DUNLAP – Northern Lakes Conference rivals Warsaw and Concord have battled in some epic high school boys basketball games over the years. Tuesday’s contest in Dunlap, however, wasn’t among them. Plagued by turnovers and virtually unable to score in the second half, the Tigers were no match for the Minutemen, who cruised to a 49-25 win at McCuen Gym. In a game originally scheduled to be played on Jan. 21 but postponed because of the weather, Warsaw committed 16 turnovers and was outscored 25-6 in the second half. The Tigers, who beat the Minutemen in a triple-overtime thriller in last year’s sectional at North Side Gym, fell to 9-6 overall and 2-3 in the NLC standings. Concord improved to 11-3 and 4-1 with its seventh-straight win. “That’s absolutely what it was,” said Ogle when asked about his team’s turnover woes being the difference in the game. “We didn’t have enough patience, didn’t take enough time to make the right decisions. We’re not going to win any more games if that’s all the patience that we’re going to have on offense.” Warsaw’s 16 turnovers led to 25 points for Concord. The Mintuemen scored as many points off turnovers as the Tigers scored total points. “I thought our defense was pretty good,” Concord coach Steve Austin said after he notched his 415th career win. “I thought we were pretty active, and we had hands up. We had a lot of kids that were active.” As a result of their win, the Mintumen are in a second-place tie with NorthWood, one game behind conference frontrunner Northridge (5-0). Elkhart Memorial is 3-2 in the NLC, followed by Warsaw (2-3), Goshen (1-4), Plymouth (0-4) and Wawasee (0-4). “We’ve got an outside shot at the conference,” said Austin. “I told the kids we play the three toughest teams in the conference right in a row, and we have to take them one at a time. This is a good win, and now we have to focus on NorthWood and Northridge. We’re going go take it one at a time.” While the final score of Tuesday’s game lopsided, it was a back-and-forth contest in the first half, as the teams traded baskets. Warsaw led 9-8 after one quarter of play, while Concord held a 24-19 advantage at halftime. The second half, however, was all Concord, as the Minutemen held the Tigers to one point in the third quarter and five points in the fourth. The majority of Warsaw’s fourth-quarter points came via junior Tim Swanson’s three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining. “The first half wasn’t great, but it was OK,” said Ogle. “Of their 24 points in the first half, 13 were off of our turnovers. We talked at halftime about taking care of the ball. We just didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball in the second half. We’ve got to be more patient on offense and make better decisions.” After making 7 of 13 field goal attempts in the first half, the Tigers made just 2 of 14 in the third and fourth quarters. Concord, on the other hand, was 9 of 21 from the field in the first half and 9 of 12 in the second half. Six-foot-6 junior Filip Serwatka led Concord with a game-high 24 points, making 9 of 11 field goal attempts and 4 of 6 charity tosses. Senior guard Ramon Johnson added 14 points for the Minutemen. For Warsaw, Swanson scored 12 points – all from the arc – while senior Nate Pearl made two treys and sophomore Paul Marandet and junior Jake Mangas scored four and three points, respectively. Senior Jordan Stookey, whose heroic three-pointer lifted the underdog Tigers to the triple-overtime sectional win last year, took just three shots and didn’t score. Warsaw, losers of its last two games, will try and get back in the win column Friday when it travels to North Side Gym to play Elkhart Memorial. Concord hosts NorthWood Friday.
