Warsaw boys baskteball team led just once Friday, a mere 3.1 seconds, but the Tigers led when it mattered most.

In a Northern Lakes Conference clash with visiting Goshen, the Tigers scored but three points in the first quarter, trailed by 14 midway through the third, and on the shoulders of senior Jared Shaw came away a 50-49 winner.

The 6-foot-4 Shaw scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth, including a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining, as Warsaw improved to 12-1 on the season.

"Certainly Jared Shaw was the star of the game," 22nd-year Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "He came through in the clutch."

With Warsaw trailing 49-45 and only 49 seconds showing on the clock, Shaw converted a three-point play. After a Redskin turnover with 29 ticks left Warsaw called a timeout, worked the ball on the perimeter, and then forced it inside to Shaw, who capped off the comeback effort he played the leading role in.

The win puts the Tigers at 12-1 overall and 3-0 in the NLC. Goshen, which has won just twice at Warsaw in the last 21 seasons (1981-82, 1987-88), falls to 5-6 and 1-2.

While Warsaw's fans had something to cheer about in the fourth quarter, the first half was a totally different story.

After putting up four points in the first quarter of Tuesday's home game with Valparaiso, the Tigers shot 1 of 9 from the floor Friday and trailed 10-3.

Warsaw showed signs of life in the second, but trailed 24-11 at halftime as the Redskins were 10 of 14 from the field.

"All year long we've stalled out on offense," Rhodes said. "The last two games it's been at the start. Against Valparaiso our defense covered for us. Tonight we couldn't stop Goshen on the same level."

Led by 6-6 junior Andrew Hershberger, Goshen muscled the ball down low in the first half in building the double-digit lead. Hershberger scored 11 points in the first half, including six in the second when the Redskins were 7 of 7 from the field.

"We were very fortunate in that we were only down 13 at the half," Rhodes said. "The important thing was we didn't panic. We were down 13, and then we got it down to eight going into the fourth. I've always felt like seven is the magic number. If you're not more than seven points down you have a chance. Once we got it down to five we knew we had an opportunity."

A tip-in by Shaw cut the Goshen lead to five, 43-38, with 3:10 remaining but a three-point play by Hershberger pushed the lead back to eight.

Two charity tosses from Shaw made it a 47-43 game with 2:01 to play. After the Redskins were whistled for a five-second violation, Shaw scored a field goal to make it a two-point game.

Shaw was 6 of 7 from the floor in the fourth quarter and 8 of 13 for the game. The emotional senior finished the fourth quarter 6 of 6 from the line.

"We wanted to go to Jared Shaw," Rhodes said after winning his 396th game the Tigers. "Our team passing was great in the fourth quarter."

To go with Shaw's 23 points and nine rebounds, Warsaw got eight points from Greg Clay, seven from Ryan DeGeeter and five each from Chris Clay and Brad Seiss.

Seiss also tallied four steals and four assists, as well as intercepting Goshen's inbounds pass at the end of the game.

Hershberger led Goshen with 18 points, while Matt Lewallen scored 12, Jeremiah Gamauf six and McLoughen five.

Warsaw, tied for the conference lead with Elkhart Memorial, will be in action again Friday at NLC opponent Concord.

WARSAW 50, GOSHEN 49

Goshen (5-5, 1-2) 10 14 10 15 - 49

Warsaw (12-1, 3-0) 3 8 15 24 - 50

Goshen FG FT R S Pts.

McLoughen (G) 1-1 2-2 1 2 5

Gamauf (G) 1-8 4-5 1 0 6

Graber (F) 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Hershberger (F) 6-7 5-6 6 18

Cotherman (C) 1-1 2-2 2 0 4

Beckett 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Szynal 1-1 2-2 1 0 4

Lewallen 4-5 3-3 1 0 12

Totals 14-23 18-20 12 5 49

Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.

Seiss (G) 2-4 1-1 2 4 5

G. Clay (G) 3-12 1-1 2 3 8

C. Clay (F) 2-4 1-1 3 2 5

Shaw (F) 8-13 7-8 9 3 23

DeGeeter (C) 2-6 3-4 2 0 7

Walmer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Datta 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Fussle 1-3 0-0 1 0 2

Knepper 0-1 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 18-43 13-15 20 15 50

Three-point goals - Goshen 3-4 (McLoughen 1-1, Hershberger 1-1, Lewallen 1-2), Warsaw 1-14 (G. Clay 1-7, DeGeeter 0-2, Shaw 0-2, Seiss 0-2, C. Clay 0-1). Turnovers - Goshen 16, Warsaw 11. Fouls - Goshen 20, Warsaw 20. Fouled out - DeGeeter.

