Published: March 01, 2008 12:10 am         

Big lead escapes Redskins

Goshen’s Redskins were on fast forward in the first half Friday night, but someone hit the pause button for the second half.

Goshen, leading Elkhart Central 35-19 at halftime, went through a nightmarish final 16 minutes and lost to the Blue Blazers, 55-47, in a Class 4A high school boys basketball sectional semifinal at North Side Gym.

That puts Central in tonight’s 7:30 championship game against Warsaw, a 74-53 winner over Elkhart Memorial in the second semifinal which also featured a bizarre second half.

Goshen, which roared to a 9-0 lead in the first two minutes and hit six 3-pointers in the first half, went ice cold after intermission and struggled with Central’s trapping defense.

“Central’s aggressive traps caused us problems and we couldn’t recover,” said Goshen coach Brian Bechtel. “They took us out of everything we had been doing.

“We didn’t react very well to the situations and it was obvious our confidence wavered as the second half went along.

“We knew they would probably try something different after halftime. Their defense made us think, we didn’t attack or execute.”

Central coach Mike Drews said, “That was certainly a role reversal at halftime. Goshen was hotter than a pistol in the first half, then hit a flat spot and we got on a roll. Momentum at tournament time is hard to stop.

“Our defensive switch broke up Goshen’s rhythm and they also started missing shots they had been making in the first half.”

Mark Sutter, 6-3 junior, led Central with 16 points while 6-2 junior Korey Carpenter, 6-0 junior Jamar Johnson and 6-0 senior Josh Robinson each scored 11.

Sutter grabbed nine rebounds as the Blazers dominated the boards, 34-24.

Ethan Hussey, 6-2 junior, was the top Goshen scorer with 12 points while 5-10 senior Josh Randall had nine and 6-1 senior Cam Snyder eight.

Snyder had six rebounds, Hussey and 6-6 senior Nathan Stegelmann both five. Hussey and 6-0 senior Ryan Bartley both had three assists.

The Redskins finish with a 12-10 record, their first winning season since 2003.

Snyder scored three times and Hussey hit a ‘3’ to get Goshen off to its blazing start.

Bartley, Randall and 5-9 junior Alex Aguilar also hit ‘3s’ in the first quarter as Goshen stunningly assumed a 20-8 lead.

Hussey and Bartley again hit from long range in the second stanza and the Redskins led 35-19 at halftime with Central going 9-for-27 from the field in the first 16 minutes.

The first few minutes of the second half figured to be crucial and they were — in Central’s favor.

The Redskins were 0-for-8 from the field in the third period and had three turnovers as their offense was slowed to a crawl.

Sutter scored seven points and Carpenter five in the quarter for the Blue Blazers who still trailed 35-31 going into the final eight minutes.

Hussey ended Goshen’s scoring drought on two free throws with 7:37 to play and Stegelmann scored on a pass from Bartley at 6:50.

The Blazers took the lead, 40-39, with 6:00 to go on a jumper by Johnson and they would add six more points for a 46-39 command with 2:45 left.

Hussey scored off a steal at 2:14 to give Goshen a glimmer of hope, but Central tallied seven more straight for a 53-41 lead.

“I’m proud of our seniors for the effort they put in all season,” said Bechtel. “They created a family atmosphere, showed resiliency and got our program back in the right direction.”

Drews said, “We didn’t do much yelling at halftime, even though we were playing about as badly as we can. We told the kids the first three or four minutes of the third quarter would be crucial.

“Our defense has gotten better since the kids learned not to overpursue in the trap and give up layups. They followed the plan and Goshen got flustered.”

Second Game

Nic Moore, 5-8 freshman, led Warsaw in the second game with 29 points while 6-3 junior Ryne Robinson tallied 14 and 6-4 junior Chase Byerly 13.

Memorial got 14 from 6-2 junior Lavarius Macon, 11 by 6-1 junior Karvel Anderson and 10 from both 6-6 sophomore Mike Kibiloski and 5-11 junior Sean Cooper.

Memorial, like Goshen, had a difficult second half. The Chargers led 36-28 early in the third quarter, then were outscored 46-17 over the last 15 minutes.