HUNTINGTON - The Warsaw-Plymouth rivalry in the postseason didn't go out with a bang.

No, the last installment of this seemingly annual battle in the regional was just a whimper of its predecessors of years' past. It didn't have the drama of last year's last-second regional championship win by Warsaw or even the offensive explosion of the regular season matchup between the two teams, won by Plymouth 87-66.

Coming up with just enough plays, and one critical free throw, the Pilgrims ended the Tigers' stunning success this year with a 36-32 win in the first game of the Huntington Boys' Basketball Regional Saturday.

Neither team really looked ready to take control of this game at any moment and both squads struggled to get anything going on offense, especially in the second half.

Leading 33-27 with just over four minutes left in the game, the Pilgrims couldn't get free throws to drop and thus opened the door for Warsaw. P.J. Wiley's second big layup of the fourth quarter cut the lead, while Plymouth hit only 2 of 5 free throws to make it 35-29, and Jason Alspaugh nailed a big three-pointer to make it 35-32.

The Pilgrims got to the line three more times in the final minute but missed all three. Warsaw had troubles of its own at the line, though, and Tyler Charlton missed two freebies with 50 seconds left and Warsaw still trailed by three.

With 15 seconds left, Warsaw's Tom Krizmanich's three-pointer from the right side went long and Plymouth's Nick Wise got the rebound and was fouled.

Wise, who averages 21 points a game, was 0-for-4 at the line up until that point. And as the game went, he got just enough for the Pilgrims, hitting just one of the free throws, but it was the four-point margin Plymouth needed in the final 10 seconds, even making a three-pointer meaningless.

"We did not come up with a lot of offensive plays that we needed throughout the game," an understated Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "You just can't shoot that kind of field goal percentage and expect to win. We were also 6-of-14 from the free throw line; we just needed two or three more of those through the course of the game to change the complexion. We were not able to do it.

"It was still, to the very end, right there for us," he said. "Alspaugh hit a big three, and we got a good look with Krizmanich down by three. But he missed the shot, and we didn't get the rebound. That was the story of the game."

The Tigers were only 12 of 36 (33 percent) in the game, including a dismal 3 of 17 (18 percent) in the second half.

"Offensively, we had four starters in the second half who didn't score," Rhodes said. "You can't expect to win basketball games that way. Plymouth played good defense. But still we had some awful good looks that didn't go. And too many times we came out of there with only one shot."

Krizmanich, the Tigers' leading scorer, was 0 of 5 in the second half and got all nine of his team-high points in the first half. Starters Charlton, Andy Plank and Luke Reed combined to shoot 0 of 6 from the field in drawing the goose eggs in the second half.

Most of the time, numbers like Warsaw's would add up to a blow out for the opposition. But Plymouth was struggling just as much on offense as Warsaw, maybe even more.

The Pilgrims hit on only 14 of 41 (34 percent) from the field, including a combined 8 of 27 from Wise and Brian Wray, Plymouth's top two scorers. The Pilgrims also hit only 4 of 14 from the charity stripe.

"Our assistant coaches came up with an excellent game plan in terms of the way we were going to play defense, and our players executed that very well," Rhodes said. "We made Wise and Wray earn all the points that they got.

"We chased him (Wise) very hard," he said. "In our man-to-man, Krizmanich guarded him, and in our zone we tried to move to the areas that Wise and Wray shoot the most from."

Wise led the Pilgrims with 14 points, while Wray, who entered the game with an 18 ppg average, ended up with just five points.

Warsaw trailed by two, 24-22, at halftime and was looking for its traditional third-quarter surge. What it got instead was frustration. The Tigers misfired on all eight of their field goal attempts in the third quarter and scored just three points in the period.

Plymouth wasn't much better, hitting on 2 of 9 in the third and getting five points to take a 29-25 into the fourth quarter.

The Pilgrims' fortunes turned sour in the third quarter as Wray came up with his fourth foul, and Wise, Matt Cramer and Nick Chaney add three fouls each. That put Plymouth with four of its five starters with at least three fouls.

The Pilgrims did in the fourth quarter the only thing they could do to protect themselves from losing key players with five fouls - stall. By pulling the ball out to open the fourth, Plymouth kept some of its starters on the bench and worked the clock.

Warsaw, in an effort to get some rest for its starters who had played almost the entire game, wasn't in any great hurry to come out of its 2-3 zone.

When the Tigers did pull out of the zone, Wiley made a big steal at halfcourt and raced in with a layup to make the score 29-27. Wise and Kent Stackhouse hit two jumpers for Plymouth to make the score 33-27.

"We played a good number of our players in through the whole game," Rhodes said. "At the end of the (third) quarter and the start (of the fourth), we were interested in resting a little bit there. The game was close enough. We felt it would go down to the wire. As it worked out, it gave us the opportunity, but we weren't able to take advantage."

The Tigers jumped out of the gates quickly, racing to an 11-2 lead. The Pilgrims answered with a run of their own and cut the gap to 14-12 at the end of the first.

In the second quarter, Plymouth looked to an unknown to give it the lead. Reserve guard Chris Davis drained two three-pointers in the early part of the period to give Plymouth a 20-18 advantage, its first lead of the game.

The Pilgrims extended that margin to 24-18 with the help of two baskets from Wise. Warsaw got a three-pointer from Jason Alspaugh and a free throw from Krizmanich to cut the lead to 24-22 at the break.

"We had good opportunities, and we kept fighting," Rhodes said. "I like the competitive nature that we demonstrated, even when we got down. We didn't fold up the tent and quit.

"We played 10 times the game we did in the first one (matchup with Plymouth this year), but you have to shoot the basketball better than what we did to win at the regional level," Rhodes said. "Last night and today coming into the game I thought we would win. I felt our kids were ready to go, and they were. We just weren't able to shoot the ball well enough to make it happen."

After replacing five starters from last year's Final Four team, the Tigers surprised a lot of people this season with their 19-5 record, which included a holiday tourney, NLC and sectional championship.

"I am proud of the year we put together," Rhodes said. "I am disappointed that it is over. Our seniors did an excellent job throughout the year. To end up with three championships and a 19-5 record is something they can be very proud of."

With the lack of experience entering this season, some would say Rhodes did his best job of coaching in his 17-year stint at Warsaw.

"Throughout the year, we were fighting our decision making and our recognition of changes by the our team," Rhodes said. "The coaching staff tried to help as much as we could. We got better as the year went along.

"It was a tough year, but a very good year," he said. "It was a team that really did overachieve. If you look at where we started at the beginning of the year with the Elkhart Central game to the basketball we played during the season, and the number of wins they came up with, it is a year you can be proud of. It is tough because sometimes we set our standards so very high that people don't give our players enough credit."

Warsaw will lose seniors Krizmanich, Charlton, Wiley, Nate O'Connell and Kevin Masur from this year's squad.

Plymouth (23-2) went on to win the regional championship with a victory over Northfield in the championship game. [[In-content Ad]]