Johnie Logue
Sports Reporter
Cole Camp, Lincoln and Warsaw's boys basketball squads have been scrimmaging at Warsaw High School for the past several summers. This past week, Lincoln coach Tyler Burke decided to switch things up a bit.
Instead of playing team against team, coaches from Warsaw, Lincoln and Cole Camp randomly selected players forming six teams playing in Warsaw's two gyms from 11:00 AM till 1:00 PM on Tuesday afternoon.
Asked about the change, Coach Burke said, "It was about minutes. We wanted the kids to get playing time."
In any event, it was strange watching players from different Benton County benches playing alongside one another.
Warsaw assistant Coach Dennis Larson and Lincoln assistant coach Chris Sanders both agreed that the format got the kids out of their comfort zone playing with other players.
Coach Burke added, "You have kids handling the ball who normally don't."
The kids liked it. Lincoln's Chase Young commented, "We didn't have to run plays and playing with other players was different."
The experience might help them when they play each other later on.
Lincoln's Riley Sanders added, "We learned a little about how each other plays."
They also didn't have coaches yelling at them. The coaches liked it too. They just let them play.
"My blood pressure stayed the same," Cole Camp coach Kevin Shearer said with a smile.
Teams played for ten minutes and kept score, but when the horn sounded, wins and losses didn't really matter.
The schools will play two more times in the next two weeks at Cole Camp. Lincoln gave up their turn having only one gym and the renovation of Warsaw's floor forced the move.
Cole Camp has five returning seniors and should be the favorite when the season starts this winter.
Warsaw looks improved over their one win season and should be much more competitive this time around.
Lincoln graduated their five starters from last year's 28-1 team and a promising group of sophomores will carry the burden from here on out.
