Tiger Boys Win In OT
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Al Rhodes, the man the who has kept things virtually the same for 20-plus years, knew going in Tuesday was going to be different.
Senior Night always seems to be that way, and Tuesday's 62-60 overtime win over Kokomo was no exception.
The seventh-ranked Tigers started four players who normally come off the bench and then used a key free throw to seal the deal late in the overtime session.
"One of the biggest things in the game I thought was the mental aspect," Rhodes said. "It was the last game in the Tiger Den, it just wasn't a normal routine, and the basketball usually suffers because of that."
Trailing by two, Warsaw senior Jared Shaw, the only normal starter that appeared in the opening lineup, connected on a three-point play with 1:13 left in the extra frame to give the Tigers a 59-57 lead.
After Wildkat junior Matt Bell knotted the game with a pair of charity tosses, senior Chris Clay rebounded a Shaw miss and put it back in for two, giving host Warsaw a 61-59 lead with 36 ticks on the clock.
"Jared Shaw had some offensive rebounds in there, and Chris Clay had some nice passes," Rhodes said. "That basket there by Clay might have been the biggest basket of the game. Chris also stepped up and hit some big threes in the first half."
Bell found himself at the free throw line again with 9.1 seconds remaining, making the first but missing the second, leaving Kokomo down 61-60.
Chris Clay rebounded the ball, and then senior point guard Brad Seiss was fouled with 4.3 seconds left. The three-year starter misfired on the first attempt but made good on the second attempt, and then Bell's shot at the buzzer was off the mark.
The Tigers, whose previous four victories came by double-digit figures, improved to 18-2 with the win.
"We showed a lot of heart and were able to come back," Rhodes said. "I felt like we played well. As a coach I'm not worried about how we played on Senior Night. As a coach I'm more worried about Carroll Friday. We'll be back on the road, like we'll be in the sectional."
With Warsaw's scrambled lineup in place, the teams battled back and forth in the first quarter with Kokomo owning a 15-13 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
Behind the play of Chris Clay, who scored eight points in the second quarter including two key three-pointers, the Tigers led 29-25 at the half.
Trailing 40-36 at the end of the third quarter, Warsaw started the final quarter of regulation with a 6-0 run.
Shaw, maded good on a three-point play opportunity with 8.7 seconds left in regulation to give Warsaw a 52-50 lead, but Bell hit a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Both teams were whistled for 20 fouls, and both teams were 19 of 27 from the charity stripe.
Shaw led the Tigers with a game-high 20 points, while teammates Greg Clay scored 13, Ryan DeGeeter 12 and Chris Clay 10. Seiss scored five, while junior Erik Fussle came off the bench to score two.
"Overall we played enough defense to win and got the ball to the right people," Rhodes said. "We were able to get four players in double figures, that's what we've been doing most of the time."
Senior Kenny Wright led Kokomo with 15 points, while Jacob Guest scored 12 and Terrance Story and Bell eight each.
NO. 7 (4A) WARSAW 62
KOKOMO 60 OT
Kokomo 15 10 15 12 8 - 60
Warsaw 13 16 7 16 10 - 62
Kokomo FG FT R S Pts.
Bell (G) 1-9 6-8 2 1 8
Story (F) 4-7 0-0 4 1 8
Martin (F) 1-5 5-6 6 0 7
Hawkins (G) 1-7 3-4 3 1 5
Guest (C) 5-8 2-5 5 1 12
Barrett 1-2 0-0 0 0 3
Roe 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Smith 1-3 0-0 3 1 2
Wright 6-8 3-4 3 1 15
Totals 20-50 19-27 26 6 60
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
Walmer (G) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Kindig (F) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Datta (G) 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Shaw (F) 4-11 12-15 7 1 20
Scott (F) 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Seiss 2-5 1-2 2 2 5
G. Clay 6-10 0-1 6 0 13
C. Clay 3-7 2-2 4 0 10
Fussle 1-2 0-2 1 0 2
DeGeeter 4-9 4-5 3 0 12
Knepper 0-1 0-0 5 0 0
Totals 21-48 19-27 31 3 62
Three-point goals - Kokomo 1-9 (Barrett 1-2, Hawkins 0-4, Bell 0-1, Martin 0-1, Wright 0-1), Warsaw 3-11 (C. Clay 2-4, G. Clay 1-1, Shaw 0-3, Seiss 0-3). Fouls - Kokomo 20, Warsaw 20. Fouled out - Guest.
