Mt. Carmel, Ill. – As the schedule for this COVID-19 re-aligned season was being finalized, Wabash Valley basketball coaches pointed to an early stretch of five games in 10 days, and how it would test their team's conditioning and perseverance.
The results are in. A perfect 5-0.
Wednesday night, the Warriors finished that stretch with an 86-67 win over Lewis & Clark in a Region 24 game at Spencer Sports Center.
"I'm tired and I know our guys have to be," said head coach Mike Carpenter after the game. "I'm glad that's over."
The game was never in doubt, as WVC (5-1, 1-0 in Great Rivers Athletic Conference) jumped to a 23-4 lead and never looked back. Lewis & Clark (0-2), with depleted numbers (eight players) for the game, trailed by as many as 30 points in the second half before catching a second wind and slicing the deficit almost in half by the close.
Carpenter admitted "part of that is we're trying to play everybody. (Our bench) works just as hard as those other guys, so if we get a chance early in the season to put them in the game, we'll try to get them some minutes."
The ever-present defense has played a prominent role during the winning streak, but Carpenter is still waiting for his offense to catch up.
"We're just not moving the ball the way I want it to be moved," the veteran coach said. And that means a lot, especially from a coach "with a motion offense background."
On defense Carpenter said, "we're getting a lot better. We're long and we really bother people with our length and rebounding."
Issac Stanback did a little bit of everything for the Warrior cause in the game. He led the team with 20 points, mostly on the inside. Yet, he stepped beyond the arc line and drilled two-of-three shots from out there.
On a night when 12 Warriors hit the scorebook, two other players contributed double figures: TreVon Smith (15 points) and Jamison Epps (10), who also led the way on the glass with nine rebounds.
Effective with last night's game, every contest remaining will have post-season seeding implications, either through GRAC or Region 24 play.
WVC has until Monday to rest up and heal. The Warriors play at Kaskaskia (1-3, 0-1) then before returning home next Wednesday (Feb. 10) to play host Southwestern (1-2, 0-0).
Even the period of rest ahead was "by design," according to Carpenter. "We said 'Let's just load up these games early, and try to give us some rest going into the major part of the conference (schedule).'"
The next test is about to begin.