FISHERS – The Warsaw Tigers faced a long bus ride home Saturday night regardless of the outcome in their game at Hamilton Southeastern. An impressive shooting performance in the second half made the 100-mile trip back a happy one, as the Tigers made 10 of 14 attempts from the field in the third and fourth quarters en route to a 54-48 win over the Royals. In all, Warsaw – fresh off a key Northern Lakes Conference win over Elkhart Memorial Friday night – was 18 of 29 from the field overall, 4 of 9 from the arc, and 13 of 18 at the free throw line as it improved to 15-3 on the season. The Royals, who have produced two of the last three Indiana Mr. Basketballs in Gary Harris (2012) and Zak Irvin (2013), were just 18 of 50 overall, 7 of 20 from the arc, and 5 of 8 at the charity stripe as they fell to 7-12 on the season. “This makes for a happy ride home,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose brother, Neal, is a 7th grade social studies teacher in the Hamilton Southeastern school district. “This is a good win for us. Hamilton Southeastern may have only been 7-11, but they're a good team. And we realized tonight how much Jake Mangas means to our team.” Mangas, a senior and two-year starter for the Tigers, missed Saturday's contest to be in Bloomington, as he interviewed with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. In his absence, junior Riley Rhoades stepped into the starting lineup and finished the game with two points and a rebound. Rhoades made the only shot he took. Sophomore Kyle Mangas led the way for the Tigers with 17 points, seven boards and three assists. Senior Rashaan Jackson added 14 points and four rebounds, while classmate Tim Swanson was 3 of 5 from the arc and scored 11 points. While Ogle was happy with the way his team shot in the second half, he was a little disappointed in its ball-handling in the first half. “We had 10 turnovers in the first half, and we were still up by two (points),” said Ogle. “If we had better ball-handling in the first half we could have had a bigger lead. But this is a good win for us. We’re going to enjoy it, and get ready for Plymouth on Thursday.” The Tigers, who led 11-6 after one quarter of play, 17-15 at halftime and 32-28 at the end of the third, take a 5-0 Northern Lakes Conference record to Plymouth. Warsaw, which had just five turnovers in the second half, will then close out the conference schedule by hosting Northridge in a make-up game on Feb. 17. The Tigers were just 2-5 in NLC play last year. “I thought we could be good,” said Ogle. “I’m happy with the progress we’ve made. This win tonight, after a late start (Friday) and then a long bus ride, will help with our confidence.” Six-foot-6 sophomore Zach Gunn led the Royals with a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds. Gunn scored 21 points in the second half, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Senior Ty Scholl chipped in with eight points and five boards for HSE, while senior Chris Ford finished with eight points and three rebounds and junior Greg Miller scored six points.