JV - Warsaw 56, Kokomo 32
Columbia City Downs Wawasee
By Mike Madison, Times-Union Sports Correspondent
SYRACUSE -ÊThe Columbia City Eagles brought their No. 13 ranked boy's basketball team into Syracuse last night for a game against the Wawasee Warriors.
The Eagles showed very early why they are deserving of the their ranking, playing a near-flawless game for the first 12 minutes and going on to win 67-51.
"They are just a good, solid ball club," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler, "They played extremely well tonight. They took us out of our game early."
It was all Columbia City as the Eagles jumped out to a 16-6 first quarter lead.
Then they made the first 10 points of quarter two.
Columbia City got a little help from the Warriors as frustration got them. The Warriors were called for an intentional foul after a Columbia City steal and drive to the basket.
The Eagles made the resulting free throws and then got the ball out of bounds and scored again to extend their lead to 26-6.
A minute later Columbia City's senior guard Trevor Shively made a long three taking the lead to 30-10.
The Warriors fought back, hit a couple of shots and trailed 36-20 at halftime.
Said Mishler: "They played a near perfect game in the first half. They shot the ball extremely well and that's hard to defend.
"Playing a team the quality of Columbia City, we knew we would have to give something up defensively and we decided to give them that step beyond the three-point line, but keep a hand up. Give them credit; they hit the shots.
"Early in the game we missed a lot of easy layups and that really gets the tide going against you. When you are missing layups and the other team is hitting NBA threes it really shakes your confidence."
The second half did look different, as the Warriors found their composure and played with more intensity.
"We at times had good intensity and mental focus and at times we didn't," said Mishler. "When we lacked focus Columbia City capitalized."
The Warriors regained some of that focus in the second half as they played more or less even with the Eagles.
Again though, the Warriors shot themselves in the foot when they were called for an intentional foul on a breakaway by Columbia City.
This time City made the basket, made the two free throws and got the ball out of bounds. Then the Eagles made a basket, were fouled and made the free throw for a seven-point play.
Every time the Warriors made a run Columbia City answered with a big basket of their own. The Eagles maintained the lead to the buzzer as they took home a 67-51 win.
With the game already decided, Mishler had an opportunity to get some minutes for his younger players.
At one point late in the game the Warriors had three freshmen on the court. Besides starter Kory Lantz, both Chris Trobaugh and Ryan Kauchek saw action and both provided quality minutes.
Mishler was pleased with his teams play in the second half.
"In the second half we shot the ball better and stayed even and that was good. What makes Columbia City so strong is they have outside play and inside play, and they have guys that can handle the ball. They are tough to defend and they are an excellent defensive team as well."
Junior Kyle Lantz led the scoring for the Warriors as he came off the bench to provide 16 points.
For the Eagles, Shively and forward Bob Dye combined for 14 of 19 shooting and four, three pointers as they scored 22 and 16 points respectively.
The Warriors will be back home again on Friday evening as they will host the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings.
COLUMBIA CITY 67 WAWASEE 51
Col. City 16 20 15 16 - 67
Wawasee 6 14 13 18 - 51
Col. City FG FT R S Pts.
* Dye 7-10 1-3 4 0 16
* Shively 7-9 5-7 0 1 22
* Heuer 1-5 3-3 5 0 5
* M. Moore 4-7 1-3 1 1 9
* Garnder 1-3 1-2 2 0 4
S. Moore 0-1 0-0 4 1 0
Buchanan 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Eckert 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Strangland 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Sheckler 3-7 0-2 4 0 6
Myers 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 24-46 13-22 29 4 67
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
* Ko. Lantz 5-7 2-3 2 0 12
* Conrad 1-2 0-1 0 0 2
* Stichter 0-3 0-0 2 0 0
* Custer 4-11 0-2 10 1 8
* Knisely 4-6 0-0 3 0 8
Schrader 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
R. Trobaugh 1-4 0-0 0 1 3
C. Trobaugh 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Ky. Lantz 5-9 4-4 6 0 16
Kauchek 0-2 0-1 4 0 0
Totals 21-47 6-11 28 2 51
Three-point goals - Col. City 6-13 (Shively 3-5, Dye 1-3, Gardner 1-2, Boylan 1-1, Heuer 0-1, M. Moore 0-1), Wawasee 3-5 (Ky. Lantz 2-2, R. Trobaugh 1-1, Conrad 0-1, Stichter 0-1). Fouls - Col. City 20, Wawasee 20. Fouled out - Sheckler.