JV - Warsaw 45, Goshen 30

Warsaw scoring - Todd Braddock 16, Michael Moore 8, Michael Weinhorst 7, Adam Griggs 5, Greg Allison 2, Ryan Schultz 2, Riley Fuller 2, Nate Miller 1

Valley Vikings Crush Zebras

By Dan Riordan, Times-Union Sports Correspondent

AKRON - On December 28, Valley's boys basketball team squeaked out a 31-28 win against Rochester en route to the Rochester Holiday Tournament crown.

Friday night also saw the Vikings come out on top. This time in a more decisive fashion with a 64-36 drubbing of the Zebras.

Valley coach Bill Patrick said after the game that he and his staff decided after his team's loss to Argos last week to make some adjustments.

They decided to pare down their rotation from 10 or 11 players down to seven or eight.

Valley also moved to a full court press instead of its more traditional half court defense.

Overall they just wanted to pick up the tempo of their game.

They did just that as the adjustments seemed to pay off.

Valley forced Rochester into nine first quarter turnovers. The Vikings capitalized, rattling off a 21-2 run in the first period.

Junior phenom Trey Eaton put a 10 spot on the board in the first on the strength of 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

In a trend that would continue all game, Rochester was anemic from the field.

The Zebras' Brandon Tugmon hit a jumper with 1:11 left in the first quarter. Rochester would not be heard from again until guard Adam Frounfelter connected from the field with 3:30 left in the half.

The Vikings' good fortune on offense continued, however. Junior Alex Frantz had a solid first half matching Eaton's first half total of 12 points.

Rochester, as a team, went into the locker room at the half with only nine.

Rochester surpassed their first-half total in the third quarter with 10 points. Valley began to cool down in the second half. Eaton, the state's 10th leading scorer, remained steady adding seven to his eventual game high total of 22.

Valley's full court press continued to frustrate the Zebras the entire game as Rochester would be guilty of 26 turnovers compared to the Vikings 14. When Rochester didn't turn the ball over they were unable to maintain any sort of continuity on offense. An ineffective post game, compounded by poor outside shooting left the Zebras befuddled. The Vikings had 21 more shot attempts than the Zebras. While neither team shot 50 percent from the field, Rochester shot 38 to Valley's 44 percent. The Vikings played much of the second half with their second team.

During halftime fans were treated to a Lake City Bank sponsored Bank Shot contest. Fans were treated to a free throw shooting clinic in the fourth quarter as the teams combined to go to the line 15 times, connecting on 17 of 27 attempts in the final stanza.

The outcome was not really affected as a Valley lead which swelled to 33 points at times during the game and never dipped below 25. #

All in all Patrick was quite pleased with his team's total effort after the game.

"I think we played with a lot of enthusiasm," said Patrick. "We played a lot harder and I was really impressed by our defensive effort. This week we really decided to stick with those changes that we've made."

Patrick also seemed confident with the emergence of Andrew Kramer as a Viking floor general. Kramer assumed much of the ball handling duties against Rochester.

"I think the other kids are really starting to gain a little confidence in (Kramer)," said Patrick. "He earned a position through practicing really hard the past three or four weeks."

Kramer now solidifies Patrick's desire to keep his core rotation of players at eight for the final eight games of the season.

Valley now 9-3 will next take on Caston at home on Tuesday.

VALLEY 64, ROCHESTER 36

VALLEY 23 12 12 17 - 64

ROCHESTER 6 3 10 17 - 36

VALLEY FG FT A S R Pts.

*Hartzler 2-3 0-1 1 0 2 5

*Eaton 8-15 4-5 1 2 4 22

*Frantz 7-14 3-4 1 2 9 17

*Kramer 0-2 5-6 1 2 2 5

*Stutzman 1-2 0-0 1 0 4 2

Harmon 3-5 0-0 1 1 0 6

Beyers 0-3 0-0 3 3 0 0

Cody 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 4

Sterk 0-2 0-2 0 1 0 0

Vanlaningham 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Parker 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Wise 0-1 3-4 0 0 0 3

Totals 23-52 15-22 9 12 22 64

ROCHESTER FG FT A S R Pts.

