Tigers Can't Knock Off The Giants
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
LAFAYETTE - It only happened two times in the 1990s, but it happened this year and it cost Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team a trip to Saturday's state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse.
This being Warsaw losing to the same team more than once in the same season. In the 1992-93 season, South Bend St. Joe topped the Tigers three times, the third coming in the semistate championship. In 1996-97 Plymouth clipped Warsaw twice, the latter coming in the regional semifinal game. And this year it was Marion's turn.
Second-ranked Marion beat the Tigers by eight on their own floor back on Jan. 28. In the championship game of Saturday's Lafayette Jeff 4A Semistate, the Giants finished Warsaw's season with a 51-38 outcome.
The 13-point loss ends Warsaw's season at 20-5. The Tigers defeated No. 4 Merrillville 50-42 in the morning semifinal game. Marion, which defeated Penn 72-55 in the semifinal round, improved to 27-1 and will play top-ranked Bloomington North (25-0) Saturday for the state championship. Bloomington North defeated No. 3 Jeffersonville 61-59 in the championship game of the Indianapolis Semistate.
Warsaw and Marion went back and forth early, with Marion leading 5-4 at the 6:14 mark of the first quarter, but by the end of the first quarter the Giants stretched their lead to six, 14-8.
Six-foot-9 senior center Zach Randolph dominated the Tigers down low in the first half, scoring 16 points and pulling down eight rebounds.
Randolph finished the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Added to his totals from the semifinal game with Penn, Randolph, a Michigan State recruit, finished the day with 41 points and 32 rebounds.
"The final analysis when we watch the tape will be that we didn't execute offensively," said Warsaw coach Al Rhodes, who now owns a 66-19 post season record in 20 years at Warsaw.
"It was a combination of shot selection and not being able to contain Randolph that put us behind," Rhodes said. "He's a load underneath. He's a tremendous basketball player, and he'll play in the NBA someday. It's not a shame not being able to contain him."
The Giants also got 17 points from West Point recruit Reggie Nevels. Chin added four, while Allen Miller and Matt Backs chipped in with four and three points, respectively. Marion got all of its scoring from its starters.
Warsaw was led in the scoring column by senior guard Jason Henthorn's 11 points. Senior post men Zach Nelson and Steve Siebenmorgen added nine and seven points, respectively. Both spent much of the first half in foul trouble.
After scoring nine in the first quarter, Randolph scored the first seven points of the second stanza to jump Marion's advantage to 13, 21-8.
After trailing 25-16 at the half, Warsaw made its move in the third quarter. A rebound and bucket by Nelson brought the Tigers within six, 26-20, at the 6:35 mark. Two consecutive three-pointers by Henthorn cut the deficit to two, 28-26, with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter.
Marion went into the final frame clinging to a 34-28 lead.
With 6:17 remaining in the game, a basket by Siebenmorgen made the score 37-30. With Randolph's fourth foul, Siebenmorgen completed the three-point play and Warsaw was down six.
The Tigers got as close as five two more times - on a Henthorn trey with 3:27 remaining and a Nelson field goal with 2:44 remaining - but the Giants outscored them 10-2 over the last two and a half minutes.
"We weren't intimidated," said Rhodes. "We didn't quit once they got that last lead."
Marion outrebounded the Tigers 30-28. Nelson and Siebenmorgen combined for 12 of Warsaw's rebounds.
"We just weren't able to get any offensive rebounds, especially in the first half," said Rhodes. "We had shots in a hurry with teammates in poor rebounding position."
The Giants outscored Warsaw 17-10 in the final quarter, including the last two on a steal and dunk by Randolph, accounting for the 13-point win.
Warsaw graduates eight seniors from this year's team, a team that was ranked fifth in the preseason by Hoosier Basketball Magazine.
"I was getting tired of people asking me what's wrong with my team, why we're not beating teams by 40," said Rhodes. "We won the holiday tournament, the sectional, the regional and were in the final four in Indiana (class 4A). That's one heck of a season."
Rhodes' son Chris, who played a little over a minute in the semifinal game and didn't play against Marion, is one of those eight seniors.
Rhodes has been mulling his future at Warsaw and said at the beginning of the year he would decide at the end of the season whether or not he would return to coach the Tigers next year.
Asked Saturday after Warsaw's semistate loss to Marion if he planned to return next season, Rhodes sternly said, "No comment."
MARION 51
WARSAW 38
Warsaw (20-5) 8 8 12 10 - 38
Marion (27-1) 14 11 9 17 - 51
Warsaw FG FT R A S Pts.
*B. Seiss 0-2 0-0 3 1 1 0
*Wiggins 2-7 0-0 1 1 1 5
*Kesler 2-6 2-2 3 1 0 6
*Siebnmrgn 2-6 3-3 4 0 0 7
*Nelson 4-10 0-0 8 0 0 9
Martin 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0
Buck 0-4 0-0 1 1 1 0
Henthorn 4-9 0-0 1 0 0 11
Finnegan 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
G. Seiss 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 14-46 5-5 28 4 3 38
Marion FG FT R A S Pts.
*Chin 1-6 4-4 1 0 4 7
*Nevels 5-8 6-7 2 1 1 17
*Miller 2-5 0-0 6 2 0 5
*Backs 1-4 1-2 1 0 0 3
*Randolph 7-10 5-10 11 1 0 19
McClung 0-3 1-2 1 1 0 1
Totals 16-36 17-25 30 5 5 51
Three-point goals - Warsaw 5 (Henthorn 3, Wiggins 1, Nelson 1), Marion 2 (Chin 1, Nevels 1). Turnovers - Warsaw 7, Marion 9. Fouls - Warsaw 10, Marion 18. Fouled out - Wiggins. [[In-content Ad]]
LAFAYETTE - It only happened two times in the 1990s, but it happened this year and it cost Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team a trip to Saturday's state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse.
