Warsaw Boys Advance With Narrow Win Over Rival Wawasee
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE - Their roles were reversed, yet in a way it was almost deja vu Saturday night when Warsaw played rival Wawasee in the opening round of the boys Northern Lakes Conference Lake City Bank Holiday Tournament.
A week ago, the regular season NLC opener for both teams, Warsaw trailed Wawasee in the Tiger Den for three quarters but came back and won with an impressive fourth-quarter performance.
Saturday night in Syracuse, playing on their home floor, the Warriors trailed the Tigers the entire game and fell 59-55, their fourth-quarter comeback attempt falling just short.
"We talked at halftime about being the aggressor," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said. "We were either gonna come out and get squished, or our kids were gonna stick up for themselves. Everyone knows Warsaw is one of the most aggressive teams in the state, but we came out in the second half and stood up for ourselves."
Warsaw led 25-14 at halftime and them started the third quarter with a 6-0 run to take a commanding 17-point lead with 6:55 remaining in the third.
Wawasee responded with a 10-0 run of its own, and momentum's gate swung the way of the Warriors, and it looked as if the home team was gonna trail nearly the entire game but come back late and win again in this county rivaly.
"I wish the clock would have run faster," Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said. "We had some tough calls that went against us. We tried to make sure all their shots were defended, but there were a couple times we didn't find them in transition and they hit open threes."
A three-pointer by junior point guard Kory Lantz cut Warsaw's advantage to 49-47 with 1:56 remaining in the game, but after a Tiger basket by Mark Sherman, Lantz missed a pair of free throws with 1:16 left and Tiger Andrew Holladay got the rebound.
Wawasee cut the Tiger lead to two twice in the final minute, the latter when sophomore Michael Conrad got a rebound and put back with 44 seconds remaining to trim the Warsaw advantage to 55-53.
But while Wawasee struggled hitting free throws down the stretch, Warsaw made 4 of 5 charity tosses in the last 30 seconds, the final of which came when junior Michael Moore hit the second of a two-shot opportunity with 1.2 seconds on the clock.
Warsaw was just 15 of 23 for the game from the free throw line, but hit them when it had to, making 10 charity tosses in the fourth quarter.
"We did a good job making our free throws down the stretch," Ogle said. "Wawasee played a lot better this time, and as they were making their run it was hard to stay in front of them and Wawasee made a lot of good plays."
Lantz led the Warrior effort with 19 points, while Austin Kaiser had 13, Austin Gerber 11 and Michael Conrad seven.
Wawasee turned the ball over just 11 times, while they made 15 steals as Warsaw turned it over 21 times.
The Warriors were 12 of 21 for the game at the charity stripe and made just 8 of 14 attempts in the fourth quarter, including a 2-of-6 effort by Lantz.
"It came down to who was gonna hit free throws," Mishler said. "If we hit our free throws it's a different story. That's something we used to be good at. You can't shoot like that and expect to win an NLC contest."
The loss was the second straight for the Warriors and dropped them to 4-2. Wawasee will play in the consolation bracket Tuesday at NorthWood against Goshen (2-6). Elkhart Memorial (2-5) and NorthWood (6-1) face off in the first consolation game.
With the four-point win Warsaw improved to 6-2 and advanced to Tuesday's semifinal round at Plymouth, where the Tigers will face off in the second game of the evening against Concord (5-1). The Minutemen advanced by beating Goshen 74-60. Northridge (4-3) and Plymouth (5-2) square off in Tuesday's first semifinal game, with the winners playing Friday at Warsaw in a boys/girls doubleheader for the championship.
Moore led Warsaw with 14 points, while Todd Braddock added 11, Adam Griggs eight, and Ryan Schultz, Michael Wienhorst, Greg Allison and Sherman six each.
While he was proud of the efforts he got from Allison and Sherman, Ogle was concerned after the game about the condition of Wienhorst after the 6-foot-3 junior went down with a knee injury and had to be assisted off the court.
His status is unknown.
"I'm really proud of Greg Allison and Mark Sherman, they gave us a huge lift off the bench," Ogle said. "Right now I'm very concernced about Michael Wienhorst's knee."
WARSAW 59, WAWASEE 55
Warsaw 12 13 14 20 - 59
Wawasee 10 4 16 25 - 55
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Schultz 2-4 2-2 4 1 6
* Griggs 4-10 0-0 2 2 8
* Wienhorst 3-6 0-0 7 0 6
* Moore 4-6 6-10 3 2 14
* Braddock 3-3 5-7 5 1 11
Holladay 0-0 1-2 4 0 1
Conley 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Sherman 3-3 0-0 1 0 6
Allison 3-4 0-0 4 0 6
Totals 22-36 15-23 30 6 59
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
* Lantz 7-16 2-6 1 3 19
* Kaiser 4-9 4-5 0 8 13
* Conrad 3-4 0-0 2 1 7
* Ward 0-5 0-0 6 1 0
* Kauchak 2-4 1-2 2 0 5
Mock 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Gerber 3-8 5-8 2 2 11
Totals 19-46 12-21 13 15 55
Three-point goals - Warsaw 0-2 (Schultz 0-1, Griggs 0-1), Wawasee 5-20 (Lantz 3-8, Kaiser 1-5, Conrd 1-2, Gerber 0-4, Ward 0-1). Turnovers - Warsaw 21, Wawasee 11. Fouls - Warsaw 22, Wawasee 23. Fouled out - Griggs, Kauchak. [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE - Their roles were reversed, yet in a way it was almost deja vu Saturday night when Warsaw played rival Wawasee in the opening round of the boys Northern Lakes Conference Lake City Bank Holiday Tournament.
