Woodmen boys basketball (3-7, 0-2 Mid-State) will travel to Whiteland (6-5, 1-1 Mid-State) tonight in a Mid-State and Johnson County rivalry match-up.

GHS enters the game after a strong showing in the JC Bank Holiday Classic after beating Jennings County in the semi-finals and losing to Yorktown on a buzzer-beater in the championship game.

“We’re just trying to carry over those games and performances,” senior John Ollanketo, guard, said. “We played better on offense and we’re starting to play better together as a team. We have to limit turnovers and play strong defense like we did in the tournament during the break.”

The Woodmen have tallied up 142 turnovers so far this season, one tick above the national average according to MaxPreps. Limiting turnovers and running an efficient offense will be the difference maker tonight.

“In all of our ‘bad’ games this year we just played sloppy on offense,” Ollanketo said. “We had a lot of turnovers, took bad shots and didn’t make any extra passes. We shouldn’t pass up good looks but we need to move the ball and find our open guys instead of putting up shots early on in our possessions.”

Whiteland comes into the night winning three of their last four games with a recent 65-59 win over Guerin Catholic. The Warriors average 54 points per game and are shooting 45% from the field.

“They are a good offensive team and make around the same amount of shots as us,” senior Jake Mosemann, guard, said. “We both shoot around 45% but they take a lot more shots and put up a lot more points. We need to try to force them into bad shots and take bad looks on their offensive possessions. I think we match-up well with them and it should be a good game.”

The rivalry between Whiteland and Greenwood goes back to elementary school for most players. With Whiteland being the closest school to the Greenwood corporation, a lot of players grew up playing together and against each other.

“We know these guys well and have played them all our lives,” Mosemann said. “A lot of these guys, like Franklin, grew up playing against us and some played with us in the Greenwood systems or AAU. It always makes for a fun rivalry feeling and bragging rights kind of game. The crowd always gets into more and with it being a closer school the students usually show out.”

Whiteland’s leading scorer, 6 ‘5 junior Gavin Stubbe, averages 13.0 PPG from the forward position. Stubbe is followed by senior Wiatt McLaughlin who also leads the team in shooting percentage at 54%.

“Wiatt has been a guy that always plays well against us and is a good shooter,” Mosemann said. “I’ve been playing him for a long time and a lot of us other guys have known him through the school and travel circuit. He’s a solid spot-up shooter and he can’t be left open. If we leave him open beyond the arc it’s almost a guaranteed make.”

If the Woodmen are able to pull out a win, the conference standings would not shake up much. Whiteland is tied at the 3 seed and the Woodmen sit at 7. A win for the Woodmen would mean Coach Witty’s first Mid-State win as head coach. 

“We want this win for him,” junior Ethan King, guard, said. “He has been grinding with us all off season and pushing us early in the season. We want him to get the first conference win in his career just as badly as we want to get our first conference win of the year.”

The Woodmen have found themselves in foul trouble often this season committing 18.7 fouls per game. Whiteland has an average of 9 per game. Keeping Whiteland off the free-throw line will be a huge factor tonight. 

“We haven’t been super disciplined when it comes to fouls,” King said. “We’ve committed a lot of fouls in almost every game and that leads to free points if they can hit their free throws. We need to play disciplined and not let them send guys to the stripe. Keep them off the line, they don’t get free points. It’s a simple concept for us.”

GHS has a lack of height on the roster, something that has caused trouble for them throughout the season. Whiteland has one player at 6 ‘7 on the roster but match-ups similar down the rest of the roster.

“Other than their big guy down low they are similar in size to us,” Mosemann said. “It’ll be a solid match-up and I think it will be a close game. No matter who wins it will be within 10 points and playing in their gym gives them the home-court advantage. It’ll be a fun night and I always like playing there.”

Tip-off for the boys game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Whiteland Varsity Gym.