Published: February 07, 2008 09:18 am         

Redskins ready to play two

There was a Super Sunday and a Super Tuesday during the past week.

How about a Super Thursday and a Super Saturday for the Goshen High School boys basketball Redskins?

That will take 64 minutes (at least) of good basketball as the Redskins visit the Wawasee Warriors in Syracuse tonight and the East Noble Knights in Kendallville on Saturday afternoon.

Tipoffs at Wawasee are customary with JV at 6:15 and varsity about 7:45. At East Noble, the junior varsity game starts at 1 p.m. and varsity about 2:30, due to girls sectional championship games being played that night.

Both Goshen and Wawasee are 9-6 and both have lost three of their last four outings.

“We’ve had seven of our 17 varsity and JV players out at various times this week due to sickness,” said Goshen coach Brian Bechtel, himself battling a bug which is making its rounds.

“It seems like one week each season these flu-like symptoms, fever and bronchial problems hit and this is the week for us.

“We have spent much time figuring out our rotation and I think we are done figuring.

“We have been focusing on defense, getting back to playing it the way we did early in the season. The last few games, we have been out of position a lot and lacked communication.”

Jordan Short, 5-10 senior, is a likely Redskin starter tonight after a fine relief performance during a GHS home game against Plymouth last Saturday.

“We need to get back to that blue-collar basketball which made us successful early in the season. We haven’t had good point production lately, but that would improve too if we start playing better on the defensive end.”

The Redskins’ focus so far this week has been on Northern Lakes Conference foe Wawasee.

“Coach (Phil) Mishler has a good system with a mix of inside and outside scoring, making them difficult to defend.

“They do a good job defensively of speeding teams up. The best way to stop their press is to keep them from scoring.

“They have good 3-point shooters who extend the defense. We must play very physical on the defensive end, yet honor them out on the court.

“This is a huge weekend for us with a chance to get back on track.

“But, we are playing two good opponents on the road. Earlier in the season we played like ‘Road Warriors’ (4-0 away from home) and it take a good defensive effort both games this weekend to recapture that.

“We are just trying to get it all together this last quarter of the regular season. We need to do the little things to get back where we were (9-3 at one point).

“We want to finish the regular season strong and be at our best going into the sectional (Class 4A at North Side Gym in Elkhart).”

The East Noble Knights, with tough defense and a deliberate offense, have been involved in several low-scoring and close games.

EN has played some teams familiar to this area, defeating West Noble 50-47; losing to Lakeland 54-41 and Westview 66-58.

The Redskins host Westview on Feb. 15 and South Bend St. Joseph’s on Feb. 19, then visit West Noble on the 22nd to close the regular campaign. Sectional play starts Feb. 26.