At the half, it seemed as if it was going to be a long night for the Warsaw boys basketball team. Their opponent, South Bend Riley, was dominating every facet of the game. But in typical Tiger fashion, Warsaw battled through the adversity and flipped the script in the second half. Playing well enough to force overtime twice, Warsaw came extremely close to finishing up the comeback and heading to semi-state, but instead, it was the Wildcats who made the biggest plays of the game late in a 77-71 win.
“It’s a lot to process. Credit to Riley, they’re the real deal,” Warsaw head coach Matt Moore said. “Once we got into a rhythm and started playing the way we wanted to play it started to look a lot better. But when it came down to getting one defensive stop or making one big play at the end, we just didn’t get that.”
It was evident from the opening moments of the game that this was going to be a physical, hard nosed affair. Both defenses began the game with a ton of energy, with the first basket not going down until three minutes into the game. It would be even longer before the Tigers finally got on the board, as Sam Lara scored the first Warsaw point five minutes into the game at the foul stripe.
The defense of Riley began the game incredibly strong, forcing turnovers and using them to get in translation. The Tiger defense was solid in its own right, holding the Wildcats to just four points while they struggled to figure things out on the offensive end themselves.
With two minutes to go in the first, Lara added the first field goal of the game for the home team on a great pass from Carson Gould. That seemed to get the scoring started, as each of the next four combined possessions ended in points.
Once the Tigers were able to get going offensively, Riley was able to answer each time. Junior Tyrese Jones was the story in the early going, scoring all 13 first-quarter points for the Wildcats, including a layup at the buzzer to give the game its 13-7 scoreline.
The pressure Riley was putting on was only amplified in the early stages of the second quarter, as the visitors were able to extend their lead to nine two minutes in thanks to some great work shooting the basketball and attacking the glass. This prompted a quick timeout call by Warsaw.
Things didn’t get much better following the break, as the Wildcats continued to attack everything the Tigers threw at them. Warsaw was in the middle of another scoring drought and Riley was taking advantage of it. With the lead now in double figures, a huge and-one by Carson Gould seized some of that momentum back towards the home side.
But on the other side, the exact same play took that momentum right back. There were multiple points in the quarter where it looked as if Riley was going to blow the game wide open, but credit to the Tigers, they were able to stick around and remain in striking distance. With a minute to go in the half, they had shrunk the lead back down to eight.
One last bucket off of an offensive rebound in the final seconds pretty much summed up the first half perfectly, giving the Wildcats a 31-21 lead at the break.
“We needed to be more aggressive. Their toughness and quickness bothered us,” Moore said. We talked at the half about getting the ball to the basket, getting to the line.”

    Senior Robbie Finlinson of Warsaw takes aim at the basket during Saturday's regional game against South Bend Riley...Nieter

Needing a spark and needing it fast, the Tigers came out firing to begin the second half. The team scored four quick points to get within six after just two possessions. After a terrific first half scoring the ball, Riley had suddenly gone cold, leaving the door open for Warsaw to make a major move.
Over three minutes into the second half, the Wildcats still hadn’t scored and the Tigers had made it a four-point game. Things had tightened up significantly, with Lara and Brandt Martin leading the charge offensively for Warsaw. With two minutes left in the third, a massive three from the top of the key by Parker Justice was buried for his first points of the game. Now, the Tigers trailed by just three. Heading into the fourth quarter, that was still the case.
A minute into the fourth, a pullup three by Gould tied things up at 39. It was quickly answered at the other end by a midrange jumper, but a statement had been made. The Wildcats had a chance to dispose of the Tigers in the second quarter and were unable to do so. Now, they were going to have to hold on for seven more minutes.
Riley was able to come up with some big shots to stay in front multiple times, but each time they did so, the Tigers would answer to remind them that they were right there. With a little over four minutes left in the game, an and-one by Mydin Burgher tied things up again.
A minute later, after Riley quickly went back in front, another and-one for Martin gave the Tigers their first lead of the game. Unfortunately for the big man, he picked up his fifth foul of the game on the next defensive possession, ending his night with 20 points.
Warsaw never flinched. After giving up a two on the other end, Burgher found himself open in the corner and took advantage, splashing a three with two minutes left to put his team up two. Jones, who was now over 30 points, answered on the other end with a putback layup with 90 seconds left.
The Tigers burned over a minute off of the clock on their next possession before Gould was fouled and sent to the line. He’d hit one of two to put the home side back in front. A foul at the other end with 17 seconds left resulted in free throws for Riley, and both were hit for another lead change.
Needing some more late game heroics, Warsaw got them in the form of Carson Gould. The senior guard let a three fly as time winded down, and buried it with 7.8 seconds left.
But Riley wasn’t done.
Marvin Schindler got the ball on the inbound and made a beeline to the basket. He went up, was fouled and made the shot to tie things up. He had a chance to win it with 2.1 left, but missed the free throw. The full court heave by Robbie Finlinson missed everything, and for the second straight game, we were going to overtime.
Riley was able to get back to what made them so successful in the first half in OT. Forcing turnovers and attacking the basket, the Wildcats retook the lead and went up by four. With a little over a minute and a half left, a three by Finlinson brought the Tigers within one.
With 44 seconds left, Warsaw still trailed by one and had a chance to go ahead. A crucial turnover led to free throws for Riley and Schindler, who came up with two big makes after missing his last three.
Twenty seconds now remained, and the Tigers added more late game heroics. This time it was Finlinson in the corner who tied things up yet again. The Wildcats were unable to make the final shot, leading to double overtime.
“We had to run a lot of stuff for Robbie on the fly tonight, that shot he hit in the corner, that was the first time we’ve run that all season,” Moore said.
Two minutes into the second extra period, Lara fouled out in a tie game. This resulted in two free throws that allowed Riley to retake the lead. The Wildcats led by as many as four during this stretch before a pair of trips to the free throw line allowed the Tigers to cut it in half.
A particularly wild sequence in a game full of them saw Riley get two point blank looks at the rim, and they converted both of them to go up by six in the final minute. Rushing to pick up the points they needed, Warsaw put up some contested looks that were no good. An offensive rebound and layup by Drew Jones made it a four-point game with nine seconds left.
A pair of free throws for Tyrese Jones gave him 45 for the game and iced it.
The Tigers will return next season. Eight seniors graduate.
“It’s been so fun to see who these guys have become and what they’ve become a part of. There’s a lot of selfless guys in this locker room. All of them have sacrificed,” Moore said. “They’re leaving it in a fantastic place.”