Tigers Eye Third Straight Sectional Title
February 26, 2018 at 5:04 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
Trying to win their third straight sectional and the program’s 41st overall, the Tigers will open the seven-team Elkhart Central Sectional by playing Goshen Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Warsaw, 11-11 overall and 5-2 in the Northern Lakes Conference, beat Goshen 53-35 in the Tiger Den on Jan. 12. If the Tigers win Tuesday, they’ll advance to Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal game against Northridge, the team they shared the NLC title with.
Warsaw beat Northridge 58-49 on Jan. 5 in Middlebury.
“Northridge got the best draw, with the bye,” said Ogle. “If you can’t get the bye, the next best thing is to play on Tuesday, because if you win that gives you two days to prepare for Friday’s game, and you already know who you’re playing.
“It also spreads out the games over five days. Last year for us it was Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday ... so this year if we can advance it’ll be Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. It spreads out the travel a bit more, I like that part of it.”
Warsaw and Goshen (10-12) play in Tuesday’s only game.
On Wednesday, Plymouth (13-9) and Elkhart Memorial (10-12) play at 6 p.m., followed by Elkhart Central (9-12) and Concord (7-14).
Northridge plays the Warsaw/Goshen winner in a 6 p.m. semifinal game Friday, followed by Wednesday’s winners.
The championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Michigan City Regional to play the winner of the Chesterton Sectional.
What was already an NLC?tournament is even more so this year.
The IHSAA took Penn, coached by former Warsaw coach Al Rhodes, out of Sectional 4 at North Side Gym and put them back in Sectional 3 with Mishawaka,?LaPorte and a handful of South Bend schools.
Plymouth replaced Penn at North Side Gym, meaning six of the seven teams are NLC?schools.
Warsaw has also played Elkhart Central – the only non-NLC team in the sectional.
The Tigers are 5-1 against the other teams in Sectional 4, with the only loss being a 63-50 setback to Memorial on Feb. 1 when Memorial senior Hank Smith scorched the nets at North Side Gym by making 9 of 11 three-point attempts.
Warsaw sophomore Brian Elliott was 8 of 12 from the arc in that game.
Bottom line, there won’t be many – if any – secrets in this week’s sectional, as the teams are extremely familiar with each other.
“It is very close to a conference tournament, and nobody can really tell us why that happened, why Plymouth and Penn switched,” said Ogle. “I guess it doesn’t really make any difference.
“I think it’s a wide-open tournament, I do. Even if you look at Concord, which has the fewest wins, they are capable. There’s no team that you can say there’s no way they can win. And I don’t think there’s a team that is a prohibitive favorite like we were two years ago. This year it’s a wide-open tournament, it’s just whoever can be the most consistent.”
The Tigers are trying to win their third straight sectional, something the program hasn’t accomplished in nearly 25 years.
Warsaw last won three consecutive sectional titles in 1992, 93 and 94, when they had a stretch of six straight that dated back to 1989.
To extend their sectional streak, the Tigers will have to do so with a group that doesn’t have a lot of tournament experience.
Only seniors Zach Riley and Jack Rhoades and junior Nolan Groninger got significant playing time in last year’s run to the regional finals.
Groninger leads Warsaw with 12 points and five assists per game, while Riley and Elliott both average just under eight points, and junior Tyler Metzinger just under seven points.
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Trying to win their third straight sectional and the program’s 41st overall, the Tigers will open the seven-team Elkhart Central Sectional by playing Goshen Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Warsaw, 11-11 overall and 5-2 in the Northern Lakes Conference, beat Goshen 53-35 in the Tiger Den on Jan. 12. If the Tigers win Tuesday, they’ll advance to Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal game against Northridge, the team they shared the NLC title with.
Warsaw beat Northridge 58-49 on Jan. 5 in Middlebury.
“Northridge got the best draw, with the bye,” said Ogle. “If you can’t get the bye, the next best thing is to play on Tuesday, because if you win that gives you two days to prepare for Friday’s game, and you already know who you’re playing.
“It also spreads out the games over five days. Last year for us it was Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday ... so this year if we can advance it’ll be Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. It spreads out the travel a bit more, I like that part of it.”
Warsaw and Goshen (10-12) play in Tuesday’s only game.
On Wednesday, Plymouth (13-9) and Elkhart Memorial (10-12) play at 6 p.m., followed by Elkhart Central (9-12) and Concord (7-14).
Northridge plays the Warsaw/Goshen winner in a 6 p.m. semifinal game Friday, followed by Wednesday’s winners.
The championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Michigan City Regional to play the winner of the Chesterton Sectional.
What was already an NLC?tournament is even more so this year.
The IHSAA took Penn, coached by former Warsaw coach Al Rhodes, out of Sectional 4 at North Side Gym and put them back in Sectional 3 with Mishawaka,?LaPorte and a handful of South Bend schools.
Plymouth replaced Penn at North Side Gym, meaning six of the seven teams are NLC?schools.
Warsaw has also played Elkhart Central – the only non-NLC team in the sectional.
The Tigers are 5-1 against the other teams in Sectional 4, with the only loss being a 63-50 setback to Memorial on Feb. 1 when Memorial senior Hank Smith scorched the nets at North Side Gym by making 9 of 11 three-point attempts.
Warsaw sophomore Brian Elliott was 8 of 12 from the arc in that game.
Bottom line, there won’t be many – if any – secrets in this week’s sectional, as the teams are extremely familiar with each other.
“It is very close to a conference tournament, and nobody can really tell us why that happened, why Plymouth and Penn switched,” said Ogle. “I guess it doesn’t really make any difference.
“I think it’s a wide-open tournament, I do. Even if you look at Concord, which has the fewest wins, they are capable. There’s no team that you can say there’s no way they can win. And I don’t think there’s a team that is a prohibitive favorite like we were two years ago. This year it’s a wide-open tournament, it’s just whoever can be the most consistent.”
The Tigers are trying to win their third straight sectional, something the program hasn’t accomplished in nearly 25 years.
Warsaw last won three consecutive sectional titles in 1992, 93 and 94, when they had a stretch of six straight that dated back to 1989.
To extend their sectional streak, the Tigers will have to do so with a group that doesn’t have a lot of tournament experience.
Only seniors Zach Riley and Jack Rhoades and junior Nolan Groninger got significant playing time in last year’s run to the regional finals.
Groninger leads Warsaw with 12 points and five assists per game, while Riley and Elliott both average just under eight points, and junior Tyler Metzinger just under seven points.
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