Injured White leads Warriors to Region victory
By Jerry W. Kram
BHG News Service
Jesse White, who this season surpassed 2,000 career points as a member of the White Shield Warriors, turned his ankle in the pregame warmup of the team’s opening round match up in the Region 8 Boys Basketball Tournament against the Kenmare Honkers.
For a team with only seven players, the could have spelled disaster. But White gritted his way through the entire game and his teammates rallied behind him in the second half to come from behind to advance to the regional semifinals against New Town. The final score was Warriors 51, Kenmare 43.
Despite his injury, White still led the Warriors in scoring in the first half with seven points. Oscar Felix added six points. Kenmare kept feeding the ball to Keagan Lautenschlager who led all scorers in the first half with 13 and Garrett Strocklund had 8.
Kenmare led off the game with a 6-1 run, but the Warriors were able to equalize the score before the Honkers got a free throw late in the quarter to make the score 13-12 in favor of Kenmare. The Honker’s box and one defense bothered White in the second quarter and the Honkers were able to pull away, leading by 10 at one point before the Warriors got a few last minute buckets to make the score 27-20 at the half.
In the first half, the Warriors shot just 36 percent from the field while Kenmare shot 45 percent.
In the second half, White’s ankle was noticeably worse. He would occasionally hop on one foot as he ran down the court after a score. Coach Brad Kroupa changed up the offense to allow White to be more stationary and direct the offense from the outside. But when he needed to, he could still turn on the jets and outrun any other player on the court.