This being Warsaw losing to the same team more than once in the same season. In the 1992-93 season, South Bend St. Joe topped the Tigers three times, the third coming in the semistate championship. In 1996-97 Plymouth clipped Warsaw twice, the latter coming in the regional semifinal game. And this year it was Marion's turn.
Second-ranked Marion beat the Tigers by eight on their own floor back on Jan. 28. In the championship game of Saturday's Lafayette Jeff 4A Semistate, the Giants finished Warsaw's season with a 51-38 outcome.
The 13-point loss ends Warsaw's season at 20-5. The Tigers defeated No. 4 Merrillville 50-42 in the morning semifinal game. Marion, which defeated Penn 72-55 in the semifinal round, improved to 27-1 and will play top-ranked Bloomington North (25-0) Saturday for the state championship. Bloomington North defeated No. 3 Jeffersonville 61-59 in the championship game of the Indianapolis Semistate.
Warsaw and Marion went back and forth early, with Marion leading 5-4 at the 6:14 mark of the first quarter, but by the end of the first quarter the Giants stretched their lead to six, 14-8.
Six-foot-9 senior center Zach Randolph dominated the Tigers down low in the first half, scoring 16 points and pulling down eight rebounds.
Randolph finished the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Added to his totals from the semifinal game with Penn, Randolph, a Michigan State recruit, finished the day with 41 points and 32 rebounds.
"The final analysis when we watch the tape will be that we didn't execute offensively," said Warsaw coach Al Rhodes, who now owns a 66-19 post season record in 20 years at Warsaw.
"It was a combination of shot selection and not being able to contain Randolph that put us behind," Rhodes said. "He's a load underneath. He's a tremendous basketball player, and he'll play in the NBA someday. It's not a shame not being able to contain him."
The Giants also got 17 points from West Point recruit Reggie Nevels. Chin added four, while Allen Miller and Matt Backs chipped in with four and three points, respectively. Marion got all of its scoring from its starters.
Warsaw was led in the scoring column by senior guard Jason Henthorn's 11 points. Senior post men Zach Nelson and Steve Siebenmorgen added nine and seven points, respectively. Both spent much of the first half in foul trouble.
After scoring nine in the first quarter, Randolph scored the first seven points of the second stanza to jump Marion's advantage to 13, 21-8.
After trailing 25-16 at the half, Warsaw made its move in the third quarter. A rebound and bucket by Nelson brought the Tigers within six, 26-20, at the 6:35 mark. Two consecutive three-pointers by Henthorn cut the deficit to two, 28-26, with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter.
Marion went into the final frame clinging to a 34-28 lead.
With 6:17 remaining in the game, a basket by Siebenmorgen made the score 37-30. With Randolph's fourth foul, Siebenmorgen completed the three-point play and Warsaw was down six.
The Tigers got as close as five two more times - on a Henthorn trey with 3:27 remaining and a Nelson field goal with 2:44 remaining - but the Giants outscored them 10-2 over the last two and a half minutes.
"We weren't intimidated," said Rhodes. "We didn't quit once they got that last lead."
Marion outrebounded the Tigers 30-28. Nelson and Siebenmorgen combined for 12 of Warsaw's rebounds.
"We just weren't able to get any offensive rebounds, especially in the first half," said Rhodes. "We had shots in a hurry with teammates in poor rebounding position."
The Giants outscored Warsaw 17-10 in the final quarter, including the last two on a steal and dunk by Randolph, accounting for the 13-point win.
Warsaw graduates eight seniors from this year's team, a team that was ranked fifth in the preseason by Hoosier Basketball Magazine.
"I was getting tired of people asking me what's wrong with my team, why we're not beating teams by 40," said Rhodes. "We won the holiday tournament, the sectional, the regional and were in the final four in Indiana (class 4A). That's one heck of a season."
Rhodes' son Chris, who played a little over a minute in the semifinal game and didn't play against Marion, is one of those eight seniors.
Rhodes has been mulling his future at Warsaw and said at the beginning of the year he would decide at the end of the season whether or not he would return to coach the Tigers next year.
Asked Saturday after Warsaw's semistate loss to Marion if he planned to return next season, Rhodes sternly said, "No comment."
MARION 51
WARSAW 38
Warsaw (20-5) 8 8 12 10 - 38
Marion (27-1) 14 11 9 17 - 51
Warsaw FG FT R A S Pts.
*B. Seiss 0-2 0-0 3 1 1 0
*Wiggins 2-7 0-0 1 1 1 5
*Kesler 2-6 2-2 3 1 0 6
*Siebnmrgn 2-6 3-3 4 0 0 7
*Nelson 4-10 0-0 8 0 0 9
Martin 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0
Buck 0-4 0-0 1 1 1 0
Henthorn 4-9 0-0 1 0 0 11
Finnegan 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
G. Seiss 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 14-46 5-5 28 4 3 38
Marion FG FT R A S Pts.
*Chin 1-6 4-4 1 0 4 7
*Nevels 5-8 6-7 2 1 1 17
*Miller 2-5 0-0 6 2 0 5
*Backs 1-4 1-2 1 0 0 3
*Randolph 7-10 5-10 11 1 0 19
McClung 0-3 1-2 1 1 0 1
Totals 16-36 17-25 30 5 5 51
Three-point goals - Warsaw 5 (Henthorn 3, Wiggins 1, Nelson 1), Marion 2 (Chin 1, Nevels 1). Turnovers - Warsaw 7, Marion 9. Fouls - Warsaw 10, Marion 18. Fouled out - Wiggins. [[In-content Ad]]