Jimenez’s hot start, zone defense help Winamac win 3rd straight

J. Malchow, W. Malchow score 11 each for Warriors

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

WINAMAC — The Winamac boys basketball team is in the midst of playing seven games in a 15-day span.

But only one of those seven teams – North Judson – currently has a winning record. And Winamac just beat North Judson in two overtimes on Thursday.

The busy but potentially inviting schedule continued as Will Malchow and John Malchow scored 11 points each in a 60-39 home win over Oregon-Davis Monday. That improved Winamac’s winning streak to three games and got them back at .500 at 8-8.

Oregon-Davis, who was playing their fourth game in six days, dropped to 4-11.

Jayse Bentle added nine, Ayden Jimenez and Justin Potthoff had eight each, and Brendan Hines had seven.

Jimenez, a senior big man, scored Winamac’s first eight points as they built an 8-5 lead.

“I think any time you’ve got balanced scoring, you really like it because you know you got some kids who can score some points,” Winamac first-year coach Mike Springer said. “We missed some shots that we should have probably hit around the basket area, but our kids are staying resilient through the whole season of up and downs.”

Winamac went on another 9-0 run covering the second and third quarters as the lead got to 29-13.

Oregon-Davis cut what had been a 17-point deficit to 34-25 in the third quarter after Connor Frazier drilled a 3-pointer, but Winamac pushed the pace after a made bucket, and Bentle scored at the rim. John Malchow hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Potthoff’s highlight reel scoop banker as he was fouled made it 41-25.

Bentle hit a left baseline pullup to cap the 9-0 run and get the lead to 18.

The lead was 45-29 after three quarters, and Hines scored all his points in the fourth quarter. The 21-point final margin represented Winamac’s largest lead.

Carson Matthew, Oregon-Davis’ 6-6 center, scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Winamac relied on a 3-2 zone, trying to put up a wall that made it difficult for O-D’s guards to find Matthew.

“We wanted to early in the game,” Winamac coach Mike Springer said of limiting Matthew’s touches. “And we needed to. And I felt like we had them off-balance with the zone, and that was really beneficial. And then later in the game, he got some easy stuff in there, and that kind of irritated me, but I felt like on the whole, we did a really good job of not letting him catch it and turn and find teammates or go to the basket, and that was the difference early in the game.”

Springer used the word “resilient” multiple times to describe his players. He said the team lost some games earlier in the season that they should have won and said “that’s all on me.”

He said the team was “always close to being able to turn the corner” prior to the winning streak. He said he had several one-on-one talks with the players where he said he received “good feedback.”

He praised the players’ practice habits and spoke of the trust the players have developed with each other. That has helped them turn around a 2-6 start to the season.

“That is probably one of the biggest things, I think,” Springer said. “Any good team, they’ve got to trust each other. And John and I had a conversation about that. We’ve had a lot of conversations about stuff. He’s a good communicator with me, and he’s been a great leader for us. But the trust thing, I think anything that you do in life, if you’ve got somebody that you’re working with, if you can trust them, things work out.”

Winamac 60, Oregon-Davis 39

OREGON-DAVIS (39) (4-11)

D.J. Garland 1 0-0 3, Cashton Swanson 0 1-2 1, Connor Frazier 3 0-0 8, Brady Danford 1 2-2 4, Carson Matthew 9 3-4 21, Connor Matthew 1 0-0 2, Casey Koch 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 15 6-8 39

WINAMAC (60) (8-8)

Brendan Hines 3 0-0 7, Will Malchow 5 1-2 11, John Malchow 4 0-2 11, Jayse Bentle 3 2-2 9, Ayden Jimenez 3 2-2 8, Aiden Schooler 0 0-0 0, Justin Potthoff 3 2-3 8, Jaybin Hines 1 0-0 2, Brayden Mathias 0 0-0 0, Ethan Burgess 2 0-0 4

TEAM: 24 7-11 60

Three-point field goals:

Oregon-Davis 3 (Frazier 2, Garland),

Winamac 5 (J. Malchow 3, Bentle, B. Hines)

Total fouls: Oregon-Davis 15, Winamac 14

Turnovers: Oregon-Davis 17, Winamac 12

Score by quarters

Oregon-Davis 7 6 16 10 – 39