By Adam Knoll
Sports correspondent
Just six games into the 2014 season, the Whitewater High School Boys’ basketball team matched last season’s win total with a rousing 45-43 victory over Clinton in front of the home fans last Tuesday night. For head coach, Dan Gnatzig, it’s all going according to plan.
“We are just going to have to try to get better every game. Share the ball on offense and rely on our defense,” he said.
Sharing the ball seems to be the mechanism that the team relies on. Once again, the Whippets only had one double-digit scorer, Scott Gorsuch, and even he only had 10 points. Joe Michaels and Anthony Juoni both had eight points while Brett Harms added 7. Whether it’s a concentrated, even approach or a simple case of a team that cannot find a breakout scorer, something is different about this year’s team and it’s showing in the win column.
Of course, it isn’t all roses when looking at the overall picture as the Whippets are still starting slow. In this game they were down by five going into the second quarter, the fifth game this season in which Whitewater has done so. They’ve also been behind at the half in four games.
In the end it took a chaotic 15-9 fourth quarter to finally propel the Whippets to their third victory, one that is a little sweeter than most because of the distance traveled between last season and this one.
Overall, this type of game benefits the Whippets. They are not the type of club to come out of the gates like racehorses because they are looking to outwork their opponents.
“I always think, if we play lockdown defense, we can grind through it,” Gnatzig explained.
And grinding through it is exactly what Whitewater will have to do.
Last season the team averaged 43.6 points per contest; this season that number has risen slightly to 44.5 points. For comparison, the leading scorer in boys’ high school basketball this season is averaging 33.2 points per game.
The Whippets have offset their scoring problems by vastly improving their defense, going from 56.1 points against last year to 46.8 this season. Depending on the defense to keep games close is risky business, but appears to be the key to making this team tick.
When speaking of his players, Gnatzig said he is using players who may be heading to college for a sport other than basketball.
“Scott Gorsuch,” the teams leading scorer, “he’s headed to Oshkosh for baseball. Brett Harms is most likely going to Whitewater for track. Anthony Juoni is going to play football somewhere, though he isn’t sure where.”
In Gnatzig’s estimation, he might not have one graduating player going to the next level for the sport that he coaches, but as long as they can keep playing like this, he feels they can make it work.
Whitewater is 3-2 in the Rock Valley North. On Dec. 28, the team will face Stoughton at home; the Dec. 20 home game against Evansville was postponed and will be rescheduled later in the season.
