Tigers Make It 6 For 6
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
At 6-foot-6, Steve Siebenmorgen is a bruiser.
But it is Siebenmorgen who has been bumped, bruised and battered on the basketball court this season.
His head has bounced off the floor, sidelining him with a concussion for a week. Just last night, a Tiger suffered a bloody nose. It was Siebenmorgen. A Tiger received an elbow to the head, making him drop to the floor while the other nine players ran up the floor. Of course, it was Siebenmorgen.
After the game, you could still see the dark blotch under his eye from his concussion and traces of his bloody nose.
"Every once in a while," Siebenmorgen said, "You get those bumps and bruises."
But Siebenmorgen, like his teammates, keeps coming back. Questions arose early about what was wrong with Warsaw, but with Wednesday's 78-64 win over Withrow (Cincinnati) in the Warsaw Holiday Tournament championship game, the questions are beginning to disappear.
"We were playing below our potential, but we did not have all of our players," Siebenmorgen said. "Now that we have everybody back, we're starting to make a strong push."
The Warsaw Holiday Tournament ran for six years, and Warsaw won the championship all six years. Now the Tigers' tournament is being replaced with the Northern Lakes Conference Tournament.
Siebenmorgen's 27-point, eight-rebound performance against Withrow helped him earn tournament MVP honors. Chris Wiggins added 22 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Ross Kesler scored 10, Zach Nelson eight and Brad Seiss seven. Warsaw, ranked No. 9 in Class 4A, improved to 7-2. Withrow, led by Chris Washington's 27 points, dropped to 5-2.
"This is why I came back from my concussion (Sunday)," Siebenmorgen said. "I wanted to help my team win the championship."
Penn (5-2) beat Lake Central (2-5) 53-32 in the consolation game.
Warsaw vs. Withrow featured structure vs. free-for-all, substance vs. flair, strength vs. quickness. Warsaw won with the structure, substance and strength. Warsaw set up half-court offenses and picked the Withrow traps apart; Withrow ran an open, free-wheeling offense. Nelson and Siebenmorgen, each 6'6', overpowered 6'8' Pierre Darden and 6'6' Will Jeffries inside.
Entering the championship, Warsaw coach Al Rhodes was concerned with three phases of the game: dribble penetration, rebounding and traps.
The Tigers made it tough for the Withrow guards to dribble penetrate and forced them to earn their offense with perimeter jumpshots. The Tigers did the job rebounding. Darden and Jeffries came in averaging a combined 17 rebounds; they combined for eight against Warsaw.
"We were overmatched sizewise, but not strengthwise," Rhodes said. "Steve and Zach both did a good job of blocking out and keeping their post men nearly nonexistent in terms of offensive rebounding."
Then there were the traps, arguably one of the biggest reasons Warsaw beat Withrow.
The Tigers carved up the Withrow traps in the first half by continually finding the open man underneath the basket for easy shots. Warsaw hit 15 field goals in the first half; 14 came in the paint under the basket.
"You have to start with Brad Seiss and the job he did taking the ball out of bounds," Rhodes said. "We were trying to throw it deep to midcourt as much as we could. Once we were successful in completing that pass, we did a tremendous job of attacking the basket in behind. We even missed six or seven layups."
And Warsaw's offense refused to help Withrow, which thrived in its 59-50 win against Penn by converting steals into turnovers. Warsaw turned the ball over zero times in the first quarter and three times in the first half.
Add it up, and what Warsaw had was a 37-22 halftime lead.
"Our kids got a little shell-shocked out there," Withrow coach George Jackson said. "They are the best passing team we have played this year. We knew it would be difficult to get them to turn the ball over. We were hoping for more."
Warsaw only added to its lead through most of the third quarter, before running into a few glitches. The Tigers built a 24-point lead, but they began doing the very thing they had avoided, turning the ball over. A 53-29 Warsaw lead with 1:28 to go in the third quarter dwindled to a 56-41 lead by the start of the fourth.