*Frounfelter 1-2 1-4 0 1 1 3

*Spencer 1-5 2-3 1 3 2 4

*Lett 3-6 1-2 2 1 2 8

*Riddle 3-9 0-0 0 0 4 6

*B. Tugmon 2-4 1-3 0 1 7 5

Surface 1-2 2-2 0 0 1 4

Warner 0-1 3-4 0 0 2 3

S. Tugman 1-2 1-2 0 0 0 3

Felke 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0

Totals 12-31 11-20 3 7 19 36

Three-point goals - Valley 3-10 (Eaton 2-3, Hartzler 1-1 ) Rochester 1-3 (Lett 1-2). Fouls - Valley 19 Rochester 18. Fouled out - Frounfelter.. Turnovers: Valley 14 , Rochester 26.

JV -ÊValley 40, Rochester 25

Valley scoring -Ê (Jackson 9, Gibson 8, Cody 7, Vanlaningham 7, Murphy 4, Parker 3, Barker 2.)

Wawasee Falls To Athltic Elkhart Memorial

By Mike Madison, Times-Union Sports Correspondent

SYRACUSE -ÊWawasee coach Phil Mishler knew going into Friday night's game in Syracuse with Elkhart Memorial, that the Chargers would be one of the quickest and most athletic teams the Wawasee Warriors would face.

While Wawasee entered the game with an overall record of 5-5 and a 1-1 record in the NLC, Memorial was an impressive 9-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Memorial came out and quickly showed why the Warriors should have been concerned as the Crimson Chargers picked up a 55-44 win.

Memorial's quickness showed immediately as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

After Wawasee came back and tied the game at 8-all, Memorial ran off the last eight points of the quarter to take a 16-8 lead.

The Warriors had no answer for Memorial's 6-foot-3 senior Clint Adell. He finished the first quarter with 10 of Memorial's 16 points and ended up as the game's leading scorer with 18 points.

Wawasee, on the other hand, remained cold as it could only find the basket twice in the first quarter on eight attempts.

Memorial's run became 10 points as it got the first basket of quarter two.

Wawasee junior Stephen Conrad helped the Warriors' cause as he recorded two quick baskets including a three.

A combination of Wawasee turnovers and cold shooting gave Memorial a 29-16 halftime lead.

Wawasee connected on just 5 of 18 field goals for the half, but credit had to go to Memorial's aggressive zone defense.

"I have to give Memorial credit," said Mishler. "They came into our gym and just took it right to us. Our lack of execution in the first half got us behind and made it tough to come back...it determined the outcome of the game.

"Our two goals against Memorial were that we needed to be ready for their intense pressure and their quickness so we had to make sure we took care of the ball, and we didn't do that in the first half. We also knew we needed to box out good on the boards and we didn't do that either. In the first half they scored way too much off of turnovers and second-chance baskets."

The second half began much like the first with Memorial jumping out quickly to 38-22 lead, but some better second-half shooting and aggressive defense kept the Warriors in it as they drew to within 10 before falling 55-44.

"In the second half we started playing better on both ends of the court," said Mishler. "But getting behind like that against a good team like Memorial makes it tough to come back."

In the second half, the Warriors were 8 of 11 from two-point range but only found the basket once in 11 three-point attempts. The Warriors, who have relied on the three much of the season, went cold Friday and finished with just three threes on 19 attempts.

"I think our balance was excellent tonight," said Memorial coach Steve Johnson, "I think everyone came up with some big plays, whether it be a steal, a put back a rebound, or a three. I was very happy with our intensity throughout the game."

ELKHART MEMORIAL 55, WAWASEE 44

Elkhart Memorial scoring -ÊErik Smith 4 3-4 14, Kyle Sears 3 2-8 8, Quennel Young 4 3-3 11, Triston Miller 1 0-2 2, Scott Murphy 1 0-0 2, Clint Adell 8 2-3 18. Totals -Ê21 10-20 55

Wawasee scoring -ÊKory Lantz 2 3-4 7, Steve Conrad 4 0-0 10, Travis Schrader 1 0-0 2, Kyle Lantz 1 2-3 5, Clint Custer 4 8-9 16, Ben Knisely 1 0-0 2. Totals -Ê14 13-16 44.