A week ago, the regular season NLC opener for both teams, Warsaw trailed Wawasee in the Tiger Den for three quarters but came back and won with an impressive fourth-quarter performance.
Saturday night in Syracuse, playing on their home floor, the Warriors trailed the Tigers the entire game and fell 59-55, their fourth-quarter comeback attempt falling just short.
"We talked at halftime about being the aggressor," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said. "We were either gonna come out and get squished, or our kids were gonna stick up for themselves. Everyone knows Warsaw is one of the most aggressive teams in the state, but we came out in the second half and stood up for ourselves."
Warsaw led 25-14 at halftime and them started the third quarter with a 6-0 run to take a commanding 17-point lead with 6:55 remaining in the third.
Wawasee responded with a 10-0 run of its own, and momentum's gate swung the way of the Warriors, and it looked as if the home team was gonna trail nearly the entire game but come back late and win again in this county rivaly.
"I wish the clock would have run faster," Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said. "We had some tough calls that went against us. We tried to make sure all their shots were defended, but there were a couple times we didn't find them in transition and they hit open threes."
A three-pointer by junior point guard Kory Lantz cut Warsaw's advantage to 49-47 with 1:56 remaining in the game, but after a Tiger basket by Mark Sherman, Lantz missed a pair of free throws with 1:16 left and Tiger Andrew Holladay got the rebound.
Wawasee cut the Tiger lead to two twice in the final minute, the latter when sophomore Michael Conrad got a rebound and put back with 44 seconds remaining to trim the Warsaw advantage to 55-53.
But while Wawasee struggled hitting free throws down the stretch, Warsaw made 4 of 5 charity tosses in the last 30 seconds, the final of which came when junior Michael Moore hit the second of a two-shot opportunity with 1.2 seconds on the clock.
Warsaw was just 15 of 23 for the game from the free throw line, but hit them when it had to, making 10 charity tosses in the fourth quarter.
"We did a good job making our free throws down the stretch," Ogle said. "Wawasee played a lot better this time, and as they were making their run it was hard to stay in front of them and Wawasee made a lot of good plays."
Lantz led the Warrior effort with 19 points, while Austin Kaiser had 13, Austin Gerber 11 and Michael Conrad seven.
Wawasee turned the ball over just 11 times, while they made 15 steals as Warsaw turned it over 21 times.
The Warriors were 12 of 21 for the game at the charity stripe and made just 8 of 14 attempts in the fourth quarter, including a 2-of-6 effort by Lantz.
"It came down to who was gonna hit free throws," Mishler said. "If we hit our free throws it's a different story. That's something we used to be good at. You can't shoot like that and expect to win an NLC contest."
The loss was the second straight for the Warriors and dropped them to 4-2. Wawasee will play in the consolation bracket Tuesday at NorthWood against Goshen (2-6). Elkhart Memorial (2-5) and NorthWood (6-1) face off in the first consolation game.
With the four-point win Warsaw improved to 6-2 and advanced to Tuesday's semifinal round at Plymouth, where the Tigers will face off in the second game of the evening against Concord (5-1). The Minutemen advanced by beating Goshen 74-60. Northridge (4-3) and Plymouth (5-2) square off in Tuesday's first semifinal game, with the winners playing Friday at Warsaw in a boys/girls doubleheader for the championship.
Moore led Warsaw with 14 points, while Todd Braddock added 11, Adam Griggs eight, and Ryan Schultz, Michael Wienhorst, Greg Allison and Sherman six each.
While he was proud of the efforts he got from Allison and Sherman, Ogle was concerned after the game about the condition of Wienhorst after the 6-foot-3 junior went down with a knee injury and had to be assisted off the court.
His status is unknown.
"I'm really proud of Greg Allison and Mark Sherman, they gave us a huge lift off the bench," Ogle said. "Right now I'm very concernced about Michael Wienhorst's knee."
WARSAW 59, WAWASEE 55
Warsaw 12 13 14 20 - 59
Wawasee 10 4 16 25 - 55
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Schultz 2-4 2-2 4 1 6
* Griggs 4-10 0-0 2 2 8
* Wienhorst 3-6 0-0 7 0 6
* Moore 4-6 6-10 3 2 14
* Braddock 3-3 5-7 5 1 11
Holladay 0-0 1-2 4 0 1
Conley 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Sherman 3-3 0-0 1 0 6
Allison 3-4 0-0 4 0 6
Totals 22-36 15-23 30 6 59
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
* Lantz 7-16 2-6 1 3 19
* Kaiser 4-9 4-5 0 8 13
* Conrad 3-4 0-0 2 1 7
* Ward 0-5 0-0 6 1 0
* Kauchak 2-4 1-2 2 0 5
Mock 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Gerber 3-8 5-8 2 2 11
Totals 19-46 12-21 13 15 55
Three-point goals - Warsaw 0-2 (Schultz 0-1, Griggs 0-1), Wawasee 5-20 (Lantz 3-8, Kaiser 1-5, Conrd 1-2, Gerber 0-4, Ward 0-1). Turnovers - Warsaw 21, Wawasee 11. Fouls - Warsaw 22, Wawasee 23. Fouled out - Griggs, Kauchak. [[In-content Ad]]