Withrow, making its final deseperation run, sliced the lead to 61-52 with 5:12 left, the closest it would get. Warsaw maintained control by making 16 of 22 free throws in the final quarter.
Withrow unquestionably was the quicker team, but Warsaw negated that quickness. Asked the main reason the Tigers were able to do this, Rhodes said, "By trying to throw it long. We wanted a fast attack on the basket before the other players down at the other end could recover and get back in it."
WARSAW HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP - Steve Siebenmorgen, Warsaw
Chris Wiggins, Warsaw
Brad Seiss, Warsaw
Ross Kesler, Warsaw
Chris Washington, Withrow
Andrew White, Penn
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
No. 9 (4A) WARSAW 78
WITHROW 64
Withrow (5-2) 8 14 19 23 - 64
Warsaw (7-2) 15 22 19 22 - 78
Warsaw FG FT A S R Pts.
Siebenmorgen (F) 8-18 11-16 1 1 8 27
Wiggins (G) 7-13 6-6 2 4 7 22
Kesler (G) 3-5 4-6 3 0 4 10
Nelson (C) 3-10 2-2 3 2 5 8
B. Seiss (G) 2-3 3-6 3 0 9 7
Buck 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 2
Martin 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 2
Finnegan 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
G. Seiss 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Henthorn 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Rhodes 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Walmer 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0
Totals 23-52 30-42 13 7 35 78
Withrow FG FT A S R Pts.
Washington (G) 9-28 5-6 1 0 1 27
Love (G) 6-14 2-2 2 0 4 19
Jeffries (F) 1-3 2-2 1 0 4 4
Garth (F) 1-2 0-0 1 0 7 2
Darden (C) 0-1 0-1 0 1 4 0
Johnson 3-8 1-5 2 1 8 7
Pilgrim 1-2 2-3 0 1 4 4
Crawford 0-1 1-2 0 0 1 1
Orr 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0
Totals 21-59 13-21 8 4 35 64
Three-point goals -ÊWarsaw 2-3 (Wiggins 2-3), Withrow 9-18 (Love 5-9, Washington 4-8, Crawford 0-1). Turnovers - Warsaw 10, Withrow 15. Fouled out -ÊJeffries. Total fouls -ÊWarsaw 16, Withrow 29.
CONSOLATION GAME
PENN 53, LAKE CENTRAL 32
Penn (5-2) 17 9 10 17 - 53
Lake Central (2-5) 4 6 11 11 - 32
Penn -ÊHusband 0-6 2-2 2, White 6-14 0-0 17, Hanig 1-2 0-0 2, Modlin 4-7 0-0 12, Laird 7-10 1-2 16, Hill 0-4 0-2 0, Kane 2-6 0-0 4, Flanagan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals -Ê20-50 3-6 53.
Lake Central - Richie 4-14 0-0 9, Dowling 1-6 0-0 2, Peterson 1-1 2-2 4, Duncan 3-5 0-0 6, Urban 0-1 0-0 0, Tornincasa 1-3 0-0 2, Huebner 2-3 0-0 4, Woods 2-4 1-2 5, Ogden 0-0 0-0 0, Biella 0-0 0-0 0. Totals -Ê14-37 3-4 32.
Three-point goals -ÊPenn 10-20 (White 5-8, Modlin 4-7, Laird 1-2, Hill 0-2, Husband 0-1), Lake Central 1-7 (Richie 1-5, Woods 0-2). Rebounds -ÊPenn 27 (Hanig 7, White 6, Laird 6), Lake Central 21 (Peterson 6, Woods 5). Assists - Penn 12 (Husband 3, White 3), Lake Central 6 (six players with one each). Steals -ÊPenn 11 (Laird 3), Lake Central 5 (Urban 2). Turnovers -ÊPenn 12, Lake Central 18. Total fouls -ÊPenn 9, Lake Central 10. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]
At 6-foot-6, Steve Siebenmorgen is a bruiser.
