Tigers Down But Not Out Vs. Eagles
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
COLUMBIA CITY - Sometimes X's and O's in a basketball aren't as important as hearts and guts. There comes a time when determination overrules adjustments.
Warsaw reached that point against Columbia City Saturday. Trailing the host Eagles by 15 points in the second quarter, the Tigers reached down and pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and eventually garnered a 73-65 overtime win to move to 2-0 on the season.
"I feel good about the heart and character we demonstrated," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "It came down to gut-check time for our seniors, and they came through with flying colors."
Led by six points from sophomore Steve Siebenmorgen and four from senior Andy Plank, the Tigers outscored Columbia City 14-6 in the extra session for the win against a Columbia City team that had demolished a good Whitko squad 70-45 in its season opener.
When Columbia City got the first six points of the second quarter, Warsaw trailed 24-9 and had been outscored 20-0 by the Eagles. And things looked more than bleak for the Tigers. They had not scored in over 10 minutes (since the 5:00 mark of the first quarter), and the Eagles' Dave Richmond was torching the Warsaw defense for 10 relatively easy points.
"In the first half, the roof had fallen in," Rhodes said. "We started quick (a 9-4 lead), and then Richmond went off. We just couldn't contain him."
But it all began to change for the Tigers when Richmond picked up his second foul early in the second and went to the bench for the remainder of the half. Chris Wiggins' three-pointer broke the drought for Warsaw at the 5:10 mark of the second and sent Warsaw on a 10-5 run to cut the lead to 29-22. It was 30-22 at halftime.
Richmond got back on the court in the third quarter and again overmatched the Warsaw defense with his quick 10-15 jumpers and backdoor layups. But despite his eight third-quarter points, it was different for Warsaw.
The Tigers began to get the ball inside to its big men and simply began to wear the City defense down. It also helped that Richmond picked up his third and fourth fouls in the third quarter and went back to the bench.
"They had to hold Richmond in the first half with two fouls, and he was so hot then it probably did help us (when he went out)," Rhodes said.
Warsaw started to trim the Eagle lead and cut it to 39-38 on a layup by Zach Nelson. Columbia City pushed the margin back to 43-38 on two layups from Richmond, Warsaw responded and outscored the Eagles 8-2 to end the quarter and take its first lead since the first quarter 46-45 entering the fourth.
The fourth went about as back and forth as you could get with neither team getting more than a three-point lead and remarkably, the only time the game was tied in the fourth was at the end of regulation at 59.
"We really hustled in our halfcourt zone defenses," Rhodes said. "We got enough deflections and steals to make it back close. That changed the face of the game. They were just destroying our man-for-man defense.
"I hope we saw some growing up by our guards and our postmen in the course of that 36 minutes," he said. "In the second half, we finished plays underneath."
Not only did Warsaw get it done in the second half and overtime session on its defense, but it flexed its inside muscle as well. After combining for five points in the first half, the Tigers' post guys, Siebenmorgen, Luke Reed, Nelson and Chris Hill, combined for 31 points in the final 20 minutes.
"In the second half, Warsaw did a good job of gaining huge post position on us," Columbia City coach Chris Benedict said. "As the game wore on, that is what hurt us a little bit."
Richmond led all scorers with 25 points on 12 of 16 shooting and probably scored a point for each minute he was in the game. But for the Eagles, that wasn't often enough.
"Our two big guys (Richmond and Jason Elkins) were sitting on the bench, I think that had a little bit to do with it," Benedict said of Warsaw's comeback. "We were in a situation there we felt we had some good guards who could take care of the ball and milk the lead a little bit and take some time off the clock with those two kids sitting on the bench."
Elkins added 14 points for the Eagles, but fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Wiggins led Warsaw with 17 points, but Plank came up big with 12 of his 15 points in the second half and overtime. Reed added 12, and Siebenmorgen got 10.
"Down the stretch, we went very much to Andy Plank on some plays we used to run for (Kevin) Ault," Rhodes said. "I thought Andy was tremendous offensively, bucket after bucket when we needed it."
