MIDDLEBURY – Of the various troubles Wawasee has had in its 2017-18 basketball campaign, rebounding hadn’t been a consistent one. Thursday night, it was a glaring one.

Northridge won the rebounding battle, 30-20, and got there getting the key caroms in a 47-37 Northern Lakes Conference win.

The Raiders weren’t beasts on the board early, only grabbing four more rebounds in the first half, but pulled down six of its 15 boards on the offensive end, furthering possessions and stretching out Wawasee even more. Ridge got five more offensive rebounds in the second half for 11 total, which had Wawasee head coach Jon Everingham growing gray hairs on the sidelines with each missed assignment.

“We got into a little bit of foul trouble and that hurt us early on,” Everingham said. “We moved to a zone and we were getting stops but we weren’t finishing possessions with the rebound. It’s a little tougher for us to rebound out of a zone, and teams know that.”

One of Wawasee’s primary bugaboos, field goal percentage, once again boarded the bus up north as the Warriors were just 12-35 from the floor (34 percent) on the night. A key component of that was a 4-17 performance from three-point range, to which Northridge hit seven of its threes. The nine-point margin was key in the 10-point loss, and it started early in the game.

Connor Utley and Jackson Erekson each got going right from the start, Utley nailing a pair of treys and Erekson adding one as well as a trio of free throws on a fouled three as Ridge took a quick 10-point lead. Utley stacked 10 of his 18 points in the first quarter as Ridge took a 16-7 lead while Erekson spaced out his 14 points. Everingham noted his defense was selling out to pinch in Utley, and to a degree, did after the opening spurt. Utley hit just two shots after the opening quarter, and only one after halftime.

“Every time we sniff around into an area where we might get back into it, Utley would hit a big shot or Erekson would hit a big shot,” Everingham said. “I like Northridge, I think they are a very good team and well coached. They made the plays when they needed to, especially in the third quarter.”

Despite the oak tree-like size of Alex Stauffer and Josh Hochstetler in the middle for the Raiders, Wawasee continually fed the machine inside trying to establish its inside-outside counters. Trevon Coleman was able to find opportunities in the lane, finishing 6-10 from the floor and 18 points overall to lead the Warriors. But as has been the case in Wawasee’s struggles in January and now into February, someone else couldn’t also get hot. Jairus Boyer and Jacob Hand were just 4-15 from the floor and had seven points each, and the three-point woes again became a problem in trying to chase a quality opponent.

“I thought we did enough defensively to win the basketball game,” Everingham said. “They scored 10 points right away, but after that, it stayed about a 10-point game and I thought we played even up after that.”

Wawasee slips to 4-13 overall and 1-5 in the NLC while Ridge used the win to catapult itself into a four-way tie atop the standings. The Raiders, along with Elkhart Memorial, Warsaw and Plymouth, are all 4-2 in the NLC after Memorial knocked off Warsaw and Plymouth dropped Goshen. Next Friday will be the statement, when Plymouth visits Warsaw, Northridge hosts Concord, and Memorial visits NorthWood. The winner of the Plymouth-Warsaw game will be guaranteed at least a share of the title, with Memorial and Ridge needing to win to claim a piece of the pie.