The Whitewater High School Boys Basketball team won two in-conference matchups this past week as they faced off against the Clinton Cougars on Tuesday night, winning by a score of 61-12. On Friday night, they topped the Big Foot Chiefs 46-41, leaving the Whippets record at 6-6 on the year.

In the start of Tuesday’s game against Clinton (0-11), points came at a premium as neither team was able to score for the first two minutes. Both squads traded turnovers and missed shots until Whippets senior Cooper Pease finally drew first blood, scoring with 14:56 in the first half to give his team the lead. It was a lead they wouldn’t give up for the remainder of the game as they led 30-6 heading into the break and ended the game with a score of 61-12.

While they started off slow, head coach for the Whippets Dan Gnatzig was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We weren’t very crisp in the first part of the game – missed a lot of shots,” said Gnatzig. “Rebounding and our defense was strong and we started knocking down some shots to open it up.”

Sophomore Brock Grosinske was a huge part of the offense for the Whippets, scoring 15 of Whitewater’s 30 first-half points, and ended the game with 25 – the highest point total for any single player on the floor Tuesday night.

“The team’s really gotten together this year,” said Grosisnke. “The team as a whole played pretty well and we just got to build on it.”

Junior Jake Martin also made an impact on the game, getting rebounds and making defensive plays.

Standing 7 feet tall, Martin’s presence is felt by everyone in the gym.

“I have games where I miss a lot. Tonight was one,” said Martin. “But if you get it down to me, I’m going to dish it out and I know my teammates- they’re going to make it. Late in the second half when I finally scored, that was good, it brought a little momentum,” said Martin

In their second matchup of the week against Big Foot (2-9) on Friday night, the Whippets found themselves in a close game as both traded scores and loose balls trying to gain an advantage over each other. Big Foot was able to put themselves in the lead 13-12 with under seven to go in the first half.

Whitewater was able to battle back and gained the lead. They even stretched it to as much as four points with four minutes to go in the first half. Big Foot was able to stay in the game and cut the Whippet’s led down to two. Whitewater lead 21-19 at the break.

In the second half, Bigfoot came out with a quick four-point-run which allowed them to take the lead 23-21, but Whitewater was able to go on an 11-0 run of their own. This run was sparked by Pease, who scored five unanswered points, but was also assisted by Martin who had four points of his own along with some key rebounds and stops that gave the whippets a 32-23 before a timeout by Big Foot. After the time out, Big Foot answered back with a run of their own, making it a 34-33 Whitewater lead with 7:43 left.

Whitewater was able to extend their lead to 41-35 with three minutes left, but the game felt tighter than the scoreboard suggested. Big Foot was able to cut that lead down to three with one minute left. This lead felt even smaller as Big Foot sophomore Augustus Foster was fouled while shooting from downtown with 50 seconds left, giving him three shots at the line with a chance to tie it. However he missed two out of those three shots, which kept the Whippets lead at 44-41. Whitewater was able to hold that lead and add on a little more as they won over Big Foot 46-41.

“It was an evenly matched game,” said Gnatzig when asked for his reaction. “The score was even all the time, so we didn’t really make that big break. A lot of that was just taking care of the ball, and just knocking down some shots.”

Whitewater High School’s next game is a non-conference matchup at Milton High School on Monday, Jan. 27 at 7:15 p.m.