Warsaw hosts Goshen on Friday for its next game. [[In-content Ad]]
COLUMBIA CITY - Sometimes X's and O's in a basketball aren't as important as hearts and guts. There comes a time when determination overrules adjustments.
Warsaw reached that point against Columbia City Saturday. Trailing the host Eagles by 15 points in the second quarter, the Tigers reached down and pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and eventually garnered a 73-65 overtime win to move to 2-0 on the season.
"I feel good about the heart and character we demonstrated," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "It came down to gut-check time for our seniors, and they came through with flying colors."
Led by six points from sophomore Steve Siebenmorgen and four from senior Andy Plank, the Tigers outscored Columbia City 14-6 in the extra session for the win against a Columbia City team that had demolished a good Whitko squad 70-45 in its season opener.
When Columbia City got the first six points of the second quarter, Warsaw trailed 24-9 and had been outscored 20-0 by the Eagles. And things looked more than bleak for the Tigers. They had not scored in over 10 minutes (since the 5:00 mark of the first quarter), and the Eagles' Dave Richmond was torching the Warsaw defense for 10 relatively easy points.
"In the first half, the roof had fallen in," Rhodes said. "We started quick (a 9-4 lead), and then Richmond went off. We just couldn't contain him."
But it all began to change for the Tigers when Richmond picked up his second foul early in the second and went to the bench for the remainder of the half. Chris Wiggins' three-pointer broke the drought for Warsaw at the 5:10 mark of the second and sent Warsaw on a 10-5 run to cut the lead to 29-22. It was 30-22 at halftime.
Richmond got back on the court in the third quarter and again overmatched the Warsaw defense with his quick 10-15 jumpers and backdoor layups. But despite his eight third-quarter points, it was different for Warsaw.
The Tigers began to get the ball inside to its big men and simply began to wear the City defense down. It also helped that Richmond picked up his third and fourth fouls in the third quarter and went back to the bench.
"They had to hold Richmond in the first half with two fouls, and he was so hot then it probably did help us (when he went out)," Rhodes said.
Warsaw started to trim the Eagle lead and cut it to 39-38 on a layup by Zach Nelson. Columbia City pushed the margin back to 43-38 on two layups from Richmond, Warsaw responded and outscored the Eagles 8-2 to end the quarter and take its first lead since the first quarter 46-45 entering the fourth.
The fourth went about as back and forth as you could get with neither team getting more than a three-point lead and remarkably, the only time the game was tied in the fourth was at the end of regulation at 59.
"We really hustled in our halfcourt zone defenses," Rhodes said. "We got enough deflections and steals to make it back close. That changed the face of the game. They were just destroying our man-for-man defense.
"I hope we saw some growing up by our guards and our postmen in the course of that 36 minutes," he said. "In the second half, we finished plays underneath."
Not only did Warsaw get it done in the second half and overtime session on its defense, but it flexed its inside muscle as well. After combining for five points in the first half, the Tigers' post guys, Siebenmorgen, Luke Reed, Nelson and Chris Hill, combined for 31 points in the final 20 minutes.
"In the second half, Warsaw did a good job of gaining huge post position on us," Columbia City coach Chris Benedict said. "As the game wore on, that is what hurt us a little bit."
Richmond led all scorers with 25 points on 12 of 16 shooting and probably scored a point for each minute he was in the game. But for the Eagles, that wasn't often enough.
"Our two big guys (Richmond and Jason Elkins) were sitting on the bench, I think that had a little bit to do with it," Benedict said of Warsaw's comeback. "We were in a situation there we felt we had some good guards who could take care of the ball and milk the lead a little bit and take some time off the clock with those two kids sitting on the bench."
Elkins added 14 points for the Eagles, but fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Wiggins led Warsaw with 17 points, but Plank came up big with 12 of his 15 points in the second half and overtime. Reed added 12, and Siebenmorgen got 10.
"Down the stretch, we went very much to Andy Plank on some plays we used to run for (Kevin) Ault," Rhodes said. "I thought Andy was tremendous offensively, bucket after bucket when we needed it."
Warsaw hosts Goshen on Friday for its next game. [[In-content Ad]]