A game of streaks between two championship caliber basketball teams usually ends when one team’s late run wears out the opponent to pull away with a victory whose margin of victory makes the win look far more convincing than it was.
The Warsaw Tigers, who captured a sectional title championship win over Penn with an 18-8 fourth period run seven nights prior to Saturday’s regional final clash with the Crown Point Bulldogs, ended up on the other end of the evening’s score: a 55-42 overtime loss to the Bulldogs before slightly less than 5,000 basketball fans at Michigan City’s Wolves’ Den.
A volley of streaks tends to result in one of the combatants running out of gas by the end of the contest. The Tigers experienced this unfavorable shift in momentum this past weekend once Crown Point’s top two scorers picked up steam when the Bulldog’s needed it most in the overtime period.
Crown Point moved to 20-5 on the season with a berth in this coming Saturday’s Class 4A Northern IHSAA semistate, the Hoosier Hysteria’s Elite Eight.
6’2 senior Bulldog guard Jack Svetich (team-leading average of 15 points per game) was scoreless midway through the third period, and 6’6” sophomore swingman Dikembe Shaw finished regulation with only 6 points compared to his customary 13-points per game average.
The tandem scored all 13 of the points the Bulldogs racked up in the extra frame and shut out Warsaw to finish with a win after the two teams were deadlocked at regulation’s end, 42-all.

    Warsaw's lone senior, Luke Yeager, goes up strong to score during the fourth quarter. Photo by Gary Nieter

The first minute of the overtime period was scoreless with the two squads changing possessions before Svetich scored only his second basket of the night, a quick-release 3-point hit, with just under three minutes left in the contest.
Six points was all Svetich needed to contribute on the evening, while his teammates - Shaw in particular - stepped up to offset his lower-than-usual scoring clip.
“22 (Svetich)… when he got open the two times he made his cut,” Tiger head Coach Matt More noted. “And the one time they switched to the triangle, which I didn’t like, hits a three (in the third period) and in the overtime he hits (another) three. That’s what you do when you get shut down all game and you get those two little peeks. Those six points were the most important points in the game.”
Warsaw followed that possession with an offensive foul, one of three they would pick up in the extra stanza, followed by a 6-foot jumper from Shaw, who finished the rest of the evening hitting six of ten free throws on five consecutive trips to the charity stripe to run his 6 points in regulation to 16 when it was time for he and his Crown Point teammates to celebrate and cut down the nets – the spoils of a regional title.
Warsaw, on the other hand, boarded its buses with the runner-up consolation prize – the evening’s game ball.
The barrage of fouls the Tigers committed were a blend of frustration and fatigue following a remarkable fourth quarter defensive stand – the last streak Warsaw had in its figurative gas tank - that resulted in boys from the Lake City staying alive to fight for the extra period opportunity to advance to semistate.
The orange and black outscored, and shut out, the Bulldogs 9-0 for the game’s third tie following Crown Point’s 20-10 third period surge putting the eventual regional champions up 42-33. This set the scene for a rarely seen fourth quarter shutout of a championship caliber opponent.
Warsaw and Crown Point could not find a bucket during the last 3:51 of the final frame. Luke Yeager started the 9-0 run with a power layup at the 6:38 fourth quarter mark followed by a Brandt Martin three, a jump shot by Luke Bricker, who is mid-range money, and a driving layup by Trai Davis – the latter a drive down lane’s center where the 6’3” junior caught air and switched hands in flight with 3:51 remaining in the final stanza.
Crown Point, a physical team, and Warsaw suddenly increased the length of their possessions during the final half of the fourth quarter. Warsaw’s defense remained tight, but the Bulldogs’ physical defensive style was wearing down Warsaw, whose multiple offensive weapons could not pull together a made bucket to board the bus with a win before overtime.
“We gotta’ have two of our guys rollin’ to make a play here and there,” Moore said regarding the usual winning recipe of more than one Tiger being too much for opponents to handle. “They did a good job of really botherin’ Brandt (Martin), of botherin’ Luke Yeager, and botherin’ Luke Bricker.
“All night long they did a really good job of being physical with our ballhandlers.”
The game started with Warsaw moving ahead 4-0 before Crown Point’s 5’8” sophomore guard Kingston Rodes finally put points on the board with the first of seven three-point shots the victors would hit for the evening.
The Bulldogs averaged five buckets beyond the arc per game entering Saturday’s fray.

    Junior Trai Davis of Warsaw makes a quick move to get to the basket to score. Photo by Gary Nieter

The Bulldogs started the game scoreless until 4:02 showed on the first period clock, then followed the trey with an 8—4 run before Davis’s buzzer-beating putback of a Carson Gould jumper completed the period’s coring with Warsaw trailing 11-10.
Rhodes once again drew first blood in the second period for Crown Point after the second frame opened with an additional 65 scoreless seconds.
Warsaw’s Robbie Finlinson, who was the only double-figure scorer for the Tigers with 14 tallies, had the hot hand in that period scoring seven of the Tigers’ 13 points for the period including another buzzer beater basket courtesy of a Carson Gould feed (one of four assists for the evening) to send the runners-up to the locker room with a 23-22 advantage at intermission.
The game’s lead changed hands five times in the third period, and the score was tied for the first time since tip-off when Shaw’s two freebies broke the tie, and Svetich finally score his first points, the aforementioned one of his only two field goals made, before the Bulldogs closed the third frame leading 42-33.
Turnovers were a contributing factor to Crown Point’s third quarter and overtime surges. Warsaw had 16 miscues resulting in a lopsided 25-7 points-off-turnover advantage for the regional champions Saturday night.
“Fundamentals of the game are the most important part: passing, catching, dribbling, and doing it at game speed against championship level players,” Moore said.
Each team shot 50% from the field and were nearly even in rebounding with Warsaw holding 20-18 edge on the boards.
The Tigers will have all but one of their ballplayers back next year, most notably eleven juniors listed on Saturday’s postseason roster.
“What a group. I’m really proud of these guys to put themselves in a position to advance,” Moore remarked about his relatively young team. “We had a possession there to put us in semistate, but we ran out of gas.”
“I wouldn’t trade any of my guys,” Moore continued, “to have a chance in this atmosphere with four minutes to move on.”
The lone Warsaw senior, 6’8” Olivet Nazarene signee, Luke Yeager, briefly shared his thoughts on a triumvirate of physical Crown Point defenders ranging from 6’4” to 6’6” working together to curb his activity on the baseline, and on his time donning the orange and black.
“They were big guys that were part of a good team,” Yeager said. “Nothing was easy tonight. We gave everything we had. I’m happy I could be a Warsaw Tiger basketball player.”
Coach Moore had plenty of thoughts to add about the quiet giant whom he’ll miss next season.
“He turned himself into a basketball player this year,” Moore said. “I think he outshot what a lot of people outside of the program expected of him, and that’s why were able to make the run we did. He led with character. He was a cornerstone in a group of guys over the last two seasons (who made) the turn from a bunch of sophomores to a bunch of juniors. He was a pivotal piece in their growth and development. We’ll obviously miss him a ton not just because of his presence and size, but with all that he brings us in the locker room.”
The Tigers, who were competing for their 15th regional title Saturday night, finish their 41st sectional title-winning campaign with a 19-6 win-loss record in a schedule featuring top-notch non-conference competition.