Tigers Conquered By Concord
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
In the end, Concord's varsity boys basketball team had a little more.
Playing in the Tiger Den for the first time in an opposing team's uniform, 5-foot-8 Minutemen senior Michael Moore hit three clutch free throws in the final 27 seconds Friday, helping class 4A No. 10 Concord to a 51-43 win over host Warsaw.
Moore grew up in Warsaw and was the Tigers' pint-sized point guard the past two varsity seasons before transferring over the summer and becoming Concord's court general.
He finished the game with eight points and was just 2 of 9 from the field, 0 of 5 from the three-point line, but when the game was on the line late he cashed in from the charity stripe.
"This was big for Michael," sixth-year Concord coach Ryan Culp said of his new all-conference point guard. "Those were huge free throws for any player to hit. Free throws like that are important to make."
A free throw by Moore pushed Concord's advantage to 47-43 with 27.5 seconds remaining, and then two more charity tosses into the eye of Warsaw's cheerblock made it 49-43 with 24.6 ticks on game clock and seemed like a dagger in the heart of the Tigers.
Concord senior Shawntes Gary scored the game's final two points with three seconds left, finishing off Warsaw with a rim-rocking dunk that sent the Minutemen cheering section into a frenzy.
After thrashing Warsaw 67-51 last year at McCuen Gymnasium in Dunlap to halt a 15-year losing streak to the Tigers, Concord halted yet another losing streak to the once Northern Lakes Conference power.
Friday's eight-point victory was the first for the Minutemen in Warsaw since the 1986-87 season when Shawn Kemp was a junior for former Concord coach Jim Hahn.
"I'm very excited for the program," said Culp, whose Minutemen improved to 12-1 overall and 4-0 in the NLC with their sixth straight win. "I thought we put forth a great effort. It's been a long time since Concord has won in Warsaw. This is huge for us. To get a win in the Tiger Den after the deficit we were in early showed the character and determination of these players."
Warsaw, which fell to 7-5 overall and 1-3 in NLC play, started the game red-hot from the field and held a 19-7 advantage with 6:52 remaining in the first half when senior Andrew Holladay converted a field goal.
That lead diminished quickly as Shawntes Gary, sophomore Dairese Gary and senior Terrence Marion found their shooting touches.
After putting up just seven points in the first quarter, Concord scored 23 in the second stanza and led 30-29 at the break as Shawntes Gary's three-pointer tickled the twine just before the buzzer sounded.
Shawntes Gary, who will play Division I basketball next year for Western Michigan University, scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the second quarter, while Marion hit two NBA-range treys and scored eight points in the frame.
"I like the way we started the game, but we had too many turnovers in the second quarter and we didn't finish enough plays in the second half," said third-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, who in 15 years as the Tigers' junior varsity coach posted a 270-30 record but has found it tougher at the varsity level where he is 35-20 after replacing Al Rhodes. "The second quarter really hurt us. We had too many situations where we rushed things."
While Warsaw held Concord 15 points below it's season average, the Tigers' offense couldn't muster enough firepower in the second half when it came down to crunch time, scoring just 14 points in the second half, seven in the third and seven in the fourth.
Concord, on the other hand, scored 15 in the fourth quarter, a quarter in which the host Tigers were scoreless until junior frontliner Colin Clemens hit a free throw with 3:29 remaining in the game to cut the lead to 43-37.
"Our defensive game plan wasn't that bad," said Ogle. "Our offense hurt us more than anything. We had to play a long time without Michael Wienhorst. We've really had some tough luck with injuries."
Wienhorst, who played alongside Moore while winning two city championships at Madison Elementary before playing together at Edgewood Middle School and eventually at WCHS for Ogle where they were NLC champions a year ago, left the game with a knee injury with 2:03 left in the third quarter.
In a bizarre turn of events, Wienhorst was helped off the floor and into the trainer's room. He then came back to the bench on crutches with an icepack on his knee but later returned to the game, eventually fouling out with 24.6 remaining to put Moore at the charity stripe.
After the game Ogle said Wienhorst might have a slight stretch to his MCL and that it was "not as bad as it looked."
Holladay, however, suffered a concussion after hitting the floor headfirst in the waning seconds of the contest. After falling backwards and making hard contact with the Tiger Den floor, the 6-2 senior remained flat on his back and motionless for a long period of time while fans exited the arena.
Wienhorst finished the game with seven points, while Holladay had six.
