Mangas, Minix Lead Warsaw To WinThe M & M boys, albeit a different combination, led the Warsaw Tigers to another Northern Lakes Conference championship Thursday night. Last year it was Kyle Mangas and Paul Marandet. Thursday night, in a 63-49 win over the visiting Elkhart Memorial Crimson Chargers, it was Mangas and fellow senior Braxton Minix. Mangas scored a game-high 20 points, while Minix was 8 of 9 from the field – only missing his final shot attempt – en route to 16 points. With the 14-point win, Warsaw improved to 13-6 overall this season and 6-0 in the NLC. The Tigers have won 20 straight conference games and are guaranteed at least a share of the league title. Warsaw can wrap up a third consecutive outright championship with a victory at Plymouth on Feb. 10. Memorial fell to 8-9 and 4-2. Class 3A No. 3 NorthWood, a 54-37 loser at Warsaw last week, is the only team with a chance to share the title with the Tigers. NorthWood is 15-1 overall, 5-1 in the NLC, and wraps up league play Feb. 10 at Memorial. “The Northern Lakes Conference, I think, has a very storied history ... if you go back over the years to the Scott Skiles teams (at Plymouth), the teams that Concord had, the teams that we’ve had, and Elkhart Memorial has been good several times since joining the conference,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “We value winning conference games a lot. We want to win the conference. It’s a big deal to our players, because we respect the other conference schools. Conference games are hard to win.” In beating Memorial, Warsaw led 14-9 after one quarter of play, 30-20 at halftime and 47-27 at the end of the third quarter. Coming off the bench, the 6-foot-7 Minix scored four points in each quarter to tally his 16 points. “I thought tonight was his best night in terms of not rushing,” Ogle said of Minix. “He took his time. He’s had a lot of those opportunities in our earlier games, but he would catch the ball and shoot it too quick, or just rush the issue. But tonight he was just very poised, and I’m happy for him.” Mangas’ 20 points upped his career total to 1,231 points and moved him up to sixth on Warsaw’s all-time list. He put his name ahead of 1966 Indiana All-Star Mike Niles Thursday night, and his next target is 1977 grad and former Indiana State University star Steve Reed (1,241). “That was a heck of a shot he made at the end of the first half,” Ogle said of Mangas making a rainbow three-pointer with a defender draped all over him in the waning seconds of the second quarter. “He was solid again tonight, and he sure is a good guy to have on your team. He’s an easy guy to take for granted, but I don’t ever want to do that.” Senior Jeremy David tallied nine points and nine rebounds in the win, while junior Jack Rhoades scored five points, and senior Jaceb Burish and sophomore Nolan Groninger finished with four points each. Juniors Asher Blum and Zach Riley rounded out the Tigers’ scoring with three and two points, respectively. Elkhart Memorial got 16 points from sophomore Hank Smith, while junior Jose Soto chipped in with 15 and senior Tryston Swartz finished with nine.
WARSAW 63, ELKHART MEMORIAL 49 EM 9 11 7 22 – 49 War 14 16 17 16 – 63 Memorial – Joe Smith 1-11 4-7 6, Tryston Swartz 4-5 0-0 9, Lyan Jennings 1-2 1-2 3, Jose Soto 5-9 2-2 15, Hank Smith 5-11 4-5 16, Ga’Various Crawford 0-1 0-0 0, Keldon Warrell 0-1 0-0 0, Trey Gallope 0-0 0-0 0, Jai-Veon Qaiyim 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Branden Brooks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-40 11-16 49. Warsaw – Kyle Mangas 7-12 3-4 20, Jeremy David 3-7 3-4 9, Sam Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Rhoades 1-1 3-5 5, Aaron Sandoval 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Riley 1-1 0-0 2, Jaceb Burish 2-7 0-2 4, Braxton Minix 8-9 0-0 16, Jack Grose 0-0 0-0 0, Asher Blum 1-6 1-3 3, Shane Powers 0-0 0-0 0, Nolan Groninger 1-1 2-3 4. Totals 24-44 12-21 63. Three-pointers – Memorial 6 (Soto 3, H. Smith 3, Swartz), Warsaw 3 (Mangas 3); Rebounds – Memorial 22 (Soto 4, Gallope 4), Warsaw 29 (David 9); Turnovers – Memorial 12, Warsaw 7; Fouls – Memorial 20, Warsaw 13; Fouled out – none; Records: Memorial 8-9 (4-2 NLC), Warsaw 13-6 (6-0 NLC) JV – Warsaw 39, Memorial 37 Warsaw – Landen Ferber 10, Tyler Metzinger 10, Brian Elliott 7, Jaylen Reese 7, Trevor Rumple 5
