Hot-Handed Tigers Thrash Gary Wirt
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Second-year Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle wants the word to get around.
He wants community members to know the Tiger Den is going to be an exciting place to be this year.
The team certainly did its job in delivering the message Wednesday, opening the season with a 59-29 thrashing of the visiting Gary Wirt Troopers.
If the gang from ESPN's SportsCenter were to describe the game with one of their catchy phrases, it might be something like "release-rotation-splash."
Fueled by a plethora of hot-handed shooters, and the rebounding prowess of senior Todd Braddock, the Tigers never trailed in their season opener and were simply too much for Gary Wirt.
Warsaw finished the game 24 of 44 (54.5 percent) from the field and 9 of 16 (56.3 percent) from three-point range, and outrebounded Gary Wirt 28-15.
"The key is, almost all of the three-point shots nobody was on us," Ogle said. "That's a result of guys making good passes. We had good ball movement in our zone offense. We did a good job finding the open man."
The host Tigers built a 13-6 advantage in the first quarter, and then capped off the opening eight minutes with three-pointers from seniors Adam Griggs and Ryan Schultz.
After leading 29-16 at the half, the Tigers blew the game wide open in the third, hitting five three-pointers in the frame and outscoring the Troopers 17-3.
Warsaw opened the quarter with back-to-back treys from sweet-shooting guard Michael Moore and Griggs, a 6-foot-5 post player, and then finished it with consecutive treys from Moore and another from Griggs for a commanding 46-19 lead.
"After a subpar performance in the scrimmage with Fairfield, we came out to play tonight," Ogle said. "To win convincingly, albeit against a young Gary Wirt team, will help us a little bit going to Columbia City Saturday night."
The Tigers travel to Columbia City Saturday night to play the Class 4A No. 4 Eagles, a team that dismantled Warsaw 53-30 in the second game of the season last year, but also a team that escaped with a 45-42 win in the sectionals when Warsaw was finally healthy.
Both teams return three starters and enter the contest 1-0.
Griggs led the Tigers in scoring Wednesday with 13 points, while Moore had 11, Schultz and 6-5 senior newcomer Mark Sherman eight each, and Braddock seven.
Sherman, a state finalist this fall in tennis and a pitcher from the Tigers' regional runner-up baseball team last year, hasn't played basketball in the Tiger program since middle school.
In Wednesday's win over Wirt he proved to be a key addition, coming off the bench to shoot 4 of 4 from the floor, pull down three rebounds, block a shot and make a steal.
"Mark Sherman played solid post defense," Ogle said. "He's a strong kid and played much better post defense than he did in the scrimmage. It was his first real varsity game and I thought he had a real good showing."
Braddock, a scrappy 6-foot senior, made a good showing for himself as well.
Known for his strong slashes to the basket, Braddock showed off his improved outside shooting with a three-pointer in the second quarter, and led the team with 10 rebounds.
"Todd Braddock pulled down 10 rebounds, that's a lot of rebounds in 24 minutes," Ogle said. "His rebounding was a big key to what we did."
Michael Wienhorst added four for the Tigers, while Dan Gensinger and Nelson Conley had three each and Greg Allison two.
Moore led Warsaw with five assists, while Gensinger and Braddock had four each.
Gary Wirt shot 13 of 34 from the field and was led in scoring by Robert Eldridge's 10 points.
Timothy Hunter added nine points for the Troopers, while Robert Thompson scored four and Marcel Johnson, Kevin White and William Mabon two each.
WARSAW 59, GARY WIRT 29
Gary Wirt (0-1) 6 10 3 10 - 29
Warsaw (1-0) 19 10 17 13 - 59
Gary Wirt FG FT R S Pts.
* Thompson 2-5 0-0 3 0 4
* White 1-3 0-0 1 0 2
* J. Johnson 0-2 0-0 1 2 0
* Eldridge 4-10 2-2 3 3 10
* Hunter 4-7 1-3 3 1 9
Reese 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
M. Johnson 1-3 0-0 0 0 2
Mabon 1-4 0-0 1 1 2
Team 3
Totals 13-34 3-5 15 7 29
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Schultz 3-4 0-0 2 1 8
* Griggs 5-10 1-1 2 0 13
* Wienhorst 2-3 0-0 1 1 4
* Moore 4-7 0-0 1 2 11
*Braddock 3-6 0-0 10 1 7
Gensinger 1-7 0-0 4 0 3
Holladay 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Conley 1-1 1-1 1 0 3
Sherman 4-4 0-0 3 1 8
Allison 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Team 2
Totals 24-44 2-2 28 7 59
Three-point goals - Gary Wirt 0-2 (M. Johnson 0-1, Thompson 0-1), Warsaw 9-16 (Moore 3-4, Griggs 2-3, Schultz 2-2, Gensinger 1-5, Braddock 1-1, Wienhorst 0-1). Fouls - Gary Wirt 12, Warsaw 13. Fouled out - none. Turnovers - Gary Wirt 17, Warsaw 13.
