Warsaw Boys Rally For Win At Elkhart Central
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
ELKHART - Playing major minutes on the varsity boys basketball team for the first time in his brief high school career, Warsaw Community High School sophomore Jesse Sharp lived up to his last name Saturday night.
Moving up to the varsity level because of an injury to starting senior point guard Ben Truman, Sharp came off the bench and scored nine points for the Tigers, who rallied from a 15-point deficit at halftime to beat host Elkhart Central 64-56 in overtime at historic North Side Gym.
Sharp hit a three-pointer to knot the game at 50-all with six seconds left in regulation, and the Tigers went on to outscore the Blue Blazers 14-6 in the four-minute overtime session.
"Jesse Sharp has a knack for hitting big shots," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team improved to 6-3 on the season.
Ogle went on to point out that Sharp's shot came a year after he hit a three-quarter lenght shot to send the freshman game against Penn into overtime.
Sharp also hit 4 of 4 free throw attempts in the extra session Saturday night.
He converted a pair of charity tosses with 1:22 remaining in overtime to push Warsaw's lead to 57-52 and then hit two more free throws 21 seconds later to push the advantage to 59-52.
As a team, Warsaw hit 26 of 35 free throws while Elkhart Central struggled at the charity stripe, making just 9 of 23 attempts.
Elkhart Central's Nate Palmer, who wowed the crowd with rendition of the Star Spangled Banner before the tip off of the varsity game, missed four free throws in the final 30 seconds of regulation.
He missed a pair with 30 seconds to play, with the second miss being rebounded by Warsaw junior Brad Waikel, who started in place of Truman.
Palmer missed two more free throws with 18 seconds left. This time the second miss was rebounded by Warsaw senior Tommy Reinholt, who, as it turned out, celebrated his 18th birthday in style.
Reinholt finished the game with five points, all of which came from the free throw line, and led the Tigers with a game-high 10 rebounds.
"I thought Tommy Reinholt's rebounding was very big," said Ogle, whose team outrebounded the Blue Blazers 38-30. "This is quite a birthday present."
Reinholt's rebound total was made more impressive by the fact that he left the game in the second quarter with an injury, only to return and play through the pain.
Elkhart Central, who was playing the game without starter Chris Roberson because of a knee injury, led 16-5 after the first quarter and 32-17 at halftime.
When asked about the slow start, Ogle said it may have been a carry over from Friday night's loss at Wawasee, where the Tigers scored just 14 points through three quarters.
The second half of Saturday's game was a different story, however, as Warsaw was able to get the Blue Blazers in foul trouble, knock down a high percentage of its free throws and make field goal attempts that didn't fall in the first half.
"I thought we got back to playing team basketball," Ogle said of his team's second-half turnaround. "We were trying to do too much off the dribble. We did a better job with that in the second half."
Warsaw outscored the Blue Blazers 20-7 in the third quarter and 13-11 in the fourth to send the game into overtime.
Senior Steve Lemasters, who scored 11 points in the first half, led Warsaw with a game-high 35 points.
Lemasters' offensive output was a career high for him and the most points scored by a Tiger since Jerad Shaw scored 38 points in a double-overtime loss to Elkhart Memorial at North Side Gym in 2002.
After a slow start, Lemasters finished the game 10 of 22 from the field and 12 of 14 from the charity stripe.
Senior Taylor Futterknecht and sophomore Ron Dandridge scored 14 points each to lead Elkhart Central, while Josh Robinson scored 12 points.
The loss dropped the Blue Blazers to 3-3 on the season.
Warsaw is in action again Dec. 29 at Whitko.
WARSAW 64, ELK CENTRAL 56 (OT)
Warsaw 5 12 20 13 14 - 64
Central 16 16 7 11 6 - 56
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Clemens 1-5 2-5 4 1 4
* Reinholt 0-1 5-8 10 0 5
* Blanton 1-5 0-0 5 1 2
* Lemasters 10-22 12-14 5 1 35
* Waikel 0-0 1-2 5 1 1
Sharp 2-5 4-4 3 0 9
Robinson 2-4 2-2 2 0 6
Harman 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Conrad 1-1 0-0 3 1 2
Totals 17-44 26-35 38 5 64
Central FG FT R S Pts.
* Robinson 6-13 0-2 6 5 12
* Palmer 3-13 0-4 2 0 7
* Dandridge 5-10 2-2 5 0 14
* Pettis 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Brown 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Bethea 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Fttrknecht 6-9 2-9 9 0 14
Totals 22-53 9-23 30 7 56
Three-point goals - Warsaw 4-14 (Lemasters 3-10, Sharp 1-1, Blanton 0-2, Robinson 0-1), Central 3-10 (Dandridge 2-5, Palmer 1-5). Turnovers - Warsaw 17, Central 15. Fouls - Warsaw 20, Central 26. Fouled out - Robinson, Pettis.
