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PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Goshen puts on double-sided clinic in rout of South Bend Washington
GOSHEN — Let’s talk about flipping a switch. One minute, the Goshen RedHawks were down 26-17 to South Bend Washington in their home opener, looking a little out of sorts on their own hardwood.The next? They were an absolute buzzsaw, ripping off a 31-0 run that spanned eight minutes of game time and effectively turned Friday night’s contest into a glorified clinic. The final score, an 85-51 rout, doesn’t even fully capture the sheer dominance of that stretch—it was the kind of run you see from a team that’s not just winning, but making a statement.For hoops geeks, it was a masterpiece of defensive adjustment and offensive firepower, the sort of thing that makes you lean forward on your couch and text the group chat. Head coach Michael Wohlford called a timeout with his team trailing by nine in the second quarter, and whatever he drew up in that huddle was pure gold.The plan was simple yet brutal in its execution: get the ball out of Washington star guard Michael Stuckey’s hands. Stuckey, who had already dropped 17 points and was cooking early, found himself swarmed.“We started running the guy on his side at him,” Wohlford explained post-game, sounding like a defensive coordinator who’d just cracked the code. “He doesn’t really like to pass a lot, but he can score.We were getting the ball out of his hands and then we rotated really efficiently. ” The result was a cascade of deflections, rushed Washington passes, and a scoreboard that got stuck for what must have felt like an eternity for the visiting Panthers.The engine of Goshen’s explosion was senior Levi Sawatzky, who finished with a game-high 24 points, with 19 of those coming during the middle two quarters. He hit three consecutive triples in the second to ignite the run, but the real story might have been his footwear.Seriously. After slipping a couple of times in the first quarter, Sawatzky switched shoes.“He slipped a couple times and was a little frustrated,” Wohlford said with a chuckle. “We had to switch his shoes.” The new kicks apparently came with a turbo boost. “He’s explosive,” the coach added.“He can do that. That was a big key for us.” It’s one of those weird, human details that defines a high school game—a player finding his groove only after solving a literal traction problem. Beyond Sawatzky’s heroics, the RedHawks got a monster double-double from Karter Marcum (13 points, 13 rebounds), and when the game was well in hand, Wohlford emptied the bench, letting guys like Nathan Corbin shine with 13 points of his own, 10 coming in a fun-filled fourth quarter.
#high school basketball
#Goshen RedHawks
#South Bend Washington
#Levi Sawatzky
#31-0 run
#Michael Wohlford
#featured
#prep sports
#Indiana basketball
