Call it just another thrilling, action-packed night in the Northern Lakes Conference.

Concord and Warsaw hooked up in an NLC clash Friday that didn't conclude until the Tigers finally took control in the third overtime session for an 81-73 win.

With the win, Warsaw put itself in the driver's seat in the NLC race with a 4-0 record. The Tigers are the lone remaining team without a conference loss, after Northridge upset Plymouth Friday, and only have to beat Plymouth Feb. 7 and NorthWood Feb. 12 for unblemished NLC record and their fourth straight NLC title.

"It was just a good game, well played by both teams," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "Both teams wouldn't back off and had a lot of kids making big shots and big plays. It was a good Northern Lakes Conference battle. They all seem to be competitive and close. It was just two good teams playing against each other."

Tom Krizmanich and Andy Plank led the Tigers with career-high totals of 36 and 25 points respectively. Krizmanich added 11 boards.

The two-hour affair came one game after Warsaw played another thriller, a 92-78 win over Gary Wallace in which it attempted 75 free throws. This Tiger team just can't seem to do anything the easy way - or the quick way. Eight of the the Tigers' 13 games have been decided by 10 points or less, five of those within five points and three overtime games.

Warsaw opened up the third overtime period with two quick buckets by Krizmanich and Plank to open up a 69-65 lead. Free throws by Plank and Krizmanich, plus some good defense helped secure the win - finally.

"We went to Tom (Krizmanich) to start the third overtime and that got us the lead," Rhodes said. "Then I thought we played better defense in that overtime. We picked up our intensity."

Warsaw had to play this game, as well as tonight's game against South Bend Adams, without starting point guard P.J. Wiley. Wiley had breathing problems during Thursday's practice and was ruled out of any action for this weekend.

His status for the remainder of the season is optimistic, but unknown at this point.

"We found out about 2 p.m. today (Friday) that P.J. couldn't play," Rhodes said. "He had a spell in practice Thursday. He was with the doctors on Friday trying to figure out what is going on. He just had trouble breathing, like an asthma situation. He will be tested on Monday, and if he passes everything he will be cleared to play.

"That really put a lot of pressure on Kevin Masur, Jason Alspaugh and Lucas Schroeder," he said. "They weren't perfect, but they tried really hard. They kept us in our offensive structure."

Alspaugh finished with eight assists.

The Tigers fell behind to start the ball game, 9-4, but closed the margin to two points. Warsaw didn't quite get over the hump until midway through the second quarter and took its first lead, 28-27, on a steal and layup by Plank. That was the count at halftime.

"I felt fortunate to be ahead at halftime," Rhodes said. "The last couple of minutes we really picked up the intensity and finished the half strong. We started the third quarter well too."

Warsaw continued to play well in the second half, but so did Concord. The Minutemen, led by Jeremy Gillespie, matched the Tigers point for point, rebound for rebound and big play for big play.

The lead was five, 50-45, in the fourth quarter for the Tigers when Concord rallied and eventually tied the score at 52 on a three-pointer by Gillespie with a minute left.

In the first overtime, Warsaw led 57-55 when Gillespie had his shot blocked by Krizmanich, but got the ball right back and scored with :2.3 on the clock.

Overtime No. 2 saw Warsaw again with the lead, 63-60, but Brian Conn's three-pointer with 50 seconds left gave Concord a 65-63 advantage. Krizmanich's layup with :33 left sent the game into a third overtime.

At the end of the first two overtime periods, Gillespie had a chance to win the game for Concord in the final seconds, but the Tigers came up with defensive plays to either block the shot or cause an airball.

"Both teams played big defensively plays at crucial times," Rhodes said. "We had to hold the fort to get a chance to stay alive."

Warsaw (11-2, 4-0) has a nonconference affair tonight against South Bend Adams at the Tiger Den. Concord is now 8-4 and 1-1 in the NLC. [[In-content Ad]]