Winamac gets in through the back door, ends 7-game skid vs. Rochester

Hines leads 3 in double figures with 23; Kiser scores 15 to lead Zebras

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Jaybin Hines Jonas Kiser

The Rochester boys basketball team plays a switching man-to-man defense.

Winamac third-year coach Mike Springer noticed this in preparing for Friday’s game at the RHS gym, and he told his team that could lead to driving lanes to the basket and back door cuts. In other words, if you see the back of the head of the Rochester player when they switched on a screen, cut to the basket.

Slipping behind Rochester defenders over and over for layups, Winamac pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the host Zebras 62-48 at the RHS gym.

Jaybin Hines scored eight of his career-high 23 points in the fourth quarter. A junior point guard, Hines also led Winamac with seven rebounds.

Justin Potthoff added 14, and Ethan Burgess had 11 for Winamac (2-0).

Jonas Kiser led Rochester with 15 points, and Brady Coleman and Jack Reffett added 10 each for Rochester (1-1).

Winamac broke a seven-game losing streak in their rivalry with Rochester and beat the Zebras for the first time since Nov. 30, 2018.

“It was very physical, which I thought would favor us a little bit,” Rochester first-year coach Luke Smith said. “But that’s a good ballclub we played tonight. I tip my cap to them. They knew we were switching everything, and if you look at their shot chart, I think they took maybe six 3s on the night, and everything else was layups. And that’s got to stop. It’s hard to win if we’re trying to make 3s, and they’re getting layups at the other end.”

Rochester crawled within 51-48 on two Carson Paulik free throws, but Winamac closed the game on an 11-0 run over the final 2:28.

The run started with Hines cutting back door for a layup. Then Sean Stark slipped behind the defense and clapped his hands to get Hines to notice him. He did, and Stark made it 55-48.

After a Potthoff steal, Rochester scrambled on defense. Hines appeared as if he was going to raise up for a shot but instead dumped it to reserve center Evan Burgess for a layup as he was fouled.

Winamac went just 10 for 20 from the foul line, but they did make 5 of 6 in the final 32.9 seconds.

“It’s big for us,” Hines said. “We came into this game looking to win. We have four senior starters, so we’ve been waiting for this one for awhile.”

Rochester jumped out to a 12-4 lead on four 3-pointers – two from Coleman, one from Mitchell Clark and one from Reffett.

Springer had told his players in practice during the week to sag off from Coleman from the perimeter but quickly adjusted and stayed close.

Winamac answered with a 12-0 run, and they led 18-15 after one quarter.

A Reffett triple, two Kiser free throws, a Coleman driving layup and a Kiser fallaway in the lane flipped the momentum again to start the second quarter as Rochester surged ahead 24-18.

But two Parker Zeider baskets helped Winamac close to within 28-27 at halftime.

Reffett drove to the hoop for a layup, and Kiser hit a 17-footer to open the second half and restore a five-point lead, but the Warriors followed with a 12-2 run.

Hines put Winamac ahead for good with a driving finger roll and added a 3-pointer and a free throw to make it 39-34.

The lead was 41-36 after three quarters. A back door layup from Hines and a screen-and-roll layup from Ethan Burgess made it 45-39.

“The other thing for us is if they get their feet outside the 3-point line, we’re going to go back (door),” Springer said. “And the other thing is they were switching screens. And sometimes when people switch, you give up some back cuts. If I’m screening you and you’re going to switch off me, the basket’s right there, and all I have to do is turn and go.”

Springer said Winamac runs a similar offense all the way down to its middle school teams.

“They play aggressive,” Hines said. “They like to play high and steal passes and jump passing lanes, so we took advantage of that and cut to the basket and got easy baskets.”

Down by six, Reffett drove for two and was fouled. He missed the ensuing free throw, but when Paulik hit a 3 from the left corner, the lead was down to 45-44 before Hines responded by burying his own 3.

“It’s game two,” Smith said. “It’s a new system still. There’s some things we certainly got to shore up, but I know the guys are frustrated, and so am I, but that’s part of it. … When you try to deny the ball one pass away, it does open you up to that. If our help side’s more in the middle of the floor like it was supposed to be, it would alleviate some of those passes.

“We were good for some of it, but when we took a break and took our focus off what we were supposed to be doing, that’s when they got those cuts and those layups that are just daggers. It’s like, that’s too easy, that’s too easy. … Those back cuts are going to haunt me tonight as I go to sleep.”

Game notes

• Former Rochester coach Rob Malchow was honored in a pregame ceremony. Malchow, who coached the Zebra boys from 2002-11 and again from 2017-25, and his wife Wendy were presented with a commemorative basketball at midcourt listing his coaching accomplishments. Smith, who played for Malchow and served on his coaching staff for eight years, wanted to honor Malchow in the first home game after his retirement. That just happened to be against Malchow’s alma mater. Malchow, a 1984 Winamac grad, was the leading scorer on Winamac’s sectional championship team his senior year.

• Rochester senior forward Grant Clark did not play. In a pregame interview with WROI Radio, Smith said Clark would be out for a “few weeks” after knee surgery. It was unclear how and when Clark hurt his knee. Clark is also an all-Three Rivers Conference defensive end and tight end for the Zebra football team. Coleman made his first career start in Clark’s place.

• Winamac senior Will Malchow started but played only sparingly and did not score. Will Malchow is Winamac’s leading returning scorer (13.1 ppg) but missed the season opener against Twin Lakes Nov. 25 due to a sprained ankle. Will Malchow is in his fourth year on the varsity, and the Twin Lakes game was just the second game in his varsity career he has not played in. Will Malchow is Rob Malchow’s nephew.

• Rochester won the JV game 49-47 behind 17 points from Aiden Wilson. Alex Chapman scored the game-winning basket on a breakaway layup after a Winamac turnover with one second left. That gave Rochester their only lead of the game. Kannon Hoover led Winamac with 12 points.

Winamac led by as many as 13 points.

Winamac 62, Rochester 48

WINAMAC (62) (2-0)

Jaybin Hines 8 5-10 23, Justin Potthoff 6 2-5 14, Will Malchow 0 0-0 0, Parker Zeider 2 0-0 4, Ethan Burgess 5 1-2 11, Sean Stark 3 2-2 8, Evan Burgess 1 0-1 2

TEAM: 25 10-20 62

ROCHESTER (48) (1-1)

Carson Paulik 1 2-2 5, Mitchell Clark 2 1-2 6, Brady Coleman 4 0-0 10, Jack Reffett 4 0-3 10, Jonas Kiser 6 3-3 15, Liam Spence 1 0-0 2, Alex Chapman 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 18 6-10 48

Three-point field goals:

Winamac 2 (Hines 2),

Rochester 6 (Reffett 2, Coleman 2, Paulik, Clark)

Total fouls: Winamac 9, Rochester 17

Bench warning: Winamac, 2:01, third

Turnovers: Winamac 13, Rochester 11

Score by quarters

Winamac 18 9 14 21 – 62

Rochester 15 13 8 12 – 48

JV: Rochester 49, Winamac 47