ELKHART - Concord High School boys basketball coach Steve Austin said Franko House and Jason Spriggs were a little embarrassed by their performance against Warsaw earlier this season.
The 6-foot-6 House and 6-8 Spriggs certainly made up for it Tuesday night, as they combined for 33 points and 15 rebounds and led the Minutemen to a 44-34 win over the Tigers in Class 4A Sectional 4 action at North Side Gym.House scored six points, while Spriggs was held scoreless, in Warsaw's 57-55 overtime win at the Tiger Den on Jan. 21.
Playing under the bright lights of the state tournament, however, House scored 19 points and was 7 of 8 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, while Spriggs finished with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.
"I thought that was the key," Austin said of his team dominating play in the paint. "They (House and Spriggs) were a little embarrassed last time. Warsaw does a great job of taking things away, and this time we found a way to score inside."
With the 10-point win, Concord improved to 13-8 and advanced to Friday's 6:30 p.m. semifinal game against Northridge (7-13). Elkhart Memorial (13-7) will play Elkhart Central (12-10) in the second semifinal game.
Elkhart Memorial advanced by beating Goshen (5-16) by a score of 53-52 in overtime.
Prior to Tuesday, Warsaw had won eight of its last 10 games at North Side Gym and had been victorious in its last five meetings with the Minutemen.
The Tigers' success at the historic arena and against their Northern Lake Conference rival came to a screeching halt as they were just 11 of 37 (30 percent) from the field overall and 5 of 20 from three-point range.
"They were better than us," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team was ranked as high as No. 2 in the Class 4A poll but finished the season with an 18-5 record after losing three of its final four games. "Give Coach Austin credit. Concord played really well, and we just didn't have it tonight."
While House and Spriggs combined for 33 points and 15 rebounds, the Tigers had just 34 points and 12 rebounds as a team.
"Those two guys, Spriggs and House, were very good," said Ogle. "Spriggs scored six points just off rebounds battling for position. They really hurt us on the boards."
Concord finished the game 15 of 28 (54 percent) from the field overall, 1 of 4 from the arc, and 13 of 19 at the charity stripe.
After leading just 19-18 at halftime, the Minutemen outscored Warsaw 25-16 in the second half.
"This is a great win for us," said Austin, whose team had lost its last four games against Warsaw by a total of just 13 points. "Warsaw is one of those programs you use as a measuring stick."
A big reason for Warsaw's success at North Side Gym and against Concord has been the play of 5-foot-9 standout Nic Moore.
Moore scored 12 of Warsaw's 18 points in the first half Tuesday night and finished with a game-high 19 points, but was an uncharacteristic 6 of 19 from the field and 3 of 11 from the arc in the final game of his storied prep career.
"Nic didn't have his best game tonight," Ogle said of his star point guard, who missed two of the Tigers' last three regular season games with a second-degree MCL sprain and had to wear a bulky brace. "He hasn't practiced in two weeks. He is human. It was a difficult situation."
Moore finished his career at Warsaw with 1,891 points, 365 rebounds, 351 assists and 186 steals.
The Illinois State-bound guard came up 137 points short of tying Kevin Ault's career scoring record at Warsaw.
"Nic had a tremendous high school career," said Ogle. "He brought a lot of joy to a lot of people. He may be the greatest player to play at Warsaw, he's certainly up there."
Junior Jay Holladay scored six points for the Tigers, while juniors Lucas Grose and Jordyn Coon chipped in with five and four points, respectively.
Warsaw led 8-2 early in the first quarter but was outscored 42-26 the rest of the way.
CONCORD 44, WARSAW 34
W 12 6 6 10 - 34
C 8 11 7 18 - 44
Warsaw - Jared Bloom 0-1 0-0 0, Nic Moore 6-19 4-5 19, Jordyn Coon 1-3 2-3 4, Rhett Kesler 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Grose 2-7 1-1 5, Jay Holladay 2-5 0-0 6, Jalen Roscoe 0-2 0-0 0, Travis Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-37 7-9 34.
Concord - Anthony Yoder 0-1 0-0 0, Clinton McCray 0-2 1-2 1, DuWhan Alford 2-3 0-2 5, Franko House 5-9 9-11 19, Eric McCray 1-1 0-0 2, Josh Schuller 0-0 0-0 0, Seth Huxford 14 1-2 3, Jason Spriggs 6-8 2-2 14. Totals 15-28 13-19 44.
