Ogle, Tiger Boys Win Opener
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
The first one, it's been said, is always the toughest to get.
Though visiting Gary Wirt later made a run and eventually got within three, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team made it look easy at times during Doug Ogle's varsity coaching debut Wednesday.
Jumping out to a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter, the Tigers had enough to overcome a poor third quarter as well as some outside shooting from the Troopers en route to a 50-44 win in the opener for both teams.
After coaching the Warsaw JV program to an impressive 270-30 record over the past 15 years, Ogle took over for the retired Al Rhodes, who was on hand to support his former understudy.
"It feels good," Ogle said when asked about winning his varsity coaching debut.
Along with Rhodes, several former players were on hand in the Tiger Den Wednesday, including 1996 Mr. Basketball and Warsaw all-time leading scorer Kevin Ault.
Despite graduating eight players from last year's 21-3 squad, and dealing with injuries to would-be starters Michael Moore and William Knepper, Warsaw looked flawless early, leading 15-6 after the first eight minutes of action and 28-8 after junior Todd Braddock's three-point play with 5:45 left in the second stanza.
For the first 12 minutes of the game, Ogle said Warsaw played like the team he thought it could be. But at times in the rest of the game, he said the Tigers went south in the mental department.
"We had a great start," Ogle said. "We looked like a pretty good basketball team out there. But somewhere in the second quarter we kind of lost our focus, which happens when you lead big like that."
Trailing big, the visiting Troopers finished the first half with a 13-5 lead, with much of the scoring coming from 5-foot-7 freshman Isaac Johnson.
One of five players named Johnson on Wirt's team, the sharp-shooting underclassman scored 11 of his 14 points in the second quarter, including a trio of three-pointers before he made a steal and layup that cut Warsaw's lead to 33-21 at the break.
"We went south mentally," Ogle said. "Our defense was pretty good at the start of the game, but then we gave them too many unchallenged threes."
Wirt finished the game 5 of 11 from the arc, while the Tigers on the other hand, were 2 of 10 from three-point land.
After scoring 15 points in the first quarter and 18 more in the second, Warsaw came out of the locker room and scored but four points in the third, allowing Wirt within three, 47-44, when senior Jaymar Johnson opened the final frame with a field goal.
However, with the game close, Wirt found itself in foul trouble, and the well-disciplined Tigers put the game away at the charity stripe.
For the game, Warsaw was 20 of 26 at the free throw line, including an 11-of-16 performance in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.
"Look at the first quarter, really the first 10 or 12 minutes of the game, and I felt like we were a pretty good team," Ogle said. "To our credit, we had a pretty big lead when they made their run, we had a 20-point cushion. When you're up 20, that gives you enough cushion."
The only returning starter from a year ago, 6-5 senior Ryan DeGeeter led the Tigers with 13 points and nine rebounds. Juniors Todd Braddock and Adam Griggs, both starters on last year's 20-0 JV team, made their varsity debuts with 11 points each, while senior Erik Fussle added eight.
Eight of Braddock's 11 points came in the second quarter, as he twice drove to the basket, scored and finished the three-point play. The 5-11 point guard also finished the game with seven boards.
"Braddock got to show people what kind of player he is," Ogle said. "He just got worn out later in the game. We had some nice drives. Other teams are gonna look at Griggs and Braddock now."
Prior to the start of the season, Ogle tabbed Griggs and Braddock as two of the better juniors in the state, only unknown because they played on at the junior varsity level a year ago while the Tigers went 21-3 with a senior-laden varsity team.
Juniors Ryan Schultz and Greg Allison rounded out the Warsaw scoring, dropping five and two points, respectively.
Senior Johnathan Johnson led the Troopers with 16, while Isaac Johnson added 14, Jaymar Johnson seven and Robert Eldridge seven.
The Tigers will be in action again Saturday when they host Columbia City.
WARSAW 50, GARY WIRT 44
Wirt (0-1) 6 15 11 12 - 44
Warsaw (1-0) 15 18 4 13 - 50
Wirt FG FT R S Pts.
Ja. Johnson 3-4 0-0 2 3 7
Jo. Johnson 6-16 4-11 4 2 16
Is. Johnson 5-8 0-1 0 1 14
Eldridge 2-6 3-4 2 2 7
Walker 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Jeter 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Jay. Johnson 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Johr. Johnson 0-0 0-1 3 1 0
McGee 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 16-36 7-18 17 10 44
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
Griggs 3-8 5-8 4 0 11
Wienhorst 0-4 0-2 2 2 0
Braddock 4-5 3-4 7 0 11
Fussle 2-4 4-4 3 0 8
DeGeeter 3-6 6-6 9 0 13
Schultz 1-6 2-2 4 0 5
Gensinger 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Burnley 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Allison 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 14-33 20-26 30 2 50
Three-point goals - Wirt 5-11 (Is. Johnson 4-7, Jaym. Johnson 1-1, Joh. Johnson 0-3), Warsaw 2-10 (Schultz 1-4, DeGeeter 1-2, Griggs 0-2, Wienhorst 0-2). Fouls - Wirt 22, Warsaw 18. Fouled out - Eldridge, Fussle.
JV - Warsaw 39, Gary Wirt 30
Warsaw scoring - Andrew Holladay 9, Ryan Schultz 8, Nathaniel Fitzsimmons 8, Nelson Conley 7, Nate Abbit 3, Mitchell Reinholt 2, Drew Miles 2 [[In-content Ad]]
The first one, it's been said, is always the toughest to get.