Three-point goals -ÊElkhart Memorial 3 (Smith 3), Wawasee 3 (Conrad 2, Ky. Lantz 1). Fouls -ÊElkhart Memorial 14, Wawasee 18. Fouled out -ÊKnisely.

JV -ÊWAWASEE 46

ELKHART MEMORIAL 41

Wawasee record - 4-4

LCA Takes Advice, Wins Over Clinton Christian

Times-Union Staff Report

WINONA LAKE -ÊTalk about listening to good advice.

When LCA faced off against Clinton Christian Friday evening in Winona Lake, teh Cougars were up by six at the half. But that was not good wnough for their coach.

"Listen fellas," said LCA head coach Ed Waltz during the Cougars' halftime break, "we're only up by six against a team we should be controlling with ease. It's scrappy teams like this that will beat you if you allow them to hang around too long.

"I want you to stop taking wild three-point shots, move inside the line and play like you know how to play."

The Cougars took his advice, and they extended their lead to 50-34 at the end of the third quarter.

In fact, the LCA squad did not take a shot from behind the arc in the second quarter and finished the night with a 69-55 win.

Junior Pehoua led LCA with 25 points, while John Franklin added 17 points. Matt Payton chipped in 10 points in the Cougar victory.

LCA is now 10-4 on the season.

LCA 69, CLINTON CHRISTIAN 55

LCA scoring -ÊCraig Wilson 3, Jon Popenfoose 4, John Franklin 17, Dan Clemens 2, Junior Pehoua 25, Lionel Pehoua 8, Matt Payton 10

Grace Men Fall To St. Francis In Overtime

Times-Union Staff Report

FORT WAYNE, IN - The Grace College men's basketball team let a double-digit second-half lead slip away as St. Francis came from behind to defeat the Lancers 82-79 in overtime Thursday night.

Grace trailed 23-15 in the first half, but stormed back to take a 32-29 lead at the break. The Lancers extended the lead to 14 points in the second half, but the Cougars rallied.

Trailing 71-68 with under a minute to go, St. Francis' John Gensic knocked down a three to tie the game with 14 seconds left. Derric Isensee's leaner at the buzzer rolled off the rim to give Grace the victory.

In the overtime session, Grace scored the opening three points, but Matt Abernethy, who ended with 30 points, fouled out early. St. Francis went on an 11-3 run and an Andrew Kipsey three-pointer at the buzzer only cut the final deficit to three.

Abernethy made 13-of-19 field-goals and added nine rebounds. Kipsey followed with 12 points and Tim Bailey added six points and 10 rebounds.

Grace (11-7, 0-2 MCC) plays at NAIA No. 21 Huntington today at 3 p.m.

ST. FRANCIS 82, GRACE 79 OT

Grace 32 39 8 - 79

St. Francis 29 42 11 - 82

Grace - Brian O'Dell 4-9 0-0 9, Matt Moore 2-5 2-2 6, Matt Abernethy 13-19 4-9 30, Joe Saunders 1-2 2-2 4, Andrew Kipsey 3-7 4-6 12, Corey Smith 1-2 0-0 3, Derric Isensee 1-3 7-8 9, Tim Bailey 3-6 0-0 6, Total 28-53 19-27 79

St. Francis - John Gensic 4-10 0-0 12, Jontae James 1-7 7-8 9, Marcus Louden 5-14 2-2 15, Scott Bolinger 1-6 1-2 3, Chase Holden 1-7 3-3 5, Keith Roddy 3-6 0-0 6, Ryan Bricker 0-3 0-0 0, Jeremy Rice 0-0 0-0 0, Roger Randolph 10-19 12-17 32, Total 25-72 25-32 82

Three-pointers - Grace 4-12 (Kipsey 2-5, Smith 1-2, O'Dell 1-3, Isensee 0-1, Moore 0-1), St. Francis 7-21 (Gensic 4-7, Louden 3-8, Roddy 0-2, James 0-2, Bricker 0-2). Rebounds - Grace 41 (Bailey 10), St. Francis 36 (Randolph 10). Personal fouls - Grace 26, St. Francis 23. Fouled out - Saunders, Abernethy, Gensic. Turnovers - Grace 20, St. Francis 7. [[In-content Ad]]