, Crew Ebbinghouse 2 0-0 6, Daton Day 0 1-2 1

TEAM: 12 7-17 34

ROCHESTER (59) (3-5, 1-1)

Carson Paulik 2 0-0 5, Brady Coleman 5 1-2 14, Jack Reffett 1 5-5 7, Liam Spence 3 2-4 8, Jonas Kiser 4 3-4 12, Mitchell Clark 3 1-1 7, Ashton Musselman 1 0-0 3, Parker Casper 0 0-0 0, Alex Chapman 0 0-0 0, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0, Grant Clark 1 1-1 3

TEAM: 20 13-17 59

Three-point field goals:

Whitko 3 (Ebbinghouse 2, Yates),

Rochester 6 (Coleman 3, Kiser, Paulik, Musselman)

Total fouls: Whitko 18, Rochester 15

Fouled out: Laukhuf (WHI), 3:21, fourth; Bowers (WHI), 3:10, fourth

Turnovers: Whitko 14, Rochester 13

Score by quarters

Whitko 7 8 12 7 – 34

Rochester 21 9 12 17 – 59

JV: Rochester 62, Whitko 30