Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Because of the way he looked in practice Friday, Steve Lemasters' performance in Saturday evening's game wasn't a shock to Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle.
"Steve Lemasters had a really good practice Friday," said the fifth-year Tiger mentor, whose team hosted and defeated U.S. 30 rival Columbia City 55-36. "I'm not surprised he played so well. This was a breakout game for him. He was much more aggressive tonight attacking the basket off the bounce. He's not just a one-dimensional player."
En route to scoring a career-high 23 points, the 6-foot-3 Lemasters was able to score inside and outside, finishing the game 11 of 16 from the field.
Lemasters also dished out four assists, made three steals and pulled down a trio of rebounds as the Tigers picked up their first win of the season.
Warsaw improved to 1-1 while Columbia City fell to 1-1.
The Tigers, who lead the all-time series 64-39, have won three of the last four meetings with the Eagles.
"I was concerned with Columbia City being undersized that we might come out a little soft, but we didn't," said Ogle. "We came out aggressive from the beginning with our defense. Columbia City had trouble running their offense."
The Eagles, who last year had a 6-foot-8 senior center in Zach Coverstone, had just eight players on its varsity team Saturday night - the tallest players being 6-4 junior starter Jordan Moss and 6-3 junior reserve David Plant.
Because of Warsaw's blue-collar defensive effort, Columbia City was never really a threat, as the Tigers led from start to finish in handing the Eagles their worst defeat in two years.
The last time the Eagles came to the Tiger Den - Nov. 27, 2004 - they left after being beaten 47-27.
In Saturday's win, the Tigers led 15-10 after the first quarter, 30-15 at halftime and 48-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
"I'm happy with the team," said Ogle. "They played very hard and very unselfishly. The wins will come as long as we keep improving. If we continue to improve, the wins and losses will take care of themselves."
Saturday it was Warsaw's defensive effort that took care of the Eagles, in particular Columbia City senior sharpshooter Tyler Shively, who finished the game with just five points on 2-of-14 shooting.
Shively was just 1 of 5 from three-point range and committed three of the Eagles' six turnovers in the game.
"He was the focus of our gameplan," Ogle said of Shively. "I thought we played him well. He had to earn what he got."
Moss led the Eagles in scoring with nine points, while Jake Sittler scored eight, Tim Briggs, Shively and Plant scored five each and Austin Burnsworth and Brad Emerick chipped in with two points each.
As a team, Columbia City was just 11 of 37 (29.7 percent) from the field, including a 3-of-12 performance from three-point range. The Eagles did manage to hit 11 of 14 free throws.
Warsaw, on the other hand, shot 60 percent from the floor, finishing the game 23 of 38.
The Tigers hit 4 of 8 three-point shots and 5 of 7 free throw attempts.
"We got good shots," said Ogle. "We got the ball inside well in the first half. I'm proud of how hard we played."
The Tigers turned the ball over just seven times and outrebounded Columbia City 24-20.
Senior point guard Ben Truman was 3 of 3 from the floor for seven points, while senior frontliner Tommy Reinholt battled through foul trouble to score seven points.
Junior reserve Brad Waikel scored five points, while sophomore Ryne Robinson came off the bench to score five points. Senior starting guard Eric Blanton scored three points, as did freshman starting center Justin Clemens, while senior Scott Harman came off the bench to score two points.
The Tigers are in action again Tuesday when they host South Bend Clay, which opened the season Friday with a 44-point loss to John Glenn. Warsaw will then travel to DeKalb Friday and to Huntington North Saturday.
"We're going to focus on ourselves," said Ogle. "If we continue to improve, the wins will come. We've got a difficult week with three games in five days."
WARSAW 55, COLUMBIA CITY 36
Col. City 10 5 11 10 - 36
Warsaw 15 15 18 7 - 55
Col. City FG FT R S Pts.
* Briggs 1-4 3-4 3 0 5
* Shively 2-14 0-0 3 0 5
* Brnswrth 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
* Sittler 2-4 2-2 0 0 8
* Moss 2-7 5-7 2 1 9
Emerick 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Plant 2-3 1-1 4 0 5
Smith 0-3 0-0 2 1 0
Totals 11-37 11-14 20 3 36
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Clemens 1-2 1-3 3 1 3
* Truman 3-3 0-0 1 0 7
* Reinholt 3-5 1-1 4 0 7
* Blanton 1-7 1-4 3 0 3
* Lemasters 11-16 0-0 3 3 23
Perry 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Robinson 1-2 3-3 1 0 5
Waikel 2-2 0-0 2 0 5
Harman 1-1 0-0 2 0 2
Plummer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 23-38 5-7 24 4 55
Three-point goals - Col. City 3-12 (Sittler 2-3, Shively 1-5, Briggs 0-3, Moss 0-1), Warsaw 4-8 (Blanton 1-4, Lemasters 1-2, Truman 1-1, Waikel 1-1). Turnovers - Col. City 6, Warsaw 7. Fouls - Col. City 12, Warsaw 17. Fouled out - none.
JV - Warsaw 44, Columbia City 27
Warsaw (2-0) - Chase Byerly 10, Andy Conrad 9, Jesse Sharp 9, Taylor Long 7, Luke Holladay 3, Eric Hoover 2, Alex Nulf 2, Ryne Robinson 2
