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Compton scores 14, Malchow adds 10, but Warriors fall to 0-2
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Rochester’s home game against Winamac was about Paul Leasure and the uniform No. 4.
It was about his current teammate who wears No. 4, Tarick McGlothin. It was also about
his former teammate who wore No. 4, Brendyn Stump.
Leasure wears “B4” on the back of his basketball shoes to honor Stump, the former Tippecanoe Valley player who died May 17 due to injuries suffered in a car accident. Leasure and Stump were in the same grade and played together through the Valley feeder system.
While the Zebras were playing the Warriors, 13 miles away, Valley had a ceremony at their gym to honor Stump in their first game since his passing.
Leasure, who transferred to Rochester this summer, honored Stump with a clutch performance against Winamac, scoring seven of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to lift Rochester to a 50-41 win.
“He was one of my best friends,” Leasure said. “I mean, I’ve got it written on my shoe for him. It means a lot. … He was so kind, and he was always there for everybody.”
McGlothin led the Zebras with 18 points, including five made free throws in six attempts in the final 2:15.
The win bumped Rochester’s record up to 2-1.
Russell Compton scored 14 points, and John Malchow added 10 for Winamac (0-2).
Winamac played without senior point guard Ryan Gregor. He missed the game with “some sickness going around,” according to coach Alan Huggler. Huggler said he hopes to have Gregor back for Tuesday’s road game against Plymouth.
Winamac committed only eight turnovers in a season-opening loss to Twin Lakes and had only seven giveaways Friday. Still, the good ball security has not equated into wins.
“First game, we got outrebounded, and we just got outshot, and I think that was probably the case tonight as well,” Huggler said. “So we’ve got to get better shots. We’ve got to hit some shots that we missed. I did like our defensive intensity in the second half. We’ve got to build on that.”
When Compton flashed in the post and hit a 10-footer in the lane, Winamac trailed 34-33 with 5:50 left, but Rochester responded with a 10-0 run in which they held Winamac scoreless for 4:40.
Leasure started the run with a 10-footer in the lane in transition. Then, after Malchow tossed up an air ball, Aidan Smith rebounded and hit Leasure with an outlet pass for a layup that made it 38-33.
Then, Leasure found Luke Hunting on a drive-and-kick on the left wing. Hunting had not scored to that point but drilled a 3-pointer to make it 41-33. Two McGlothin free throws with 2:15 left and another McGlothin free throw with 1:22 left completed the run.
Leasure scored a career-high 36 points against Tri-Central, but Rochester lost 67-59. This time, more players got involved. That included Aidan Smith, who grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds even though he was limited by both an injury and foul trouble that kept him out for the final 5:46 of the third quarter.
“I thought we had more guys looking to score tonight,” Rochester coach Rob Malchow said. “Paul was really good against Tri-Central, but I knew that Winamac would really be hawking him hard, and we talked about guys stepping up to balance the scoring a little bit. And I thought Tarick was really good.”
Leasure later praised McGlothin. He compared him to another former Valley teammate.
“He was huge tonight,” Leasure said. “Tanner Trippiedi is kind of like him, but Tarick is such a good distributor. He obviously showed that he can fill it up tonight too.”
Rochester led 20-8 at one point in the first half, but Winamac went on a 13-0 run covering the second and third quarters and took their first lead on a five-point possession in the third quarter – a Compton Eurostep finish in transition, a foul, a missed free throw trying for a 3-point play, an offensive rebound by Beau Brandt, a kick out pass from the corner to Compton and a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Winamac a 21-20 lead.
It was their first lead since it was 2-1 in the first quarter.
McGlothin scored on a driving layup, but Winamac took the lead again when Brandt leaked out for a layup to make it 23-22.
McGlothin hit a 3-pointer. Winamac senior Alex Stark tied it with a right baseline pullup.
Winamac set up their fullcourt pressure. McGlothin went to the forecourt and flashed to the middle just past halfcourt.
He took a pass from Aaron Huffman and drove to his right and found Robert Bozzo in the left corner. Bozzo buried a 3-pointer to give Rochester a 28-25 lead, and they stayed ahead after that. Two McGlothin free throws and a Bozzo putback made it 32-25.
A Brandt 3-pointer and a Brandt driving reverse layup cut the lead to 32-30.
Leasure’s 17-foot fallaway from the right wing with three seconds left in the quarter gave Rochester a four-point lead going into the fourth.
Freshman Tanner Reinartz started for the Zebras, and fellow freshman Xavier Vance was the first player off the bench.
“They’re physical, but it’s a sign of our inexperience,” coach Malchow said. “I’ve said all along, and it happened against Tri-Central, and tonight was a challenge. We’re going against a senior-laden team, and they are. They’re physical. They’re way more physical than we are. We are putting freshmen out there when the last time they played was eighth grade. There’s a lot to learn. And even for Bob (Robert Bozzo), as a sophomore, he played JV last season. Luke Hunting, JV last season. It’s just there’s so much that you have to take in mentally. … It’s really nice to pull out a win and gain experience.”
Rochester also won the JV game 59-21.
Rochester 50, Winamac 41
WINAMAC (41) (0-2)
Brendan Hines 0 0-0 0, Russell Compton 5 2-5 14, John Malchow 4 2-2 10, Jaden Terry 2 0-0 4, Beau Brandt 3 0-0 7, Michael Loehmer 1 0-0 2, Alex Stark 1 2-2 4, Logan Schultz 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 16 6-9 41
ROCHESTER (50) (2-1)
Tarick McGlothin 4 8-10 18, Paul Leasure 5 3-4 15, Aidan Smith 1 1-2 4, Tanner Reinartz 1 0-0 2, Luke Hunting 1 0-1 3, Aaron Huffman 0 0-0 0, Evan Elliott 0 0-0 0, Robert Bozzo 2 0-0 5, Xavier Vance 1 1-2 3
TEAM: 15 13-19 50
Three-point field goals:
Winamac 3 (Compton 2, Brandt),
Rochester 7 (McGlothin 2, Leasure 2, Bozzo, Smith, Hunting)
Total fouls: Winamac 20, Rochester 11
Intentional foul: Stark (WIN), :9.4, fourth
Fouled out: Stark (WIN), :9.4, fourth
Turnovers: Winamac 7, Rochester 16
Score by quarters
Winamac 4 7 19 11 – 41
Rochester 12 8 14 16 – 50
JV: Rochester 59, Winamac 21
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