Tiger Boys Open Season With Win Over Eagles
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
As it turns out, postponing Warsaw's boys basketball season opener the night before Thanksgiving may have been a blessing in disguise for the Tigers.
With Wednesday's game called because of weather-related problems Gary Wirt would have had to face, Warsaw's coaching staff was able to scout Columbia City.
The Warsaw coaching staff apparently came away with what they needed to know about the Eagles, and it turned into a 47-27 win over last year's Class 4A state runner-up Saturday at the Tiger Den.
The victory was the Tigers' first win over their U.S. 30 rival since 2000 and stopped a five-game losing streak to the Eagles. In those five losses, the Tigers fell by five or fewer points four times.
"I thought maybe we could turn the postponement into an advantage, with us being able to see their first game," said third-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose Tigers have won all three season-openers in his varsity tenure. "They had no idea what we were going to do. We were disapointed we didn't get to play Wirt Wednesday, but we turned it into an advantage. This was a game I felt we needed to win for our collective pysche to kind of bust through the wall Columbia City has put up the past few years."
The Tigers not only busted through that wall, so to speak, they completely knocked it down and built a wall the Eagles couldn't get through.
Warsaw held Columbia City, which opened its season with a 14-point win over Whitko, to two points in the opening quarter.
While the Tigers were just 3 of 14 from the field in the first quarter and scored just six points in the first eight minutes themselves, they turned things up a notch the rest of the game and got easy buckets in the basket area.
The Tigers converted 20 Columbia City turnovers into 20 points and scored 32 of their 47 points in the paint.
"It feels good to win this particular game after we had struggles with some very good Columbia City teams the last two years," said Ogle. "I thought we played tough in the third quarter, and Michael Wienhorst played well, especially offensively."
Columbia City cut the Warsaw lead to four, 19-15, with a three-pointer from senior Matt Kauffman with 6:42 remaining in the third quarter.
That was as close as the Eagles got the rest of the game, as Warsaw responded with an 11-0 run and led by as much as 22 in the fourth quarter.
Wienhorst, Warsaw's top scorer back from a year ago, scored 15 points in the second half Saturday night and led all scorers with 22 points.
The 6-foot-2 senior finished the game 8 of 15 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free throw line. He also had five rebounds and four assists.
Both Warsaw and Columbia City were hit hard by graduation last year.
The Eagles lost twins Marcus and Scott Moore and Indiana All-Star Doug Sheckler from a team that went 25-4 and fell to Lawrence North in the Class 4A state championship game.
The Tigers graduated six seniors from a team that lost to Columbia City on a Sheckler buzzer beater in the sectional opener, and then lost point guard Michael Moore, who transferred to Northern Lakes Conference rival Concord.
When all was said and done Saturday, the Tigers had - no pun intended - more than enough to halt their recent struggles with Columbia City.
John-Wesley Maierle stepped into the spot that Moore held for two seasons and performed well for the Tigers.
The 6-1 junior was 5 of 6 from the field, 1 of 1 from the free throw line and had three steals and an assist.
Maybe more important to Ogle and his assistant coaches is that Maierle didn't commit a turnover, something that at times last year was a problem with a high-risk, high-reward player like Moore.
"I'd say for the first game and team with very little varsity experience returning, I was happy with the results," said Ogle.
Senior Andrew Holladay and juniors Shaun Cabrera and Colin Clemens scored four points each in the win, while junior Erik Kleinhans scored on two free throws.
The Eagles were led in scoring by 6-7 junior Zach Coverstone's 16 points. Coverstone also tallied seven rebounds and three steals.
The Tigers are in action again Tuesday when they host South Bend Clay, and again Friday when they host Fort Wayne South. [[In-content Ad]]
As it turns out, postponing Warsaw's boys basketball season opener the night before Thanksgiving may have been a blessing in disguise for the Tigers.
With Wednesday's game called because of weather-related problems Gary Wirt would have had to face, Warsaw's coaching staff was able to scout Columbia City.
The Warsaw coaching staff apparently came away with what they needed to know about the Eagles, and it turned into a 47-27 win over last year's Class 4A state runner-up Saturday at the Tiger Den.
The victory was the Tigers' first win over their U.S. 30 rival since 2000 and stopped a five-game losing streak to the Eagles. In those five losses, the Tigers fell by five or fewer points four times.
"I thought maybe we could turn the postponement into an advantage, with us being able to see their first game," said third-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose Tigers have won all three season-openers in his varsity tenure. "They had no idea what we were going to do. We were disapointed we didn't get to play Wirt Wednesday, but we turned it into an advantage. This was a game I felt we needed to win for our collective pysche to kind of bust through the wall Columbia City has put up the past few years."
The Tigers not only busted through that wall, so to speak, they completely knocked it down and built a wall the Eagles couldn't get through.
Warsaw held Columbia City, which opened its season with a 14-point win over Whitko, to two points in the opening quarter.
While the Tigers were just 3 of 14 from the field in the first quarter and scored just six points in the first eight minutes themselves, they turned things up a notch the rest of the game and got easy buckets in the basket area.
The Tigers converted 20 Columbia City turnovers into 20 points and scored 32 of their 47 points in the paint.
"It feels good to win this particular game after we had struggles with some very good Columbia City teams the last two years," said Ogle. "I thought we played tough in the third quarter, and Michael Wienhorst played well, especially offensively."
Columbia City cut the Warsaw lead to four, 19-15, with a three-pointer from senior Matt Kauffman with 6:42 remaining in the third quarter.
That was as close as the Eagles got the rest of the game, as Warsaw responded with an 11-0 run and led by as much as 22 in the fourth quarter.
Wienhorst, Warsaw's top scorer back from a year ago, scored 15 points in the second half Saturday night and led all scorers with 22 points.
The 6-foot-2 senior finished the game 8 of 15 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free throw line. He also had five rebounds and four assists.
Both Warsaw and Columbia City were hit hard by graduation last year.
The Eagles lost twins Marcus and Scott Moore and Indiana All-Star Doug Sheckler from a team that went 25-4 and fell to Lawrence North in the Class 4A state championship game.
The Tigers graduated six seniors from a team that lost to Columbia City on a Sheckler buzzer beater in the sectional opener, and then lost point guard Michael Moore, who transferred to Northern Lakes Conference rival Concord.
When all was said and done Saturday, the Tigers had - no pun intended - more than enough to halt their recent struggles with Columbia City.
John-Wesley Maierle stepped into the spot that Moore held for two seasons and performed well for the Tigers.
The 6-1 junior was 5 of 6 from the field, 1 of 1 from the free throw line and had three steals and an assist.
Maybe more important to Ogle and his assistant coaches is that Maierle didn't commit a turnover, something that at times last year was a problem with a high-risk, high-reward player like Moore.
"I'd say for the first game and team with very little varsity experience returning, I was happy with the results," said Ogle.
Senior Andrew Holladay and juniors Shaun Cabrera and Colin Clemens scored four points each in the win, while junior Erik Kleinhans scored on two free throws.
The Eagles were led in scoring by 6-7 junior Zach Coverstone's 16 points. Coverstone also tallied seven rebounds and three steals.
The Tigers are in action again Tuesday when they host South Bend Clay, and again Friday when they host Fort Wayne South. [[In-content Ad]]