Crown Point Wins Thriller Over Warsaw Tigers
December 11, 2021 at 4:30 a.m.
Crown Point Wins Thriller Over Warsaw Tigers
By Dale [email protected]
In a high school boys basketball thriller that featured 16 lead changes and eight ties, the teams combined to make 21 three-pointers before the Bulldogs left the Tiger Den with a 63-60 victory.
Playing without leading scorer Judah Simfukwe, as the senior guard was sidelined with a hand injury, the Tigers nearly weathered the storm behind a career-high 32 points from junior Jaxson Gould, but fell to 2-2 on the season.
Crown Point, with 14 treys in the contest, improved to 4-1 this season and to 5-2 in the all-time series against Warsaw.
“When you lose a guy like Judah for any stretch, you lose both sides of the ball,” said Warsaw coach Matt Moore. “You lose a guy that can guard, a guy that can rebound, and a guy that offensively can create his own shot.
“We had to utilize the pass a little bit more tonight, and I thought we did a decent job of that. A lot of credit goes to Crown Point, they made a lot of tough shots. There were a lot of shots from deep in this game, and if you’re a fan of basketball it was a good game.”
Crown Point was 18 of 40 from the field overall, including a 14-of-26 effort from the arc, and made 13 of 14 free throw attempts.
The Tigers, who were coming off a 35-32 win over Huntington North last Saturday with junior Russ Winchester’s buzzer-beating trey, were 22 of 45 from the field overall, 7 of 14 from the arc, and 9 of 13 at the charity stripe.
A bucket by junior Theo Katris gave Warsaw a 60-59 lead, but the visitors were 4 of 4 at the free throw line late to seal the deal.
Senior Drew Adzia converted two charity tosses with 19 seconds remaining to give Crown Point a 61-60 advantage.
Junior Lou Mureiko made both of his attempts at the line with 10 seconds left to account for the final score.
The Tigers had a couple looks at a three-pointer to tie but couldn’t get one to fall.
“We were in it down the stretch, we had two shots late to win it or tie it, and that’s what you ask for,” said Moore.
“You look at our schedule, Columbia City is a team we should beat, Huntington North is a team we should beat, and we won those games. Homestead was a team that we were gonna have to play really well to beat, and this game tonight was a 50/50 game.
“We’ve had a variety of games, and we took care of the games we’re supposed to win, and I thought this game was there for the taking. It went their way tonight, but we’re gonna have more games like this on our schedule coming up, so we’ve gotta be able to bounce back after these 50/50 games.”
Along with Gould’s 32 points, the Tigers got nine points and six rebounds from Winchester, seven points and four boards from junior Drew Heckaman, six points from junior Nick Katris, four points from senior Tyler Kuhn and two points from Theo Katris.
Warsaw led 11-9 after one quarter of play and 29-27 at halftime.
The Bulldogs, who were led by AJ Lux’s 21 points, led 43-42 heading into the final frame.
Adzia and Mureiko finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Warsaw is in action again Friday, hosting county rival Wawasee in the Northern Lakes Conference opener for both teams.
The Tigers won the junior varsity game 52-43.
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In a high school boys basketball thriller that featured 16 lead changes and eight ties, the teams combined to make 21 three-pointers before the Bulldogs left the Tiger Den with a 63-60 victory.
Playing without leading scorer Judah Simfukwe, as the senior guard was sidelined with a hand injury, the Tigers nearly weathered the storm behind a career-high 32 points from junior Jaxson Gould, but fell to 2-2 on the season.
Crown Point, with 14 treys in the contest, improved to 4-1 this season and to 5-2 in the all-time series against Warsaw.
“When you lose a guy like Judah for any stretch, you lose both sides of the ball,” said Warsaw coach Matt Moore. “You lose a guy that can guard, a guy that can rebound, and a guy that offensively can create his own shot.
“We had to utilize the pass a little bit more tonight, and I thought we did a decent job of that. A lot of credit goes to Crown Point, they made a lot of tough shots. There were a lot of shots from deep in this game, and if you’re a fan of basketball it was a good game.”
Crown Point was 18 of 40 from the field overall, including a 14-of-26 effort from the arc, and made 13 of 14 free throw attempts.
The Tigers, who were coming off a 35-32 win over Huntington North last Saturday with junior Russ Winchester’s buzzer-beating trey, were 22 of 45 from the field overall, 7 of 14 from the arc, and 9 of 13 at the charity stripe.
A bucket by junior Theo Katris gave Warsaw a 60-59 lead, but the visitors were 4 of 4 at the free throw line late to seal the deal.
Senior Drew Adzia converted two charity tosses with 19 seconds remaining to give Crown Point a 61-60 advantage.
Junior Lou Mureiko made both of his attempts at the line with 10 seconds left to account for the final score.
The Tigers had a couple looks at a three-pointer to tie but couldn’t get one to fall.
“We were in it down the stretch, we had two shots late to win it or tie it, and that’s what you ask for,” said Moore.
“You look at our schedule, Columbia City is a team we should beat, Huntington North is a team we should beat, and we won those games. Homestead was a team that we were gonna have to play really well to beat, and this game tonight was a 50/50 game.
“We’ve had a variety of games, and we took care of the games we’re supposed to win, and I thought this game was there for the taking. It went their way tonight, but we’re gonna have more games like this on our schedule coming up, so we’ve gotta be able to bounce back after these 50/50 games.”
Along with Gould’s 32 points, the Tigers got nine points and six rebounds from Winchester, seven points and four boards from junior Drew Heckaman, six points from junior Nick Katris, four points from senior Tyler Kuhn and two points from Theo Katris.
Warsaw led 11-9 after one quarter of play and 29-27 at halftime.
The Bulldogs, who were led by AJ Lux’s 21 points, led 43-42 heading into the final frame.
Adzia and Mureiko finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Warsaw is in action again Friday, hosting county rival Wawasee in the Northern Lakes Conference opener for both teams.
The Tigers won the junior varsity game 52-43.
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