Warsaw hosted its holiday basketball tournament Tuesday, and the Tigers did what they have done in their eight previous holiday tournament games.

They won.

The Tigers (8-1) moved their holiday tournament record to 9-0 with a 62-48 win over Lake Central (3-4). Penn (4-3) beat Twin Lakes (4-4) 66-62 in the other first-round game.

Warsaw junior guard Chris Wiggins hit 5 of 10 three-pointers and scored a season-high 23 to lead all scorers. Warsaw senior point guard Rob Kesler and junior forward Steve Siebenmorgen each added 10 points.

Warsaw decided the game in the second quarter.

Nursing a 19-15 lead after one quarter, the Tigers outscored Lake Central 16-3 in the second quarter.

Wiggins fueled the offense, hitting two three-pointers and scoring eight in the quarter.

The Indians found success early when their guards dribble penetrated into the lane for either a layup or a dump off to a teammate.

Warsaw's defense took this option away, slowing Lake Central's offense to a standstill.

The Tigers closed down the lane in the second quarter and built a 35-18 halftime lead.

"In the first quarter, we felt they had way too many open shots," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "We backed off (guard Nick Testa and guard Eric Lopez). We played better position defense on them and tried to take away their right side, because it was mainly right-handed penetration. That was one of the things that was creating open shots for their players.

"At the same time, we had excellent execution in terms of screens. Chris Wiggins ended up open on a lot of the screens. Chris wasn't rushing his shots. He had a rough start to the year, but the last four games, he's been gaining confidence."

The Indians had one run left, and they used it midway through the third quarter. Junior guard Nate Richie, who finished with nine points, scored five of them in nine seconds in the third. He hit a three then stole Warsaw's in-bounds pass for a layup. He sparked a 10-0 run that trimmed Warsaw's lead from 41-24 to 41-34.

"We were playing pretty good defense in the third quarter, but they hit four or five shots and made a run at us," Rhodes said. "We had a couple of turnovers that gave them points."

But the Indians could get no closer than seven. Ten seconds into the fourth quarter the Tigers were shooting one-and-one free throws, so they pushed the lead back to double figures. Warsaw hit 10 of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Senior forward Bryan Trtan led Lake Central with 10 points.

Penn and Warsaw meet in the championship game at 8 this evening. Twin Lakes and Lake Central battle in the consolation game at 6.

WARSAW 62

LAKE CENTRAL 48

Lake Central (3-4) 15 3 16 14 -Ê48

Warsaw (8-1) 19 16 10 17 -Ê62

Warsaw FG FT A S R Pts.

Wiggins (G) 8-15 2-2 0 2 1 23

Rb. Kesler (G) 2-4 4-4 3 3 1 10

Siebenmorgen (F) 2-7 6-6 0 0 9 10

Rs. Kesler (G) 3-7 2-5 2 1 4 8

Nelson (C) 2-4 2-3 2 1 3 6

Seiss 1-2 0-1 0 0 3 2

Donkers 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 1

Henthorn 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1

Compson 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1

Barrett 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0

Rhodes 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0

Grossnickle 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

Stogsdill 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18-42 19-27 10 10 24 62

Lake Central FG FT A S R Pts.

Trtan (F) 4-6 2-4 2 0 4 10

Richie (G) 4-13 0-0 1 1 3 9

Testa (G) 3-7 2-3 2 3 3 8

Duncan (F) 2-2 0-0 0 0 1 4

Hubner (C) 1-4 0-0 0 0 3 2

Gilliam 2-2 4-4 0 0 6 8

Lopez 2-2 1-2 1 1 1 5

Cashmer 1-2 0-0 0 2 1 2

Dowling 0-0 0-2 1 0 0 0

Urban 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 19-38 9-15 7 7 19 48

Three-point goals - Warsaw 7-14 (Wiggins 5-10, Rb. Kesler 2-3, Barrett 0-1), Lake Central 1-5 (Richie 1-4, Testa 0-1). Turnovers -ÊWarsaw 10, Lake Central 16. Fouled out - Testa. Total fouls - Warsaw 13, Lake Central 22.

Officials - Steve Godfroy, Tom Schenkel

Other first-round game: Penn 66, Twin Lakes 62

Penn (4-3) scoring - White 6 4-6 17, Strzelecki 4 2-2 10, Martz 4 2-3 10, Laird 2 5-5 9, Kane 4 1-1 9, Husband 3 1-1 7, Clarke 1 1-4 3, Hill 0 1-2 1, Hummer 0 0-0 0. Totals - 24 17-24 66.

Twin Lakes (4-4) scoring -ÊLong 7 6-9 21, Wright 5 2-5 15, Haselby 4 2-2 10, Braaksma 3 0-0 8, Metcalf 0 1-2 1, Mackey 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Treece 0 0-0 0, Pusey 0 0-0 0, Diener 1 5-6 7. Totals -Ê20 16-24 62.

Twin Lakes 12 21 15 14 - 62

Penn 15 18 14 19 - 66

Three-point goals -ÊTwin Lakes 6 (Wright 3, Braaksma 2, Mackey), Penn 1 (White). Turnovers - Penn 6, Twin Lakes 11. Fouled out - Metcalf. Tofal fouls - Twin Lakes 19, Penn 20. Rebounds - Twin Lakes 27 (Long 8), Penn 25 (Kane 5, Laird 5). Officials -ÊJusdon Raver, Jerry Stieglitz. [[In-content Ad]]