But it is Siebenmorgen who has been bumped, bruised and battered on the basketball court this season.
His head has bounced off the floor, sidelining him with a concussion for a week. Just last night, a Tiger suffered a bloody nose. It was Siebenmorgen. A Tiger received an elbow to the head, making him drop to the floor while the other nine players ran up the floor. Of course, it was Siebenmorgen.
After the game, you could still see the dark blotch under his eye from his concussion and traces of his bloody nose.
"Every once in a while," Siebenmorgen said, "You get those bumps and bruises."
But Siebenmorgen, like his teammates, keeps coming back. Questions arose early about what was wrong with Warsaw, but with Wednesday's 78-64 win over Withrow (Cincinnati) in the Warsaw Holiday Tournament championship game, the questions are beginning to disappear.
"We were playing below our potential, but we did not have all of our players," Siebenmorgen said. "Now that we have everybody back, we're starting to make a strong push."
The Warsaw Holiday Tournament ran for six years, and Warsaw won the championship all six years. Now the Tigers' tournament is being replaced with the Northern Lakes Conference Tournament.
Siebenmorgen's 27-point, eight-rebound performance against Withrow helped him earn tournament MVP honors. Chris Wiggins added 22 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Ross Kesler scored 10, Zach Nelson eight and Brad Seiss seven. Warsaw, ranked No. 9 in Class 4A, improved to 7-2. Withrow, led by Chris Washington's 27 points, dropped to 5-2.
"This is why I came back from my concussion (Sunday)," Siebenmorgen said. "I wanted to help my team win the championship."
Penn (5-2) beat Lake Central (2-5) 53-32 in the consolation game.
Warsaw vs. Withrow featured structure vs. free-for-all, substance vs. flair, strength vs. quickness. Warsaw won with the structure, substance and strength. Warsaw set up half-court offenses and picked the Withrow traps apart; Withrow ran an open, free-wheeling offense. Nelson and Siebenmorgen, each 6'6', overpowered 6'8' Pierre Darden and 6'6' Will Jeffries inside.
Entering the championship, Warsaw coach Al Rhodes was concerned with three phases of the game: dribble penetration, rebounding and traps.
The Tigers made it tough for the Withrow guards to dribble penetrate and forced them to earn their offense with perimeter jumpshots. The Tigers did the job rebounding. Darden and Jeffries came in averaging a combined 17 rebounds; they combined for eight against Warsaw.
"We were overmatched sizewise, but not strengthwise," Rhodes said. "Steve and Zach both did a good job of blocking out and keeping their post men nearly nonexistent in terms of offensive rebounding."
Then there were the traps, arguably one of the biggest reasons Warsaw beat Withrow.
The Tigers carved up the Withrow traps in the first half by continually finding the open man underneath the basket for easy shots. Warsaw hit 15 field goals in the first half; 14 came in the paint under the basket.
"You have to start with Brad Seiss and the job he did taking the ball out of bounds," Rhodes said. "We were trying to throw it deep to midcourt as much as we could. Once we were successful in completing that pass, we did a tremendous job of attacking the basket in behind. We even missed six or seven layups."
And Warsaw's offense refused to help Withrow, which thrived in its 59-50 win against Penn by converting steals into turnovers. Warsaw turned the ball over zero times in the first quarter and three times in the first half.
Add it up, and what Warsaw had was a 37-22 halftime lead.
"Our kids got a little shell-shocked out there," Withrow coach George Jackson said. "They are the best passing team we have played this year. We knew it would be difficult to get them to turn the ball over. We were hoping for more."
Warsaw only added to its lead through most of the third quarter, before running into a few glitches. The Tigers built a 24-point lead, but they began doing the very thing they had avoided, turning the ball over. A 53-29 Warsaw lead with 1:28 to go in the third quarter dwindled to a 56-41 lead by the start of the fourth.
