MIDDLEBURY - Wanting a chance to redeem himself, Warsaw senior Todd Braddock got it and made the most of it Friday.

After struggling to find his shooting touch at the charity stripe, Braddock cashed in a full-court pass from teammate Adam Griggs with a bank shot in the lane to beat the buzzer as Warsaw came from 11 points down to knock off Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge 49-47 in front of a nearly-packed gym in Middlebury.

Six-foot-9 Northridge junior Ronnie Thomas missed a free throw opportunity with 2:00 remaining in the game, and Braddock collected the rebound for the Tigers. Warsaw junior point guard Michael Moore, who missed a shot to tie the game with Plymouth last Saturday in the NLC Holiday Tournament championship game, knotted the game at 47 with 53 ticks on the clock.

The host Raiders then ran time off the clock but sophomore guard Kyle Miller missed a shot to win the game. Griggs brought home the rebound and Warsaw called time out with 2.4 seconds remaining.

Second-year coach Doug Ogle then drew up a play for Griggs to throw the inbounds pass the length of the court to Braddock, who in Ogle's words to his team in the huddle would "catch the pass and score the game-winning layup."

Though it wasn't a layup, everything else was as Ogle planned it, and Braddock caught Griggs' quarterback-style pass, knifed through a pair of defenders with an up-and-under move and banked home the game winner.

"The scouting report said to go up and under," said Braddock, who normally shoots well from the free throw line but made just 3 of 8 attempts Friday. "I wanted to get an opportunity to redeem myself. I didn't shoot free throws well tonight, but Coach Ogle showed a lot of faith in me and Griggs' pass was right on target, just like coach drew it up. This team has showed a lot of toughness. We have a couple starters out, but we have a lot of skilled players on this team."

Braddock finished the game with seven points, five of which came in the fourth quarter, and six rebounds.

"They surrounded Todd nice after he caught it," Ogle said of the Northridge defenders. "The ball got knocked loose and Todd recovered it, he's a strong kid. That was a great pass by Adam Griggs, who I thought had an outstanding game."

Up until the last play of the game, it was Griggs that was being passed to and doing the scoring for the Tigers.

The 6-foot-5 senior was locked in a one-on-one scoring battle with Thomas, as both scored 16 in the first half and turned in career-best performances.

Griggs finished the game 12 of 15 from the field, 2 of 3 from the three-point line, for a game-high 26 points. Thomas made the first 10 shots he took and finished the game 12 of 15 from the field for 25 points.

"Ronnie (Thomas) played very well tonight," said Northridge coach Steve Austin. "It's time he stepped up and became a man."

The 6-9 Thomas, whose older brother Aaron torched the Tigers for 47 points in 2000, got more looks Friday in the absence of 6-7 senior Eric Eaton, a four-year starter who rolled his ankle in practice Tuesday and didn't dress last night.

Warsaw was short-handed again as well, playing without injured starters Michael Wienhorst and Dan Gensinger, both out with knee injuries. Gensinger is expected to play next weekend, though Ogle didn't know how much.

The come-from-behind win improved the Tigers to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the NLC, while Northridge fell to 4-5 and 0-2. Warsaw has won four of its last five games, while the Raiders have lost five of their last six.

Of Northridge's five losses this season, four have come by a combined nine points.

"One of these days we'll get one of these games," Austin said. "We've lost five games, and four of them came down to the last play. Offensive rebounding and free throws hurt us."

Thomas scored 10 points in the first quarter for the Raiders, and Griggs eight for Warsaw. Northridge led 16-9 after the first quarter and 24-19 at halftime.

A basket by senior guard Aaron Cripe gave Northridge a 32-21 lead with 5:15 remaining in the third, but a 15-6 run by the Tigers cut the lead to two when Braddock hit the second of two free throws with 6:48 left in the game.

Northridge took a 43-40 lead, but Tiger senior Ryan Schultz tied the game at the 3:59 mark with his second three-pointer of the fourth quarter.

The Raiders led 47-43 with 2:43 to play, but field goals by Braddock and Moore tied the game, and then set up Griggs' pass to Braddock for the game-winner.

"I feel very fortunate to win this game," said Ogle. "I'm proud of the team's toughness, they hung in there."

To go with Griggs' 26 points, the Tigers got seven from Braddock, six each from Schultz and Mark Sherman, and two each from Greg Allison and Moore.

Zach Miller, Nic Crawford and Kyle Miller scored six each for the Raiders, while Cripe finished with four.

The final score was Warsaw's first lead since a 5-4 advantage early in the first quarter.

The Tigers are in action again twice next weekend as they host NLC foe Goshen Friday and Elkhart Central Saturday.

WARSAW 49,

NORTHRIDGE 47

Warsaw 9 10 13 17 - 49

Northridge 16 8 14 9 - 47

Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.

* Schultz 2-5 0-0 3 2 6

* Griggs 12-15 0-1 2 1 26

* Moore 1-11 0-1 3 1 2

* Braddock 2-2 3-8 6 0 7

* Sherman 3-5 0-0 5 1 6

Holladay 0-0 0-0 3 0 0

Conley 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Allison 1-1 0-0 1 0 2

Totals 21-39 3-10 20 5 49

Northridge FG FT R S Pts.

* Weirich 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

* Z. Miller 1-2 4-4 1 0 6

* Crawford 2-2 2-2 1 0 6

* Cripe 2-2 0-0 2 2 4

* Thomas 12-15 1-4 2 0 25

K. Miller 2-7 1-2 2 0 6

Troyer 0-3 0-0 2 0 0

Tom 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Totals 19-32 8-12 11 2 47

Three-point goals - Warsaw 4-11 (Schultz 2-4, Griggs 2-3, Moore 0-4), Northridge 1-5 (K. Miller 1-3, Weirich 0-1, Z. Miller 0-1). Fouls - Warsaw 12, Northridge 15. Fouled out - none.

JV - Warsaw 44, Northridge 36

Warsaw scoring - Cabrera 20, Fuller 6, Maierle 6, Clemens 5, Buck 3, Walker 2, Moore 2

Warsaw JV record: 9-1 [[In-content Ad]]