Warsaw Community High School math teacher and resident boys' basketball guru Al Rhodes certainly could fill his time crunching the numbers that came out of the Gary Wallace-Warsaw game Tuesday in the Tiger Den.

In a game postponed from Friday, the staggering numbers told the story of Warsaw's 92-78 win over the Hornets.

The numbers looked a little like this.

170 - points scored by the two teams.

111 - free throws attempted by both teams.

81 - field goal attempts by Gary Wallace.

75 - free throws attempted by Warsaw.

73 - fouls committed by both teams.

62 - free throws made by both teams.

47 - fouls committed by Gary Wallace.

44 - free throws made by Warsaw.

6 - fouls attributed to Gary Wallace's Herman Ezell (4 personals, 2 technicals).

5 - Gary Wallace players that fouled out in the game.

3 - Gary Wallace players that fouled out in the THIRD quarter.

According to the 1996 National Federation Of High School Association record book, the 75 free throw attempts by the Tigers ties for the second-most all-time among all 50 states. The record is 89.

It certainly looks to be a state record.

When asked afterward if he had ever seen a game like this one, Rhodes answered, "For segments, but not for such long periods of time."

This one never got a rythmn, never got a flow to it.

It all, there were 73 personal fouls called on both teams, which is about one foul called about every 30 seconds of play.

"It was a very segmented game," Rhodes said. "It was a very unusual game. It seemed like it took forever, which it probably did."

It was a wild game that the more it went on, the worse it got.

After almost literally and figuratively surviving the first three quarters, the Tigers looked like they might take control, opening up a 71-49 lead to open up the fourth quarter. But Warsaw went cold from the free throw line, missing eight straight freebies at one point, and watched as Gary Wallace came back. The Hornets seemed to feed off the missed Tiger free throws. The more Warsaw missed, the more Wallace fouled.

Gary Wallace trimmed the lead to 80-73 with two minutes left as Warsaw was making about half of its free throw attempts at that point.

That was as close as the Hornets would get as Warsaw found the range late from the free throw line and converted 10 of 14 freebies in the final two minutes to clinch the 14-point win.

"We missed some free throws, and they caught back up, but then we hit some big free throws down the stretch to put the game away," Rhodes said. "That has been the trend for this team.

"When they press and foul to try to catch up, the game literally goes out of your control," he said. "We have the ball 2 or 3 seconds, and then go to the free throw line. It could be the highest possession game we have ever played. When we are up 20, if we make some free throws, it doesn't tighten back up, and the game is over and they stop (fouling). Fortunately we did a better job in the last two minutes of hitting free throws."

The game opened up ugly and never seemed to get into flow. A very athletic and aggressive team, the Hornets came out buzzing against the Tigers. But Warsaw played it smart and attacked Gary Wallace's full-court and half-court defenses, getting the Hornets into major foul trouble early.

Lonnie Jones, the Hornets 6-foot, 8-inch center, picked up his second foul three minutes into the game and by the end of the first quarter, Michael Bridgeman added three personal fouls for Gary Wallace.

Warsaw held a 23-14 first quarter lead as Tom Krizmanich had 10 points. Warsaw got into the bonus situation at the line early in the second quarter. In the half, the Tigers were 16 of 26 on free throws.

By the time Chris Hill became the first Warsaw player with more than one foul when he picked up his second with 2:23 left in the second, the Hornets already had four players that had THREE fouls.

Midway through the quarter, the physical play of the Hornets caught up with the Tigers when junior forward Andy Plank caught a wayward elbow and suffered a bloody lip. He never returned to the game.

"We came out very aggressive and attacked their full-court pressure well," Rhodes said. "We got the ball to the block an awful lot in our offense and put a lot of foul trouble on them, and that led to the free throws."

It didn't take long for it to get interesting in the third period. Jones picked up three fouls in about a two-minute span and was the first to foul out.

Herman Ezell joined his teammate just a minute later when, already with four personal fouls, he picked up two technicals arguing with an official after one of his teammates was fouled on a layup attempt. Warsaw's P.J. Wiley was hurt on the play, crashing into the bleachers under the basket after committing the foul. He did return, but was never quite the same and suffered a bruised leg.

Warsaw stretched the lead to 20 points, 69-49, on two free throws by Krizmanich. He was fouled by Jamaal Southern. It was his fifth personal, making him the third Wallace player to foul out before the fourth quarter began.

"I was disappointed with some of our careless turnovers," Rhodes said. "We haven't played a game in 2 1/2 weeks and some of that is to be expected. This will certainly help us concentrate better Friday."

Krizmanich led Warsaw with 29 points, including 15 of 18 from the free throw line. Tyler Charlton was 16 of 26 from the line and had 24 points. Wiley attempted 14 free throws, but managed to make only four.

"It is a good starting point for us after being off for 2 1/2 weeks," Rhodes said. "We badly needed a game. We certainly see that we are no finished product. It should make our practices better the next couple of days."

Warsaw (10-2 overall, 3-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference) hosts NorthWood Friday. [[In-content Ad]]