BOYS BB: Winamac's Springer looks back on sectional loss to Cass
Mar. 6—It wasn't the championship game, but Winamac's sectional contest against Lewis Cass on Friday night was the best game of the sectional from an entertainment perspective.
Both teams left it all on the court and the Kings were able to come away with a 50-48 win over the Warriors in a semifinal contest.
The game wasn't decided until Brendan Hines' pullup jumper from 23 feet hit back iron as the time expired.
"Brendan had a good look," Winamac coach Mike Springer said. "We had put shooters in the corner. We were hoping that they would either help off or let Brendan take it down the floor like he did. He had the look, it was a good look and he was on fire. It just fell short. But I just felt like our kids laid it all out there and they had nothing left to give which is the way you want to play each game."
Hines finished 8 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from 3 for a team-high 23 points. He added four assists. Jayse Bentle had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. John Malchow scored nine points. Justin Potthoff made a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to end the first quarter and added five rebounds. Will Malchow chipped in two points.
The Warriors shot 10 of 18 from 3-point range (56%) for the game.
"We knew we could make shots," Springer said. "We had been making them in practice here the last two or three weeks. We got good looks, open looks and we were able to make them.
"The second half I really felt like Cass' defense picked up a lot more. The physicality of the game was a little stronger and that's part of the game. You've got to pick it up. We knew they were going to make a run at us at some point there in the second half and when they got the lead we just couldn't get it back from them. It was a really intense game. I'd say everybody got their money's worth that was there. If you're going to go out, you want to go out playing well and we had a good game, we had a good plan but we just fell short."
Winamac led 28-20 at halftime. Cass got to within 41-39 after three and took its first lead of the game at 46-43 on an LJ Hillis three-point play with 4:17 remaining.
The Warriors trailed 47-46 when they missed on three straight looks at the basket that could have given them the lead in the final minute.
"The boy that missed the bunny right there, he was devastated," Springer said. "He's a great teammate and is a multisport athlete. Bless his heart, he took that really hard."
On the third miss, Hines took an inadvertent elbow to the face after a Cass player came up with the defensive rebound.
"Our kids played hard, their kids played hard and got physical there. That's part of the game too. Nobody wants to get elbowed in the face though," Springer said.
Following a timeout after Cass had advanced the ball, Kolten Young hit two free throws to put the Kings up 49-46 with 18.2 seconds to go. John Malchow drew a foul and his shot attempt just rolled off the rim. He hit both free throws to bring the Warriors within one with 7.3 seconds left. Hillis made 1 of 2 free throws with 6.3 seconds to go to make it 50-48. Hines' shot was just off the mark as the Kings held on.
It was the final game for Winamac seniors John Malchow, Bentle and Ayden Jimenez.
"I was just proud of our kids and the way they responded this season," Springer said. "I think our leadership was a very positive thing for us. Our seniors did a great job for us there. We've got kids coming back that will compete and we've just got to keep developing our program and I think there's some positive things in the future here."
Cass lost to Wabash 65-39 Saturday night in the championship game. Springer, who was interviewed by telephone call Saturday afternoon for this story, said he thought it'd be a tough game for the Kings going in.
"Wabash has got a good team. I think Cass is going to be really worn out. It was an emotional game last night," he said. "I know our tanks were very low at the end. If we had to play another game it would have been really tough. But we would have found a way to show up in our uniforms for sure."
Pioneer attempted a stall ball game Friday night in a 40-22 loss to Wabash. That seemingly gave the Apaches an edge Saturday night as some of Friday's game was played at a literal stand still.
Springer was an assistant coach at Logansport in 1997 when Pioneer played the Berries in a 17-13 stall ball sectional game. Current Pioneer coach Darren McKaig was a senior player for the Panthers in that game.
"What was humorous was Caleb Springer's senior year Pioneer came out and four-cornered us in the sectional," Springer said. "McKaig was a senior on that team. One of the other guards is my assistant coach, Hines, whose son was playing last night for us, was on fire. Aaron Hines looked at me and said, 'We've got the Logansport Sectional from 1997.' It's like, 'Yep.' He was a freshman that year. They had really good shooters. There was a guy named [Nick] Tribby who was a really good shooter."
Springer added the Warriors would not have attempted to stall against the Apaches had they won Friday night. He said to pull off a stall ball upset it's better to play at a deliberate pace throughout the season, for instance as Caston's 2003 team that was coached by Doug Hicks that knocked off No. 1 Argos 33-25 in overtime in a sectional final.
"If we were playing we're not going to stall. I think that you better play like that all season for it to come out like that for your kids," he said. "To me, I grew up playing slow. You've got to practice that every day to play like that every game."
Springer is Winamac's third coach in three years. At age 64 he has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
The Warriors will bring back three starters, Hines, Potthoff and Will Malchow, sixth man Ethan Burgess and they've got some good groups coming up through the program, Springer said.
"We finish 12-13 and we were 2-6 at one time. You take that and run with it and try to get better," he said. "We'll have a little more structure to our program as far as them knowing me and me knowing them and we'll go from there."