Leading the way for the Tigers, emotionally and in the scoring column, was junior Shaun Cabrera, who finished the evening with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Cabrera tied the game at 36 with a fadeaway three-pointer as time expired in the third quarter, and then brought the Tigers within three, 46-43, when he swished a trey with 37 seconds remaining.
"What a courageous effort tonight by Shaun Cabrera," said Ogle. "He hurt his back in the Goshen game (last Friday) and it was hurting tonight. He did everything he could do."
Unfortunately for he and the Tigers though, it wasn't quite enough.
Clemens had eight points and eight rebounds for Warsaw, while Mitch Reinholt and point guard John-Wesley Maierle had two points each.
The Tigers are in action again Friday when they host NorthWood.
CONCORD 51, WARSAW 43
Concord 7 23 6 15 - 51
Warsaw 15 14 7 7 - 43
Concord FG FT R S Pts.
* Tepe 0-4 0-0 0 1 0
* Moore 2-9 4-6 0 2 8
* D. Gary 3-9 2-2 2 2 9
* S. Gary 8-16 3-4 8 1 20
* Gaff 1-2 1-1 10 3 3
Conrad 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Marion 4-9 0-0 3 2 11
Eggeman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 4 0 0
Totals 18-49 10-13 28 11 51
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Cabrera 6-8 3-4 9 2 19
* Holladay 2-5 1-2 2 0 6
* Maierle 0-4 2-2 2 0 2
* Wienhorst 3-11 0-0 3 1 7
* Clemens 3-8 1-4 8 3 8
Conley 0-1 0-0 2 1 0
Reinholt 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Team 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Totals 15-39 7-12 30 7 43
Three-point goals - Concord 5-20 (Marion 3-7, D. Gary 1-4, S. Gary 1-4, Moore 0-5), Warsaw 6-16 (Cabrera 3-5, Wienhorst 1-5, Clemens 1-3, Holladay 1-2, Conley 0-1). Turnovers - Concord 11, Warsaw 19. Fouls - Concord 17, Warsaw 17. Fouled out - Maierle, Wienhorst.
JV - Concord 43, Warsaw 26
Warsaw scoring - Chas Simpson 10, Steve Lemasters 7, Tommy Reinholt 6, Ben Truman 2, Scott Harman 1 [[In-content Ad]]
In the end, Concord's varsity boys basketball team had a little more.
Playing in the Tiger Den for the first time in an opposing team's uniform, 5-foot-8 Minutemen senior Michael Moore hit three clutch free throws in the final 27 seconds Friday, helping class 4A No. 10 Concord to a 51-43 win over host Warsaw.
Moore grew up in Warsaw and was the Tigers' pint-sized point guard the past two varsity seasons before transferring over the summer and becoming Concord's court general.
He finished the game with eight points and was just 2 of 9 from the field, 0 of 5 from the three-point line, but when the game was on the line late he cashed in from the charity stripe.
"This was big for Michael," sixth-year Concord coach Ryan Culp said of his new all-conference point guard. "Those were huge free throws for any player to hit. Free throws like that are important to make."
A free throw by Moore pushed Concord's advantage to 47-43 with 27.5 seconds remaining, and then two more charity tosses into the eye of Warsaw's cheerblock made it 49-43 with 24.6 ticks on game clock and seemed like a dagger in the heart of the Tigers.
Concord senior Shawntes Gary scored the game's final two points with three seconds left, finishing off Warsaw with a rim-rocking dunk that sent the Minutemen cheering section into a frenzy.
After thrashing Warsaw 67-51 last year at McCuen Gymnasium in Dunlap to halt a 15-year losing streak to the Tigers, Concord halted yet another losing streak to the once Northern Lakes Conference power.
Friday's eight-point victory was the first for the Minutemen in Warsaw since the 1986-87 season when Shawn Kemp was a junior for former Concord coach Jim Hahn.
"I'm very excited for the program," said Culp, whose Minutemen improved to 12-1 overall and 4-0 in the NLC with their sixth straight win. "I thought we put forth a great effort. It's been a long time since Concord has won in Warsaw. This is huge for us. To get a win in the Tiger Den after the deficit we were in early showed the character and determination of these players."
Warsaw, which fell to 7-5 overall and 1-3 in NLC play, started the game red-hot from the field and held a 19-7 advantage with 6:52 remaining in the first half when senior Andrew Holladay converted a field goal.
That lead diminished quickly as Shawntes Gary, sophomore Dairese Gary and senior Terrence Marion found their shooting touches.
