By Daniel Schoettler
Correspondent
The Whitewater Whippets boys basketball team continued its hot start to the season with two wins this past week against Milton and Big Foot. With the wins, the Whippets have started the season 5-1.
“We’ll definitely take it,” head coach Dan Gnatzig said. “It is a fine line between being 6-0 or 3-3, so we learned from a loss that you have to get better and that every game is different.”
On Dec. 13, the Whippets played Milton at home in a 76-42 victory. Bryce Parrish scored 25 points in the win.
James Diedrick posted 12 points, while Connor Laue had 10 in the win. Logan Rasmussen and Daniel Fuller added eight points apiece.
Mark Bowditch and Kyle Hanauska were the leading scorers for Milton with 10 points apiece and Ethan Hansing had eight points.
Last Thursday, the Whippets played another home contest against Rock Valley Conference foe, Big Foot. The Whippets and Chiefs played evenly most of the first half before Whitewater pulled away late in the first half as Rasmussen and Parrish helped them take a 33-26 into the locker room.
“We had some shots that didn’t go in, and then they hit a few,” Gnatzig said following the Dec. 15 game. “I think what kind of got us going was the steal by Rasmussen into a dunk that rejuvenated us and Parrish got going and shots started to fall.”
Parrish helped the team build the lead up to double digits in the second half. He scored six points at the beginning of the second half to build the lead to 10 before Fuller increased it to 12 with a basket to make it 41-29. From that point on, the Whippets didn’t look back and got the 63-52 win.
“It was well needed,” Gnatzig said. “I could tell by the end of the game they were starting to wear our guys down and Bryce was playing a lot of minutes, so building that lead was important early.”
The Whippets were led in scoring by Parrish with 23 points, while Rasmussen had 18. Laue also was in double digits with 10, while Fuller had nine points in the win.
Big Foot was led in scoring by Beau Cary with 15 points, while Logan Eischeid had 10. Jackson Enz posted seven points, Heath Dillenbeck, six.
With the two victories, the Whitewater improves to 5-1 on the season.
