Warsaw's Season Ends With Regional Loss
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
MARION - A week after extending its season with the program's first sectional title in six years, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team saw its season end Saturday with its first losing record in nearly 20 years.
The Tigers looked like a different team last Saturday in knocking off Columbia City to win the East Noble Sectional.
Against defending Class 4A state runner-up Muncie Central in the first semifinal game of the Marion Regional Saturday at Bill Green Athletic Arena, the Tigers looked like the team they have so many times this season.
The end result was a 56-42 loss to the Bearcats, who went on to beat Fort Wayne Snider 56-43 in the championship game Saturday night. Snider advanced to the title game by beating McCutcheon 56-47.
"We didn't play the way we can, but that doesn't take away from being sectional champs and getting here," said fourth-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team ended the season with an 11-12 record.
The Tigers' sub-.500 record was the program's first since the 1987-88 season.
In 87 seasons of boys basketball, Warsaw has had 20 losing seasons, only five of which came after 1963.
"We just missed some good shots," said Ogle, whose team won just two of its final eight regular season games before beating East Noble and Columbia City in sectional play. "We withstood their fast start in the first, but in the second quarter some of the patience issues that we have struggled with all season came back for us."
Muncie Central wasted no time in setting the tone, racing out to an 8-0 lead, sandwiching three-pointers from Tom Freeman and Ben Botts around a Brandon Jenkins field goal.
The Tigers rallied and trailed by just two, 16-14, at the end of the first quarter.
After that, however, Muncie Central was in control of the game.
The Bearcats, who hit six three-pointers in the first half, extended their lead to 10 before Tiger junior Tommy Reinholt's tip at the buzzer cut the Muncie Central advantage to 27-19 at the break.
After clawing their way back in to the game, the Tigers went nearly six minutes without a field goal in the second quarter and scored just five points in the second quarter.
While there were the patience issues on offense that Ogle talked about, there were also times where the only Warsaw player on the floor moving in the Tigers' offense was the person with the ball.
Muncie Central, on the other hand, used good spacing and ball movement and was able to work the ball inside or pass it back out to the perimeter for second-year coach Matt Fine, who upped his coaching record to 46-7 Saturday.
Warsaw returned four starters from last year's team, while Muncie Central graduated seven players and nearly 60 points per game from their state runner-up team a year ago.
Saturday, Warsaw didn't look like a team that returned four starters from a team that posted a winning record a year ago.
The Tigers trailed by as much as 15 points in the third quarter and got no closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.
"We missed some good shots," said Ogle, who in four years with the Tigers owns a 53-35 record. "We got good shots, we just missed them. We missed too many good shots."
Warsaw finished the game 15 of 42 from the field, including a 2-of-12 effort from three-point range, and was 10 of 17 at the free throw line.
Muncie Central was 18 of 38 from the field, 7 of 15 from three-point range, and 13 of 22 at the free throw line.
Senior Shaun Cabrera, a big reason the Tigers closed the gap in the first quarter, led Warsaw in scoring with 15 points. He scored seven in the first quarter.
Classmate Colin Clemens finished his final high school game with 12 points and eight rebounds. John-Wesley Maierle, also a senior, scored seven points in the loss.
Muncie Central used a balanced scoring attack to beat the Tigers, getting 15 points from Botts, 13 points from Freeman, 10 points from Terry Jenkins, eight points from Brandon Jenkins and seven points from John Peckinpaugh.
In beating Warsaw and Fort Wayne Snider Saturday, Muncie Central improved to 19-5 on the season. The Bearcats will play Penn (24-2) Saturday in the Kokomo Semistate.
MUNCIE CENTRAL 56, WARSAW 42
M. Central 16 11 12 17 - 56
Warsaw 14 5 10 13 - 42
M. Central FG FT R S Pts.
* Botts 3-11 4-4 1 1 15
* B. Jenkins 3-4 0-0 5 1 8
* Freeman 4-6 3-6 3 0 13
* T. Jenkins 3-8 4-6 4 1 10
* Pcknpgh 3-5 1-3 2 2 7
Johnson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kirtz 0-0 1-2 1 0 1
Coatie 0-2 0-0 2 0 0
Williams 1-1 0-1 0 0 2
Allen 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 18-38 13-22 20 5 56
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Cabrera 6-13 2-3 2 0 15
* T. Reinholt 1-4 2-3 7 0 4
* Maierle 3-7 1-1 6 0 7
* M. Reinholt 0-0 1-2 3 1 1
* Clemens 3-13 3-6 8 0 12
Truman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Mi. Plumlee 0-1 0-0 3 0 0
Blanton 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Lemasters 0-2 1-2 1 0 1
Fuller 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Ma. Plumlee 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 15-42 10-17 33 1 42
Three-point goals - Muncie Central 7-15 (Botts 3-3, B. Jenkins 2-3, Freeman 2-3, T. Jenkins 0-5, Coatie 0-1), Warsaw 2-12 (Cabrera 1-6, Clemens 1-3, Lemasters 0-2, Blanton 0-1). Turnovers - Muncie Central 6, Warsaw 11. Fouls - Muncie Central 17, Warsaw 18. Fouled out - Peckinpaugh. [[In-content Ad]]
MARION - A week after extending its season with the program's first sectional title in six years, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team saw its season end Saturday with its first losing record in nearly 20 years.