After putting up just seven points in the first quarter, Concord scored 23 in the second stanza and led 30-29 at the break as Shawntes Gary's three-pointer tickled the twine just before the buzzer sounded.
Shawntes Gary, who will play Division I basketball next year for Western Michigan University, scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the second quarter, while Marion hit two NBA-range treys and scored eight points in the frame.
"I like the way we started the game, but we had too many turnovers in the second quarter and we didn't finish enough plays in the second half," said third-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, who in 15 years as the Tigers' junior varsity coach posted a 270-30 record but has found it tougher at the varsity level where he is 35-20 after replacing Al Rhodes. "The second quarter really hurt us. We had too many situations where we rushed things."
While Warsaw held Concord 15 points below it's season average, the Tigers' offense couldn't muster enough firepower in the second half when it came down to crunch time, scoring just 14 points in the second half, seven in the third and seven in the fourth.
Concord, on the other hand, scored 15 in the fourth quarter, a quarter in which the host Tigers were scoreless until junior frontliner Colin Clemens hit a free throw with 3:29 remaining in the game to cut the lead to 43-37.
"Our defensive game plan wasn't that bad," said Ogle. "Our offense hurt us more than anything. We had to play a long time without Michael Wienhorst. We've really had some tough luck with injuries."
Wienhorst, who played alongside Moore while winning two city championships at Madison Elementary before playing together at Edgewood Middle School and eventually at WCHS for Ogle where they were NLC champions a year ago, left the game with a knee injury with 2:03 left in the third quarter.
In a bizarre turn of events, Wienhorst was helped off the floor and into the trainer's room. He then came back to the bench on crutches with an icepack on his knee but later returned to the game, eventually fouling out with 24.6 remaining to put Moore at the charity stripe.
After the game Ogle said Wienhorst might have a slight stretch to his MCL and that it was "not as bad as it looked."
Holladay, however, suffered a concussion after hitting the floor headfirst in the waning seconds of the contest. After falling backwards and making hard contact with the Tiger Den floor, the 6-2 senior remained flat on his back and motionless for a long period of time while fans exited the arena.
Wienhorst finished the game with seven points, while Holladay had six.
Leading the way for the Tigers, emotionally and in the scoring column, was junior Shaun Cabrera, who finished the evening with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Cabrera tied the game at 36 with a fadeaway three-pointer as time expired in the third quarter, and then brought the Tigers within three, 46-43, when he swished a trey with 37 seconds remaining.
"What a courageous effort tonight by Shaun Cabrera," said Ogle. "He hurt his back in the Goshen game (last Friday) and it was hurting tonight. He did everything he could do."
Unfortunately for he and the Tigers though, it wasn't quite enough.
Clemens had eight points and eight rebounds for Warsaw, while Mitch Reinholt and point guard John-Wesley Maierle had two points each.
The Tigers are in action again Friday when they host NorthWood.
CONCORD 51, WARSAW 43
Concord 7 23 6 15 - 51
Warsaw 15 14 7 7 - 43
Concord FG FT R S Pts.
* Tepe 0-4 0-0 0 1 0
* Moore 2-9 4-6 0 2 8
* D. Gary 3-9 2-2 2 2 9
* S. Gary 8-16 3-4 8 1 20
* Gaff 1-2 1-1 10 3 3
Conrad 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Marion 4-9 0-0 3 2 11
Eggeman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 4 0 0
Totals 18-49 10-13 28 11 51
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Cabrera 6-8 3-4 9 2 19
* Holladay 2-5 1-2 2 0 6
* Maierle 0-4 2-2 2 0 2
* Wienhorst 3-11 0-0 3 1 7
* Clemens 3-8 1-4 8 3 8
Conley 0-1 0-0 2 1 0
Reinholt 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Team 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Totals 15-39 7-12 30 7 43
Three-point goals - Concord 5-20 (Marion 3-7, D. Gary 1-4, S. Gary 1-4, Moore 0-5), Warsaw 6-16 (Cabrera 3-5, Wienhorst 1-5, Clemens 1-3, Holladay 1-2, Conley 0-1). Turnovers - Concord 11, Warsaw 19. Fouls - Concord 17, Warsaw 17. Fouled out - Maierle, Wienhorst.
JV - Concord 43, Warsaw 26
Warsaw scoring - Chas Simpson 10, Steve Lemasters 7, Tommy Reinholt 6, Ben Truman 2, Scott Harman 1 [[In-content Ad]]