Withrow, making its final deseperation run, sliced the lead to 61-52 with 5:12 left, the closest it would get. Warsaw maintained control by making 16 of 22 free throws in the final quarter.
Withrow unquestionably was the quicker team, but Warsaw negated that quickness. Asked the main reason the Tigers were able to do this, Rhodes said, "By trying to throw it long. We wanted a fast attack on the basket before the other players down at the other end could recover and get back in it."
WARSAW HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP - Steve Siebenmorgen, Warsaw
Chris Wiggins, Warsaw
Brad Seiss, Warsaw
Ross Kesler, Warsaw
Chris Washington, Withrow
Andrew White, Penn
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
No. 9 (4A) WARSAW 78
WITHROW 64
Withrow (5-2) 8 14 19 23 - 64
Warsaw (7-2) 15 22 19 22 - 78
Warsaw FG FT A S R Pts.
Siebenmorgen (F) 8-18 11-16 1 1 8 27
Wiggins (G) 7-13 6-6 2 4 7 22
Kesler (G) 3-5 4-6 3 0 4 10
Nelson (C) 3-10 2-2 3 2 5 8
B. Seiss (G) 2-3 3-6 3 0 9 7
Buck 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 2
Martin 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 2
Finnegan 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
G. Seiss 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Henthorn 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Rhodes 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Walmer 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0
Totals 23-52 30-42 13 7 35 78
Withrow FG FT A S R Pts.
Washington (G) 9-28 5-6 1 0 1 27
Love (G) 6-14 2-2 2 0 4 19
Jeffries (F) 1-3 2-2 1 0 4 4
Garth (F) 1-2 0-0 1 0 7 2
Darden (C) 0-1 0-1 0 1 4 0
Johnson 3-8 1-5 2 1 8 7
Pilgrim 1-2 2-3 0 1 4 4
Crawford 0-1 1-2 0 0 1 1
Orr 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0
Totals 21-59 13-21 8 4 35 64
Three-point goals -ÊWarsaw 2-3 (Wiggins 2-3), Withrow 9-18 (Love 5-9, Washington 4-8, Crawford 0-1). Turnovers - Warsaw 10, Withrow 15. Fouled out -ÊJeffries. Total fouls -ÊWarsaw 16, Withrow 29.
CONSOLATION GAME
PENN 53, LAKE CENTRAL 32
Penn (5-2) 17 9 10 17 - 53
Lake Central (2-5) 4 6 11 11 - 32
Penn -ÊHusband 0-6 2-2 2, White 6-14 0-0 17, Hanig 1-2 0-0 2, Modlin 4-7 0-0 12, Laird 7-10 1-2 16, Hill 0-4 0-2 0, Kane 2-6 0-0 4, Flanagan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals -Ê20-50 3-6 53.
Lake Central - Richie 4-14 0-0 9, Dowling 1-6 0-0 2, Peterson 1-1 2-2 4, Duncan 3-5 0-0 6, Urban 0-1 0-0 0, Tornincasa 1-3 0-0 2, Huebner 2-3 0-0 4, Woods 2-4 1-2 5, Ogden 0-0 0-0 0, Biella 0-0 0-0 0. Totals -Ê14-37 3-4 32.
Three-point goals -ÊPenn 10-20 (White 5-8, Modlin 4-7, Laird 1-2, Hill 0-2, Husband 0-1), Lake Central 1-7 (Richie 1-5, Woods 0-2). Rebounds -ÊPenn 27 (Hanig 7, White 6, Laird 6), Lake Central 21 (Peterson 6, Woods 5). Assists - Penn 12 (Husband 3, White 3), Lake Central 6 (six players with one each). Steals -ÊPenn 11 (Laird 3), Lake Central 5 (Urban 2). Turnovers -ÊPenn 12, Lake Central 18. Total fouls -ÊPenn 9, Lake Central 10. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]