It seems like every Saturday this basketball season, area fans have been treated to some marquee match-ups featuring some of the best teams in the state battling each other.
This Saturday is no exception as unbeaten Shawnee (13-0), ranked No. 5 in Division II and Lima Senior (12-2), ranked No. 12 in Division I, face off for the first time in a while that was sold out by Wednesday. The game is at Shawnee beginning at 7:30 p.m.
While most people are focused on this clash of top notch teams, Shawnee head coach Mark Triplett is primarily concerned with playing Van Wert in a Western Buckeye League game.
“Our goal is to win the Western Buckeye League,” Triplett said. “You don’t win the Western Buckeye League if you don’t win the Western Buckeye League games. That is first and foremost our priority. We said that Saturday will be here when Saturday gets here. We know the community is excited about it. The kids are excited about it and you can’t stop that and that is fine but we have to take care of Friday night first or Saturday is not going to mean a whole lot to us.”
Shawnee’s undefeated mark comes as little surprise to most. The Indians, who made it to the regional finals last year, returned the core of its group this year.
“Expectations are what they are and it is a good thing to have expectations,” Triplett said. “Our goal is simple and it is to get better one percent different every single day. When you start looking down the road and what could happen, typically that doesn’t work out very well for the team so if you can buy into the present and buy into that we have to get better today so we have a chance to go out and play hard on the weekend and do well than I think I think it is a lot easier to say that we need to be playing this type of basketball come March in order for it to get better.”
George Mangas, who is averaging 28.4 points a contest, followed by John Barker, who is pumping in 14.8 points per contest, leads this team. Tyson Elwer, the main man inside is scoring 8.4 points a contest and leads to the club in rebounding per game with 6.6 caroms a contest.
And while Mangas gets the bulk of the headlines, Triplett said it has been the team’s unselfish play and individuals understanding their roles that has been the reason for the squad’s success.
“I’ve been really proud of the unselfishness of this group,” Triplett said. “They buy into the team and family environment we try to instill in them. We have a very unselfish team in regards to who is getting the credit on the offensive end of the court.”
Triplett add that these players always look to make the extra pass in order to get a better shot.
The Indians blend a nice balance on offense and can adjust to different style of plays and what the defense is giving them. Shawnee can go inside with the likes of Mangas, Elwer or Caden Vermillion, or can hit from the outside with John Barker leading the way. Through 13 games Barker is 36 of 78 from behind the 3-point arc and Jarin Bertke is second on the team in treys made, going 16 of 36 from behind the 3-point arc. Mangas is 12 of 37 from treyland.
Barker is also averaging 5.8 assists per game and Vermillion is second on the team with 3.4 assists a game.
As a team, Shawnee is averaging 71.6 points a contest. Defensively the Indians are giving up 51.3 points a game. Elwer is averaging 3.2 blocks a shot
“On the court we have a group that tends to buy into the philosophy for that game,” Triplett said. “We have different game plans, different matchups and we have different guys stepping up to do different roles. We have guys that their role is to be a defender. We have guys that their role is to be a facilitator. This guy is an energy guy and this guy is to hit open shots and this guy is more of a scorer so just buying into whatever role it may be and being ready to be called upon and taking that unselfish attitude onto the floor and not worry about the individual accolades and doing what they can to make the team successful.”
Even though the team has not lost, Triplett said there is always room for improvement and he sees it on defense in the communications department.
“We are getting guys caught in screens. We are losing guys in transition too often because we are not matching up, Triplett said. “We lost some seniors that were more of our communicators. We are still looking for those leaders on the defensive end of the court. We have to be better. “
Triplett added that the Indians also have to get better rebounding. With some bigger, more athletic teams that are coming up (think Ottawa-Glandorf Jan. 31), the Shawnee head coach looks for his wings to crash the boards more aggressively.
Shawnee will have its hands full rebounding against a Lima Senior team that also is athletic with a lot of height.
Lima Senior
Lima Senior is currently in the midst of a long stretch of quality games. In addition to the already rigorous Three Rivers Athletic Conference contest, the Spartans are coming off a loss to Ottawa-Glandorf, 63-61 last Saturday.
The Spartans bounced back Tuesday to beat crosstown rivals Lima Central Catholic, 73-61, to hold onto the Ohio Cup and then return to conference play against St. Francis De Sales who sports a 5-3 TRAC mark.
After the game against LCC, Lima Senior head coach Quincey Simpson said the team is still developing.
“It is hard to say where we are right now,” Simpson said. “We’ve got so many pieces and we are trying to get opportunities 14 games in.”
As they enter the home stretch of the season with the postseason looming, Simpson said he will be meeting with each individual player to define their roles.
“It’s a good problem to have at this point,” Simpson said.
Simpson said the big Saturday games are something he wants to have and test his players against some of the best talent in the area.
“We want good games,” Simpson said. “We always know we can schedule games against teams we can beat fairly easy but it is not about that. We want to be challenged because at the end of the day all these teams want to prepare for the tournament and if we have an edge and some toughness and be challenged that is an advantage.”
Simpson said down the stretch his team will be looking to improve their execution.
“I want to see our team execute at both ends. I want us to share the ball a little bit more. We are not a selfish team but we can share the ball a little bit more and we want to play fast but don’t rush and that is what we want to do. “
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