By Adam Knoll
Sports correspondent
If there was consistency among the Whitewater High School boys’ 2014 season, it was that the defense would hold teams down while the offense struggled. This past week, the opposite was true as the Whippets put up their highest two scoring outputs of the season, and coupled those efforts with their worst defensive games as well.
Starting with a big conference matchup on Thursday against East Troy, the Whippets put up 72 points, by far the high mark on the season, passing their previous high of 53 against McFarland. The outburst equaled the amount the team scored against Stoughton and Oregon combined. However, it was the tempo of the game that did the team in during a 78-72 loss.
“Credit to Troy’s tempo, they like to shoot three’s a lot,” claimed Whitewater head coach Dan Gnatzig after the game. Indeed, it was a bit of a three-point battle, with 13 threes made between the two clubs. In the end it was an old nemesis that ruined the team’s chances to knock off a main rival: the free throw line. East Troy was 20-27 from the stripe, Whitewater made just 12 of 26 attempts. Gnatzig agreed that free throws cost the team saying, “We probably would have won if we made a few more.”
Scott Gorsuch was the leading scorer for the Whippets, putting up 22 points, becoming the first to score over 20 this season. Anthony Juoni scored 12 and Joe Michaels added 11. This was the first game in which the team has had more than one double digit scorer. Samuel Fuller hit a three from long range during the contest.
Yet it was the defense, which is usually stout, that gave up 78 points in an important game. Twenty-eight of the final tally can be attributed to Jacob Growel, who made 14 of 20 from the line.
Whitewater, for a change, led after the first period 20-11, yet let the lead get away in a tortuous 27-16 second period in which Whitewater missed eight free throws to enter the half down 38-36. East Troy would add four points to their lead after the third period, and the two teams played even in the final quarter.
The Whippets had not given up more than 64 points at any time this season, and in fact was holding teams to a shining 48.1 points per game. It was an unfortunate turn in a winding season, one that spilled into the team’s following game against Lake Geneva Badger.
In a buck against the trend, the Whippets actually nailed 21 of their 29 free throws against Badger to keep pace with what Dan Gnatzig called a good, non-conference opponent.
“Badger is in the top half of the Southern Lakes Conference,” Gnatzig explained. “It was a fairly strong game for us.”
Even so, the Whippets suffered their fourth straight loss 68-56 to fall to 3-7 on the year. This was their second worst defensive effort of the year, and it is coming at a time when the offense is finally starting to wake up.
Leading by one at the half, Whitewater would go on to have a difficult third period in which they fell behind by eight points. From there, Badger sunk 10 of their 12 free throws in the fourth to ice the game.
“We didn’t close the game out,” Gnatzig said after the game.
Scott Gorsuch led the team again with 15 points this time around and was flanked by Brett Harms, who had 13, along with Josh Nast, who added 10. This is the second game in a row in which the Whippets had three players in double figures.
Things are not all bleak for Whitewater though. The offense is coming alive and if the defense can get back to holding teams down, wins may be on the horizon. The squad was set to play Palmyra-Eagle and Brodhead this week, with a good shot to win both matches.
Gnatzig said he’s looking for a consistent effort from his team.
“If we don’t play to the level of our competition and continue to get better, we should play pretty well in our two conference games coming up this week.”