Though visiting Gary Wirt later made a run and eventually got within three, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team made it look easy at times during Doug Ogle's varsity coaching debut Wednesday.
Jumping out to a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter, the Tigers had enough to overcome a poor third quarter as well as some outside shooting from the Troopers en route to a 50-44 win in the opener for both teams.
After coaching the Warsaw JV program to an impressive 270-30 record over the past 15 years, Ogle took over for the retired Al Rhodes, who was on hand to support his former understudy.
"It feels good," Ogle said when asked about winning his varsity coaching debut.
Along with Rhodes, several former players were on hand in the Tiger Den Wednesday, including 1996 Mr. Basketball and Warsaw all-time leading scorer Kevin Ault.
Despite graduating eight players from last year's 21-3 squad, and dealing with injuries to would-be starters Michael Moore and William Knepper, Warsaw looked flawless early, leading 15-6 after the first eight minutes of action and 28-8 after junior Todd Braddock's three-point play with 5:45 left in the second stanza.
For the first 12 minutes of the game, Ogle said Warsaw played like the team he thought it could be. But at times in the rest of the game, he said the Tigers went south in the mental department.
"We had a great start," Ogle said. "We looked like a pretty good basketball team out there. But somewhere in the second quarter we kind of lost our focus, which happens when you lead big like that."
Trailing big, the visiting Troopers finished the first half with a 13-5 lead, with much of the scoring coming from 5-foot-7 freshman Isaac Johnson.
One of five players named Johnson on Wirt's team, the sharp-shooting underclassman scored 11 of his 14 points in the second quarter, including a trio of three-pointers before he made a steal and layup that cut Warsaw's lead to 33-21 at the break.
"We went south mentally," Ogle said. "Our defense was pretty good at the start of the game, but then we gave them too many unchallenged threes."
Wirt finished the game 5 of 11 from the arc, while the Tigers on the other hand, were 2 of 10 from three-point land.
After scoring 15 points in the first quarter and 18 more in the second, Warsaw came out of the locker room and scored but four points in the third, allowing Wirt within three, 47-44, when senior Jaymar Johnson opened the final frame with a field goal.
However, with the game close, Wirt found itself in foul trouble, and the well-disciplined Tigers put the game away at the charity stripe.
For the game, Warsaw was 20 of 26 at the free throw line, including an 11-of-16 performance in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.
"Look at the first quarter, really the first 10 or 12 minutes of the game, and I felt like we were a pretty good team," Ogle said. "To our credit, we had a pretty big lead when they made their run, we had a 20-point cushion. When you're up 20, that gives you enough cushion."
The only returning starter from a year ago, 6-5 senior Ryan DeGeeter led the Tigers with 13 points and nine rebounds. Juniors Todd Braddock and Adam Griggs, both starters on last year's 20-0 JV team, made their varsity debuts with 11 points each, while senior Erik Fussle added eight.
Eight of Braddock's 11 points came in the second quarter, as he twice drove to the basket, scored and finished the three-point play. The 5-11 point guard also finished the game with seven boards.
"Braddock got to show people what kind of player he is," Ogle said. "He just got worn out later in the game. We had some nice drives. Other teams are gonna look at Griggs and Braddock now."
Prior to the start of the season, Ogle tabbed Griggs and Braddock as two of the better juniors in the state, only unknown because they played on at the junior varsity level a year ago while the Tigers went 21-3 with a senior-laden varsity team.
Juniors Ryan Schultz and Greg Allison rounded out the Warsaw scoring, dropping five and two points, respectively.
Senior Johnathan Johnson led the Troopers with 16, while Isaac Johnson added 14, Jaymar Johnson seven and Robert Eldridge seven.
The Tigers will be in action again Saturday when they host Columbia City.
WARSAW 50, GARY WIRT 44
Wirt (0-1) 6 15 11 12 - 44
Warsaw (1-0) 15 18 4 13 - 50
Wirt FG FT R S Pts.
Ja. Johnson 3-4 0-0 2 3 7
Jo. Johnson 6-16 4-11 4 2 16
Is. Johnson 5-8 0-1 0 1 14
Eldridge 2-6 3-4 2 2 7
Walker 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Jeter 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Jay. Johnson 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Johr. Johnson 0-0 0-1 3 1 0
McGee 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 16-36 7-18 17 10 44
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
Griggs 3-8 5-8 4 0 11
Wienhorst 0-4 0-2 2 2 0
Braddock 4-5 3-4 7 0 11
Fussle 2-4 4-4 3 0 8
DeGeeter 3-6 6-6 9 0 13
Schultz 1-6 2-2 4 0 5
Gensinger 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Burnley 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Allison 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 14-33 20-26 30 2 50
Three-point goals - Wirt 5-11 (Is. Johnson 4-7, Jaym. Johnson 1-1, Joh. Johnson 0-3), Warsaw 2-10 (Schultz 1-4, DeGeeter 1-2, Griggs 0-2, Wienhorst 0-2). Fouls - Wirt 22, Warsaw 18. Fouled out - Eldridge, Fussle.
JV - Warsaw 39, Gary Wirt 30
Warsaw scoring - Andrew Holladay 9, Ryan Schultz 8, Nathaniel Fitzsimmons 8, Nelson Conley 7, Nate Abbit 3, Mitchell Reinholt 2, Drew Miles 2 [[In-content Ad]]