The Tigers looked like a different team last Saturday in knocking off Columbia City to win the East Noble Sectional.
Against defending Class 4A state runner-up Muncie Central in the first semifinal game of the Marion Regional Saturday at Bill Green Athletic Arena, the Tigers looked like the team they have so many times this season.
The end result was a 56-42 loss to the Bearcats, who went on to beat Fort Wayne Snider 56-43 in the championship game Saturday night. Snider advanced to the title game by beating McCutcheon 56-47.
"We didn't play the way we can, but that doesn't take away from being sectional champs and getting here," said fourth-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team ended the season with an 11-12 record.
The Tigers' sub-.500 record was the program's first since the 1987-88 season.
In 87 seasons of boys basketball, Warsaw has had 20 losing seasons, only five of which came after 1963.
"We just missed some good shots," said Ogle, whose team won just two of its final eight regular season games before beating East Noble and Columbia City in sectional play. "We withstood their fast start in the first, but in the second quarter some of the patience issues that we have struggled with all season came back for us."
Muncie Central wasted no time in setting the tone, racing out to an 8-0 lead, sandwiching three-pointers from Tom Freeman and Ben Botts around a Brandon Jenkins field goal.
The Tigers rallied and trailed by just two, 16-14, at the end of the first quarter.
After that, however, Muncie Central was in control of the game.
The Bearcats, who hit six three-pointers in the first half, extended their lead to 10 before Tiger junior Tommy Reinholt's tip at the buzzer cut the Muncie Central advantage to 27-19 at the break.
After clawing their way back in to the game, the Tigers went nearly six minutes without a field goal in the second quarter and scored just five points in the second quarter.
While there were the patience issues on offense that Ogle talked about, there were also times where the only Warsaw player on the floor moving in the Tigers' offense was the person with the ball.
Muncie Central, on the other hand, used good spacing and ball movement and was able to work the ball inside or pass it back out to the perimeter for second-year coach Matt Fine, who upped his coaching record to 46-7 Saturday.
Warsaw returned four starters from last year's team, while Muncie Central graduated seven players and nearly 60 points per game from their state runner-up team a year ago.
Saturday, Warsaw didn't look like a team that returned four starters from a team that posted a winning record a year ago.
The Tigers trailed by as much as 15 points in the third quarter and got no closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.
"We missed some good shots," said Ogle, who in four years with the Tigers owns a 53-35 record. "We got good shots, we just missed them. We missed too many good shots."
Warsaw finished the game 15 of 42 from the field, including a 2-of-12 effort from three-point range, and was 10 of 17 at the free throw line.
Muncie Central was 18 of 38 from the field, 7 of 15 from three-point range, and 13 of 22 at the free throw line.
Senior Shaun Cabrera, a big reason the Tigers closed the gap in the first quarter, led Warsaw in scoring with 15 points. He scored seven in the first quarter.
Classmate Colin Clemens finished his final high school game with 12 points and eight rebounds. John-Wesley Maierle, also a senior, scored seven points in the loss.
Muncie Central used a balanced scoring attack to beat the Tigers, getting 15 points from Botts, 13 points from Freeman, 10 points from Terry Jenkins, eight points from Brandon Jenkins and seven points from John Peckinpaugh.
In beating Warsaw and Fort Wayne Snider Saturday, Muncie Central improved to 19-5 on the season. The Bearcats will play Penn (24-2) Saturday in the Kokomo Semistate.
MUNCIE CENTRAL 56, WARSAW 42
M. Central 16 11 12 17 - 56
Warsaw 14 5 10 13 - 42
M. Central FG FT R S Pts.
* Botts 3-11 4-4 1 1 15
* B. Jenkins 3-4 0-0 5 1 8
* Freeman 4-6 3-6 3 0 13
* T. Jenkins 3-8 4-6 4 1 10
* Pcknpgh 3-5 1-3 2 2 7
Johnson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kirtz 0-0 1-2 1 0 1
Coatie 0-2 0-0 2 0 0
Williams 1-1 0-1 0 0 2
Allen 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 18-38 13-22 20 5 56
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Cabrera 6-13 2-3 2 0 15
* T. Reinholt 1-4 2-3 7 0 4
* Maierle 3-7 1-1 6 0 7
* M. Reinholt 0-0 1-2 3 1 1
* Clemens 3-13 3-6 8 0 12
Truman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Mi. Plumlee 0-1 0-0 3 0 0
Blanton 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Lemasters 0-2 1-2 1 0 1
Fuller 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Ma. Plumlee 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 15-42 10-17 33 1 42
Three-point goals - Muncie Central 7-15 (Botts 3-3, B. Jenkins 2-3, Freeman 2-3, T. Jenkins 0-5, Coatie 0-1), Warsaw 2-12 (Cabrera 1-6, Clemens 1-3, Lemasters 0-2, Blanton 0-1). Turnovers - Muncie Central 6, Warsaw 11. Fouls - Muncie Central 17, Warsaw 18. Fouled out - Peckinpaugh. [[In-content Ad]]