GOSHEN — It’s a common occurrence inside the Westview Warriors boys basketball program, but a 20-win season should always be celebrated.
Following a 16-point win at Goshen Friday night, there were smiles throughout the Westview roster. However, head coach Chandler Prible took time after the game to note how the job is not even close to being finished.
“It’s obviously cool and exciting, but the way I feel right now is the same way I would feel if we didn’t win this game,” Prible said. “I’d still be thinking, OK, what did we do well, what didn’t we do well and need to get better at. We’ve got to stay even. The guys are excited right now, but we’ll have to make sure we get them turned around and ready for a tough week to finish the season.”
Westview junior guard Austin Schlabach was exhilarating for the No. 3 (Class 2A) ranked Warriors (20-1) in Friday’s heavyweight showdown between a dominant Westview team and a Goshen (14-6) squad filled with seniors and postseason dreams the same.
In front of a packed crowd that was present on both levels of Interra Gym, Schlabach scored 25 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots in a runaway 69-53 win that the Warriors led by 20 points late. The win gave Westview its 19th consecutive victory and its 19th 20-win season in program history. It also snapped a four-game skid in the series against Goshen.
“Athletically, between the blocked shots and couple of dunks, he’s pretty talented,” Prible said of Schlabach. “He gets a lot of stuff done on both ends of the floor. We had him guard one of their guards who is one of the best guards in the area, I think. He can do that for 32 minutes.”
We’re best when we’re in transition, and he’s very hard to guard in transition,” Prible said. “Once we have a lead, he’s now even harder to guard. You can post him up, he can hit perimeter shots, he can go by you off the dribble, he sees the floor well and find the open guys, he does a lot.”
Schlabach was assisted by senior guard Kaden Grau. Grau scored 18 points and knocked down four of Westview’s nine made 3-pointers. The Warriors were 9-of-20 from the outside.
“You can’t help off people very much,” Goshen coach Michael Wohlford said. “That’s the biggest difficulty. [Schlabach’s] a great basketball player, but when you have three or four other guys on the floor who can shoot 40-plus percent from three, it’s pick your poison. We tried to man up, but he’s got some length so he’s able to score in there. We began to double, we’re doubling off somebody, and we get in a rotation and they’re a good passing team and they’d hit open threes.”
Goshen countered Westview’s 4-0 start with a 9-0 run themselves in the opening quarter, but when Schlabach picked off a pass and dunked the ball in transition, the Warriors held a slim 13-12 lead after the first eight minutes.
The Warriors continued to upend the RedHawk defense with a diverse cast of shooters from each end of the floor. Grau nailed three treys and Kaine Reinhold canned another in a second quarter that couldn’t have been cleaner for the visitors. Westview was 8-of-10 shooting in the second quarter, outscoring Goshen 22-8 in the frame while never turning the ball over. Predictably, it created a 35-20 halftime lead for the Warriors.
“They were really good offensively and some of that was transition, but some of that was they’re very skilled at putting the ball in the basket,” Wohlford said. “There’s a reason they’ve won 19 games in a row and have a chance to win the 2A state title. They did a really good job tonight collapsing, and we weren’t able to keep pace.”
Goshen scored the first six points of the second half and took their deficit down to nine, but after being held shot-less in the first half, freshman Bryce Yoder found room to shoot and his three-pointer boosted the Westview lead back to double digits. Goshen guard Levi Sawatzky hit a pull-up triple before the horn, but Westview’s lead was 50-36 heading into the final frame.
“It helps when we can score that much,” Prible said about his team, who has been held below 60 points just twice all year. “In the second half, we kind of struggled to guard them. We gave up 33 points in the second half, only 20 in the first half, so it was good we were able to find some shots.”
Westview’s scoring column included Schlabach (25 points), Grau (18), Bryce Yoder (8), Daniel Yoder (7), Pierce Yoder (6) and Reinhold (5). The Warriors were sharp with a 28-of-44 showing from the floor and 9-of-20 from deep. They were 4-of-4 at the line.
Goshen was led by Sawatzky (17), Braxton Cline (13), Karter Marcum (10), Ryen Diaz (6) and Evan Timmons (5). The RedHawks shot 20-of-50 from the floor and 5-of-17 from three. They were 8-of-10 at the stripe.
With Friday’s loss, Goshen’s four-game win streak against the Warriors came to a close. After having its own five-game win series snapped by the RedHawks in 2022, Westview is now back in the win column in the series.
Westview has now raised its win streak to 19 games. The Warriors are now 20-1 with its lone loss to 4A No. 6 Northridge. The Warriors will close the season out with its final Northeast Corner Conference game at Fremont on Tuesday, Feb. 24 before returning home to host Concord on the following Friday. Both games are set for 7:30 p.m.
Goshen has now lost its last three games, albeit against the toughest four-game stretch of its schedule. The RedHawks have lost to Wawasee, in overtime to 4A No. 10 South Bend St. Joseph and now 2A No. 3 Westview during the slide. Goshen closes the season next week at West Noble on Tuesday and home against John Glenn.
“Our kids are fighters, they don’t quit,” Wohlford said. “I know they won’t give in on the season. We’ve got plenty of games left, we’re 14-6, we’ve had a really tough stretch of both opponents and some difficult endings to games. That St. Joe loss on Tuesday night was really, really tough because we played really well. We just need to play well and bounce back next week heading into sectional.”
The IHSAA boys basketball draw is scheduled for Sunday on the IHSAA’s Champions Network, starting at 6 p.m.
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PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
#3 Westview – 13; 22; 15; 19 – 69
Goshen – 12; 8; 16; 17 – 53
JV score: Goshen def. Westview 56-45