JV - Warsaw 56, Gary Wirt 30 [[In-content Ad]]
Second-year Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle wants the word to get around.
He wants community members to know the Tiger Den is going to be an exciting place to be this year.
The team certainly did its job in delivering the message Wednesday, opening the season with a 59-29 thrashing of the visiting Gary Wirt Troopers.
If the gang from ESPN's SportsCenter were to describe the game with one of their catchy phrases, it might be something like "release-rotation-splash."
Fueled by a plethora of hot-handed shooters, and the rebounding prowess of senior Todd Braddock, the Tigers never trailed in their season opener and were simply too much for Gary Wirt.
Warsaw finished the game 24 of 44 (54.5 percent) from the field and 9 of 16 (56.3 percent) from three-point range, and outrebounded Gary Wirt 28-15.
"The key is, almost all of the three-point shots nobody was on us," Ogle said. "That's a result of guys making good passes. We had good ball movement in our zone offense. We did a good job finding the open man."
The host Tigers built a 13-6 advantage in the first quarter, and then capped off the opening eight minutes with three-pointers from seniors Adam Griggs and Ryan Schultz.
After leading 29-16 at the half, the Tigers blew the game wide open in the third, hitting five three-pointers in the frame and outscoring the Troopers 17-3.
Warsaw opened the quarter with back-to-back treys from sweet-shooting guard Michael Moore and Griggs, a 6-foot-5 post player, and then finished it with consecutive treys from Moore and another from Griggs for a commanding 46-19 lead.
"After a subpar performance in the scrimmage with Fairfield, we came out to play tonight," Ogle said. "To win convincingly, albeit against a young Gary Wirt team, will help us a little bit going to Columbia City Saturday night."
The Tigers travel to Columbia City Saturday night to play the Class 4A No. 4 Eagles, a team that dismantled Warsaw 53-30 in the second game of the season last year, but also a team that escaped with a 45-42 win in the sectionals when Warsaw was finally healthy.
Both teams return three starters and enter the contest 1-0.
Griggs led the Tigers in scoring Wednesday with 13 points, while Moore had 11, Schultz and 6-5 senior newcomer Mark Sherman eight each, and Braddock seven.
Sherman, a state finalist this fall in tennis and a pitcher from the Tigers' regional runner-up baseball team last year, hasn't played basketball in the Tiger program since middle school.
In Wednesday's win over Wirt he proved to be a key addition, coming off the bench to shoot 4 of 4 from the floor, pull down three rebounds, block a shot and make a steal.
"Mark Sherman played solid post defense," Ogle said. "He's a strong kid and played much better post defense than he did in the scrimmage. It was his first real varsity game and I thought he had a real good showing."
Braddock, a scrappy 6-foot senior, made a good showing for himself as well.
Known for his strong slashes to the basket, Braddock showed off his improved outside shooting with a three-pointer in the second quarter, and led the team with 10 rebounds.
"Todd Braddock pulled down 10 rebounds, that's a lot of rebounds in 24 minutes," Ogle said. "His rebounding was a big key to what we did."
Michael Wienhorst added four for the Tigers, while Dan Gensinger and Nelson Conley had three each and Greg Allison two.
Moore led Warsaw with five assists, while Gensinger and Braddock had four each.
Gary Wirt shot 13 of 34 from the field and was led in scoring by Robert Eldridge's 10 points.
Timothy Hunter added nine points for the Troopers, while Robert Thompson scored four and Marcel Johnson, Kevin White and William Mabon two each.
WARSAW 59, GARY WIRT 29
Gary Wirt (0-1) 6 10 3 10 - 29
Warsaw (1-0) 19 10 17 13 - 59
Gary Wirt FG FT R S Pts.
* Thompson 2-5 0-0 3 0 4
* White 1-3 0-0 1 0 2
* J. Johnson 0-2 0-0 1 2 0
* Eldridge 4-10 2-2 3 3 10
* Hunter 4-7 1-3 3 1 9
Reese 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
M. Johnson 1-3 0-0 0 0 2
Mabon 1-4 0-0 1 1 2
Team 3
Totals 13-34 3-5 15 7 29
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Schultz 3-4 0-0 2 1 8
* Griggs 5-10 1-1 2 0 13
* Wienhorst 2-3 0-0 1 1 4
* Moore 4-7 0-0 1 2 11
*Braddock 3-6 0-0 10 1 7
Gensinger 1-7 0-0 4 0 3
Holladay 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Conley 1-1 1-1 1 0 3
Sherman 4-4 0-0 3 1 8
Allison 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Team 2
Totals 24-44 2-2 28 7 59
Three-point goals - Gary Wirt 0-2 (M. Johnson 0-1, Thompson 0-1), Warsaw 9-16 (Moore 3-4, Griggs 2-3, Schultz 2-2, Gensinger 1-5, Braddock 1-1, Wienhorst 0-1). Fouls - Gary Wirt 12, Warsaw 13. Fouled out - none. Turnovers - Gary Wirt 17, Warsaw 13.
JV - Warsaw 56, Gary Wirt 30 [[In-content Ad]]