With no dignitaries or documentary crews in attendance at Warsaw's 56-43 Friday win over Gary Wirt for boys basketball coach Al Rhodes to talk about -Êas was the case the last two weeks -Êhe was left talking about spells where his team struggled.

"I thought we had some spells where we didn't play well," said Rhodes. "I thought in the first quarter we played well. If it were not for three or four missed layups we would have had a big lead."

With under three minutes remaining in the opening quarter, continuing through the first three minutes of the second stanza, the Tigers built a comfortable lead, but couldn't sustain it.

Wirt's Brandon Lee connected on a field goal attempt at the 2:39 mark of the first quarter cutting Warsaw's lead to 11-10. Warsaw then went on a 10-0 run sparked by a Steve Siebenmorgen three-pointer. When sophomore Brad Seiss scored his third field goal of the game, a bucket with 5:23 remaining in the first half, the Tigers took a 21-10 lead.

Then came the spell that Rhodes was talking about.

Over the next five minutes Wirt's Jody Carpenter and Myron Jenkins combined for nine points as the Troopers whittled Warsaw's lead to 25-21 by halftime.

"In that stretch we turned the ball over two times against their press," said Rhodes. "Turnovers brought them back. Switching units was also a factor."

Warsaw committed 13 turnovers for the game, five of them came in the second quarter. The Troopers turned the ball over 16 times in four quarters.

The Tigers, who improve to 13-4 with the 13-point win, were led by two players in double figures.

Senior Zach Nelson paced Warsaw with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor and 4-of-5 shooting from the charity stripe. The 6'6" frontliner also corralled five caroms. Senior Chris Wiggins struggled through a 3-of-12 performance from the field but managed to tally 10 points. He also snared six rebound and made two steals. Junior Trent Martin and sophomore Brad Seiss added nine and seven points respectively.

Seiss scored the first five points of the game for Warsaw, as the Tigers jumped out to an early 5-2 lead.

"We went to Brad at the start of the game," said Rhodes. "I thought he got us off to a good start."

Marcus Gholson led the Troopers in the scoring column with 16 points. He also pulled down five rebounds and made one steal. Jenkins and Carpenter added 14 and nine points, respectively, in the loss.

After leading 39-32 after three quarters of play, the Tigers outscored Wirt 17-11 in the final frame, accounting for the 56-43 final.

Warsaw shot a dismal 14 of 24 (58.3 percent) from the charity stripe for the game, but connected on 7 of 8 in the fourth quarter.

"We've made some improvement on that (free throw shooting) through the year," said Rhodes. "Sometimes we have mental lapses. Coach (Doug) Ogle has an excellent play for poor shooters to improve. We hope to improve in that area."

The Troopers were 10 of 15 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe for the game.

Gary Wirt drops to 10-6 overall with the loss.

Warsaw will host Huntington North Thursday at 6:15 p.m.

"Sean Kline (6'7" forward) is a tremendous player," said Rhodes. "He's seen as one of the top 100 players in the United States. They're about .500, but they've been improving as of late and they concern me." [[In-content Ad]]