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Al Rhodes, the man the who has kept things virtually the same for 20-plus years, knew going in Tuesday was going to be different.
Senior Night always seems to be that way, and Tuesday's 62-60 overtime win over Kokomo was no exception.
The seventh-ranked Tigers started four players who normally come off the bench and then used a key free throw to seal the deal late in the overtime session.
"One of the biggest things in the game I thought was the mental aspect," Rhodes said. "It was the last game in the Tiger Den, it just wasn't a normal routine, and the basketball usually suffers because of that."
Trailing by two, Warsaw senior Jared Shaw, the only normal starter that appeared in the opening lineup, connected on a three-point play with 1:13 left in the extra frame to give the Tigers a 59-57 lead.
After Wildkat junior Matt Bell knotted the game with a pair of charity tosses, senior Chris Clay rebounded a Shaw miss and put it back in for two, giving host Warsaw a 61-59 lead with 36 ticks on the clock.
"Jared Shaw had some offensive rebounds in there, and Chris Clay had some nice passes," Rhodes said. "That basket there by Clay might have been the biggest basket of the game. Chris also stepped up and hit some big threes in the first half."
Bell found himself at the free throw line again with 9.1 seconds remaining, making the first but missing the second, leaving Kokomo down 61-60.
Chris Clay rebounded the ball, and then senior point guard Brad Seiss was fouled with 4.3 seconds left. The three-year starter misfired on the first attempt but made good on the second attempt, and then Bell's shot at the buzzer was off the mark.
The Tigers, whose previous four victories came by double-digit figures, improved to 18-2 with the win.
"We showed a lot of heart and were able to come back," Rhodes said. "I felt like we played well. As a coach I'm not worried about how we played on Senior Night. As a coach I'm more worried about Carroll Friday. We'll be back on the road, like we'll be in the sectional."
With Warsaw's scrambled lineup in place, the teams battled back and forth in the first quarter with Kokomo owning a 15-13 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
Behind the play of Chris Clay, who scored eight points in the second quarter including two key three-pointers, the Tigers led 29-25 at the half.
Trailing 40-36 at the end of the third quarter, Warsaw started the final quarter of regulation with a 6-0 run.
Shaw, maded good on a three-point play opportunity with 8.7 seconds left in regulation to give Warsaw a 52-50 lead, but Bell hit a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Both teams were whistled for 20 fouls, and both teams were 19 of 27 from the charity stripe.
Shaw led the Tigers with a game-high 20 points, while teammates Greg Clay scored 13, Ryan DeGeeter 12 and Chris Clay 10. Seiss scored five, while junior Erik Fussle came off the bench to score two.
"Overall we played enough defense to win and got the ball to the right people," Rhodes said. "We were able to get four players in double figures, that's what we've been doing most of the time."
Senior Kenny Wright led Kokomo with 15 points, while Jacob Guest scored 12 and Terrance Story and Bell eight each.
NO. 7 (4A) WARSAW 62
KOKOMO 60 OT
Kokomo 15 10 15 12 8 - 60
Warsaw 13 16 7 16 10 - 62
Kokomo FG FT R S Pts.
Bell (G) 1-9 6-8 2 1 8
Story (F) 4-7 0-0 4 1 8
Martin (F) 1-5 5-6 6 0 7
Hawkins (G) 1-7 3-4 3 1 5
Guest (C) 5-8 2-5 5 1 12
Barrett 1-2 0-0 0 0 3
Roe 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Smith 1-3 0-0 3 1 2
Wright 6-8 3-4 3 1 15
Totals 20-50 19-27 26 6 60
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
Walmer (G) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Kindig (F) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Datta (G) 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Shaw (F) 4-11 12-15 7 1 20
Scott (F) 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Seiss 2-5 1-2 2 2 5
G. Clay 6-10 0-1 6 0 13
C. Clay 3-7 2-2 4 0 10
Fussle 1-2 0-2 1 0 2
DeGeeter 4-9 4-5 3 0 12
Knepper 0-1 0-0 5 0 0
Totals 21-48 19-27 31 3 62
Three-point goals - Kokomo 1-9 (Barrett 1-2, Hawkins 0-4, Bell 0-1, Martin 0-1, Wright 0-1), Warsaw 3-11 (C. Clay 2-4, G. Clay 1-1, Shaw 0-3, Seiss 0-3). Fouls - Kokomo 20, Warsaw 20. Fouled out - Guest.
