Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
A pair of varsity boys basketball teams that battled to a five-point decision in overtime a year ago, Warsaw and Columbia City were about as close Saturday night as ice water is to coffee.
Returning nearly everyone from a team that went 19-3 last year, experience played a key role in Columbia City's 53-30 win over the host Tigers, who graduated nearly everyone from last year's 21-3 team.
After picking up a win over Gary Wirt in his varsity debut Wednesday, new Warsaw coach Doug Ogle tabbed his Tigers as "decided underdogs" against Columbia City. In a game that was never closer than 10 points in the second half, both Warsaw and Columbia City backed up the statement.
"All of their starters have a full year of varsity experience," Ogle said of Columbia City. "That showed up tonight. They shot the ball well from behind the arc in the first half, and their defensive position and anticipation forced us into way too many turnovers to beat a solid team like that."
After the host Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead on baskets from juniors Todd Braddock and Adam Griggs, the experienced Eagles rattled off an 11-0 run, basically setting the tone for the game.
Columbia City scored more points in those three minutes than Warsaw did in any of the four eight-minute quarters.
A team that had built a 20-point lead by the second quarter of its season opener Wednesday, the Tigers scored but eight points in the first quarter, six in the second, seven in the third and nine in the fourth.
While the Tigers struggled to muster any offense, Columbia City found the going a little easier, finishing the game 18 of 33 (54.5 percent) from the field and 5 of 10 from three-point land.
The Tigers, on the other hand, were 10 of 30 (33.3 percent) from the field and 0 of 8 from three-point range.
"Our experience was pretty obvious against Gary Wirt, it was even more obvious tonight," Ogle said. "When you shoot the ball as well as they (Columbia City) did you're gonna win. I won't make any excuses, but we're not gonna let a loss like this break down our team unity. I won't let myself lose faith in our players."
Improving to 2-0 on the season, Columbia City did so on the strength of a balanced scoring attack. Six-foot-6 junior frontliner Doug Sheckler led the way with 14 points, followed by 12 from junior Scott Moore, 11 from junior Marcus Moore and nine from senior Wes Gardner.
Warsaw, which fell to 1-1, got 12 points from both Braddock and senior Erik Fussle. Braddock scored 10 of his points from the field, while Fussle scored eight of his from the free throw line. Ryan DeGeeter and Griggs rounded out the Tiger scoring with four and two points, respectively.
"We were hurt by our execution, we didn't get enough shots," Ogle said. "Their defense was really good, and our offense was not very good."
The Tigers will be in action again Friday when they host Fort Wayne South.
COLUMBIA CITY 53, WARSAW 30
Col. City (2-0) 14 10 15 14 - 53
Warsaw (1-1) 8 6 7 9 - 30
Col. City FG FT R S Pts.
* S. Moore 4-5 2-4 0 1 12
* Boylan 1-4 2-2 0 0 5
* M. Moore 4-6 2-2 1 3 11
* Gardner 2-4 4-5 3 2 9
* Sheckler 6-10 2-2 3 1 14
Shively 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Buchanan 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Briggs 0-1 0-2 1 0 0
King 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Howard 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Totals 18-33 12-17 11 8 53
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Griggs 1-9 0-0 3 1 2
* Wienhorst 0-4 0-0 0 0 0
* Braddock 5-7 2-3 2 1 12
* Fussle 2-2 8-12 5 0 12
* DeGeeter 2-8 0-0 8 0 4
Schultz 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Gensinger 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Burnley 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Miller 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Allison 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 10-30 10-16 21 2 30
Three-point goals - Col. City 5-10 (S. Moore 2-2, Boylan 1-3, M. Moore 1-1, Gardner 1-1, Sheckler 0-1, Shively 0-1, Briggs 0-1), Warsaw 0-8 (Griggs 0-3, Wienhorst 0-3, DeGeeter 0-2). Fouls - Col. City 17, Warsaw 18. Fouled out - none.
JV - Columbia City 55, Warsaw 54
Warsaw scoring - Nathaniel Fitzsimmons 12, Dan Gensinger 10, Mitchell Reinholt 10, Andrew Holladay 7, Drew Miles 7, Nelson Conley 5, Nate Abbit 2, Greg Allison 1