JV - Warsaw 43, Elk. Central 29
Warsaw record: 9-0 [[In-content Ad]]
ELKHART - Playing major minutes on the varsity boys basketball team for the first time in his brief high school career, Warsaw Community High School sophomore Jesse Sharp lived up to his last name Saturday night.
Moving up to the varsity level because of an injury to starting senior point guard Ben Truman, Sharp came off the bench and scored nine points for the Tigers, who rallied from a 15-point deficit at halftime to beat host Elkhart Central 64-56 in overtime at historic North Side Gym.
Sharp hit a three-pointer to knot the game at 50-all with six seconds left in regulation, and the Tigers went on to outscore the Blue Blazers 14-6 in the four-minute overtime session.
"Jesse Sharp has a knack for hitting big shots," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team improved to 6-3 on the season.
Ogle went on to point out that Sharp's shot came a year after he hit a three-quarter lenght shot to send the freshman game against Penn into overtime.
Sharp also hit 4 of 4 free throw attempts in the extra session Saturday night.
He converted a pair of charity tosses with 1:22 remaining in overtime to push Warsaw's lead to 57-52 and then hit two more free throws 21 seconds later to push the advantage to 59-52.
As a team, Warsaw hit 26 of 35 free throws while Elkhart Central struggled at the charity stripe, making just 9 of 23 attempts.
Elkhart Central's Nate Palmer, who wowed the crowd with rendition of the Star Spangled Banner before the tip off of the varsity game, missed four free throws in the final 30 seconds of regulation.
He missed a pair with 30 seconds to play, with the second miss being rebounded by Warsaw junior Brad Waikel, who started in place of Truman.
Palmer missed two more free throws with 18 seconds left. This time the second miss was rebounded by Warsaw senior Tommy Reinholt, who, as it turned out, celebrated his 18th birthday in style.
Reinholt finished the game with five points, all of which came from the free throw line, and led the Tigers with a game-high 10 rebounds.
"I thought Tommy Reinholt's rebounding was very big," said Ogle, whose team outrebounded the Blue Blazers 38-30. "This is quite a birthday present."
Reinholt's rebound total was made more impressive by the fact that he left the game in the second quarter with an injury, only to return and play through the pain.
Elkhart Central, who was playing the game without starter Chris Roberson because of a knee injury, led 16-5 after the first quarter and 32-17 at halftime.
When asked about the slow start, Ogle said it may have been a carry over from Friday night's loss at Wawasee, where the Tigers scored just 14 points through three quarters.
The second half of Saturday's game was a different story, however, as Warsaw was able to get the Blue Blazers in foul trouble, knock down a high percentage of its free throws and make field goal attempts that didn't fall in the first half.
"I thought we got back to playing team basketball," Ogle said of his team's second-half turnaround. "We were trying to do too much off the dribble. We did a better job with that in the second half."
Warsaw outscored the Blue Blazers 20-7 in the third quarter and 13-11 in the fourth to send the game into overtime.
Senior Steve Lemasters, who scored 11 points in the first half, led Warsaw with a game-high 35 points.
Lemasters' offensive output was a career high for him and the most points scored by a Tiger since Jerad Shaw scored 38 points in a double-overtime loss to Elkhart Memorial at North Side Gym in 2002.
After a slow start, Lemasters finished the game 10 of 22 from the field and 12 of 14 from the charity stripe.
Senior Taylor Futterknecht and sophomore Ron Dandridge scored 14 points each to lead Elkhart Central, while Josh Robinson scored 12 points.
The loss dropped the Blue Blazers to 3-3 on the season.
Warsaw is in action again Dec. 29 at Whitko.
WARSAW 64, ELK CENTRAL 56 (OT)
Warsaw 5 12 20 13 14 - 64
Central 16 16 7 11 6 - 56
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Clemens 1-5 2-5 4 1 4
* Reinholt 0-1 5-8 10 0 5
* Blanton 1-5 0-0 5 1 2
* Lemasters 10-22 12-14 5 1 35
* Waikel 0-0 1-2 5 1 1
Sharp 2-5 4-4 3 0 9
Robinson 2-4 2-2 2 0 6
Harman 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Conrad 1-1 0-0 3 1 2
Totals 17-44 26-35 38 5 64
Central FG FT R S Pts.
* Robinson 6-13 0-2 6 5 12
* Palmer 3-13 0-4 2 0 7
* Dandridge 5-10 2-2 5 0 14
* Pettis 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Brown 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Bethea 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Fttrknecht 6-9 2-9 9 0 14
Totals 22-53 9-23 30 7 56
Three-point goals - Warsaw 4-14 (Lemasters 3-10, Sharp 1-1, Blanton 0-2, Robinson 0-1), Central 3-10 (Dandridge 2-5, Palmer 1-5). Turnovers - Warsaw 17, Central 15. Fouls - Warsaw 20, Central 26. Fouled out - Robinson, Pettis.
JV - Warsaw 43, Elk. Central 29
Warsaw record: 9-0 [[In-content Ad]]