JV - Warsaw 56, Kokomo 32
Columbia City Downs Wawasee
By Mike Madison, Times-Union Sports Correspondent
SYRACUSE -ÊThe Columbia City Eagles brought their No. 13 ranked boy's basketball team into Syracuse last night for a game against the Wawasee Warriors.
The Eagles showed very early why they are deserving of the their ranking, playing a near-flawless game for the first 12 minutes and going on to win 67-51.
"They are just a good, solid ball club," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler, "They played extremely well tonight. They took us out of our game early."
It was all Columbia City as the Eagles jumped out to a 16-6 first quarter lead.
Then they made the first 10 points of quarter two.
Columbia City got a little help from the Warriors as frustration got them. The Warriors were called for an intentional foul after a Columbia City steal and drive to the basket.
The Eagles made the resulting free throws and then got the ball out of bounds and scored again to extend their lead to 26-6.
A minute later Columbia City's senior guard Trevor Shively made a long three taking the lead to 30-10.
The Warriors fought back, hit a couple of shots and trailed 36-20 at halftime.
Said Mishler: "They played a near perfect game in the first half. They shot the ball extremely well and that's hard to defend.
"Playing a team the quality of Columbia City, we knew we would have to give something up defensively and we decided to give them that step beyond the three-point line, but keep a hand up. Give them credit; they hit the shots.
"Early in the game we missed a lot of easy layups and that really gets the tide going against you. When you are missing layups and the other team is hitting NBA threes it really shakes your confidence."
The second half did look different, as the Warriors found their composure and played with more intensity.
"We at times had good intensity and mental focus and at times we didn't," said Mishler. "When we lacked focus Columbia City capitalized."
The Warriors regained some of that focus in the second half as they played more or less even with the Eagles.
Again though, the Warriors shot themselves in the foot when they were called for an intentional foul on a breakaway by Columbia City.
This time City made the basket, made the two free throws and got the ball out of bounds. Then the Eagles made a basket, were fouled and made the free throw for a seven-point play.
Every time the Warriors made a run Columbia City answered with a big basket of their own. The Eagles maintained the lead to the buzzer as they took home a 67-51 win.
With the game already decided, Mishler had an opportunity to get some minutes for his younger players.
At one point late in the game the Warriors had three freshmen on the court. Besides starter Kory Lantz, both Chris Trobaugh and Ryan Kauchek saw action and both provided quality minutes.
Mishler was pleased with his teams play in the second half.
"In the second half we shot the ball better and stayed even and that was good. What makes Columbia City so strong is they have outside play and inside play, and they have guys that can handle the ball. They are tough to defend and they are an excellent defensive team as well."
Junior Kyle Lantz led the scoring for the Warriors as he came off the bench to provide 16 points.
For the Eagles, Shively and forward Bob Dye combined for 14 of 19 shooting and four, three pointers as they scored 22 and 16 points respectively.
The Warriors will be back home again on Friday evening as they will host the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings.
COLUMBIA CITY 67 WAWASEE 51
Col. City 16 20 15 16 - 67
Wawasee 6 14 13 18 - 51
Col. City FG FT R S Pts.
* Dye 7-10 1-3 4 0 16
* Shively 7-9 5-7 0 1 22
* Heuer 1-5 3-3 5 0 5
* M. Moore 4-7 1-3 1 1 9
* Garnder 1-3 1-2 2 0 4
S. Moore 0-1 0-0 4 1 0
Buchanan 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Eckert 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Strangland 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Sheckler 3-7 0-2 4 0 6
Myers 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 24-46 13-22 29 4 67
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
* Ko. Lantz 5-7 2-3 2 0 12
* Conrad 1-2 0-1 0 0 2
* Stichter 0-3 0-0 2 0 0
* Custer 4-11 0-2 10 1 8
* Knisely 4-6 0-0 3 0 8
Schrader 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
R. Trobaugh 1-4 0-0 0 1 3
C. Trobaugh 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Ky. Lantz 5-9 4-4 6 0 16
Kauchek 0-2 0-1 4 0 0
Totals 21-47 6-11 28 2 51
Three-point goals - Col. City 6-13 (Shively 3-5, Dye 1-3, Gardner 1-2, Boylan 1-1, Heuer 0-1, M. Moore 0-1), Wawasee 3-5 (Ky. Lantz 2-2, R. Trobaugh 1-1, Conrad 0-1, Stichter 0-1). Fouls - Col. City 20, Wawasee 20. Fouled out - Sheckler.
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