Thanks to a strong finish, Warsaw's varisty boys basketball team is off to the start it wanted in Northern Lakes Conference play.

After struggling from the field and trailing nearly the entire first three quarters of play Friday, the Tigers found their shooting touch in the fourth, scoring 28 points in the final eight minutes of action en route to a 60-49 win over rival Wawasee.

The contest in the Tiger Den was the NLC opener for both teams. Warsaw improved to 5-2 overall, while Wawasee fell to 4-1.

Trailing 35-27 with 1:06 to go in the third, Warsaw closed out the quarter with a pair of free throws from junior Michael Moore and a key three-point play from classmate Michael Wienhorst to trim Wawasee's lead to three going in to the final frame.

Senior Adam Griggs tied the game at 35-all with a trey 16 seconds into the fourth quarter, and then Wienhorst hit back-to-back three-pointers, the first of which gave the Tigers their first lead since a 2-0 advantage to start the game.

"Michael Wienhorst got hot in the fourth quarter," Tiger coach Doug Ogle said. "When Michael gets in a rhythm he's really good. He finally got in a rhythm tonight. He hit some big shots, I was glad to see him have a good scoring game."

Wienhorst scored nine points in the fourth quarter and led Warsaw with a game-high 22 points. He finished the game 6 of 11 from the field, 2 of 5 from the three-point arc, and 8 of 12 from the free throw line.

Senior Todd Braddock also scored nine points in the fourth quarter for Warsaw and converted two critical three-point plays, the first giving the Tigers a 44-37 lead with 6:03 remaining and the second pushing the Tiger advantage to 54-45 with 1:03 left in the game.

Braddock finished the game with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Wawasee coach Phil Mishler attributed Warsaw's comeback to a strong rebounding effort in the second half, namely the fourth quarter.

"It came down to offensive rebounding," said Mishler. "We allowed Warsaw to want it more. Credit Coach Ogle for having his kids ready. Credit Warsaw's seniors for not letting Wawasee come in to their house and win. We gave up 23 points on offensive putbacks, a lot of which came in the fourth quarter."

All totaled, the Tigers outrebounded Wawasee 14-7 in the final quarter and outscored the Warriors 28-14 over the final eight minutes of play en route to the 11-point win.

Warsaw shot just 6 of 23 in the first half, including a dismal 0-of-8 performance from three-point range, but came back in the second half and shot 11 of 22 from the field and 3 of 6 from the arc.

"We said at halftime we were only down four and we hadn't played well," said Ogle. "We had too many turnovers and rushed things too much. We had a lot of good shots in the first half, they just didn't fall. We were lucky to only be down four. I thought both Todd and Michael, particularly Michael, came through with clutch plays."

To go with Wienhorst's 22 points and Braddock's 17, Warsaw got eight points from Moore, while Griggs added five, Ryan Schultz four and Andrew Holladay and Mark Sherman two each.

The visiting Warriors, who last year beat Warsaw in the regular season for the first time since 1992, led 16-8 after the first quarter but only scored six points in the second stanza and Warsaw cut the Wawasee advantage to 22-18 at the half.

A three-pointer by Austin Gerber pushed Wawasee's lead to 31-23 with 3:30 to play in the third, and then a field goal by the 6-foot-2 junior gave the Warriors a 35-27 advantage with 1:06 remaining.

The never-say-die Tigers refused to stay down, and went on a 12-0 run over the next 2:40.

Wawasee was led in the scoring column by junior Austin Kaiser's 15 points, while Ryan Kauchak and Gerber added 10 points each and Kory Lantz eight. The Warriors also got three points from Michael Conrad, two from James Ward and one from Andrew Mock.

Lantz and Kauchak fouled out of the contest as Wawasee committed 27 personal fouls. The Tigers, who were whistled for 18 fouls and saw Griggs foul out, converted on 23 of 34 free throw attemps. The Warriors finished the game 12 of 18 at the line.

Warsaw outscored Wawasee by 11 points at the line. The Tigers beat the Warriors by 11 points.

Both teams are off until Dec. 27 when they meet in the first round of the Lake City Bank Northern Lakes Conference Holiday Tournament in a boys/girls doubleheader at Wawasee.

WARSAW 60, WAWASEE 49

Wawasee (4-1, 0-1) 16 6 13 14 - 49

Warsaw (5-2, 1-0) 8 10 14 28 - 60

Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.

* Lantz 4-11 0-0 1 1 8

* Kaiser 5-7 4-5 6 5 15

* Conrad 1-2 0-0 2 0 3

* Ward 1-3 0-3 6 1 2

* Kauchak 3-6 4-4 6 0 10

Mock 0-0 1-2 1 0 1

Gerber 3-10 3-4 3 1 10

Totals 17-39 12-18 25 8 49

Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.

* Schultz 1-4 2-4 2 0 4

* Griggs 1-5 2-3 6 0 5

* Wienhorst 6-11 8-12 4 2 22

* Moore 3-12 2-2 1 1 8

* Braddock 5-8 7-8 9 2 17

Holladay 1-3 0-1 2 1 2

Conley 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Sherman 0-1 2-2 2 1 2

Allison 0-1 0-0 2 0 0

Cabrera 0-0 0-2 1 0 0

Maierle 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Clemens 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 17-45 23-34 29 7 60

Three-point goals - Wawasee 3-13 (Gerber 1-4, Kaiser 1-2, Conrad 1-2, Lantz 0-5), Warsaw 3-14 (Wienhorst 2-5, Griggs 1-2, Moore 0-4, Schultz 0-2, Sherman 0-1). Fouls - Wawasee 27, Warsaw 18. Fouled out - Kauchak, Lantz, Griggs.

JV - Warsaw 38, Wawasee 23

Warsaw JV scoring - Reinholt 9, Cabrera 9, Clemens 6, Maierle 4, Fuller 3, Skaggs 2, Evans 2, Kleinhans 1

Wawasee JV scoring - Mock 6, Leach 6, Zimmerman 5, Drent 2, Granger 2, Garland 2 [[In-content Ad]]