ELKHART – The Warsaw Tigers’ dream season ended in nightmarish fashion Tuesday night. Playing Concord in the opening round of Class 4A Sectional 4 at historic North Side Gym in Elkhart, the Tigers were just 8 of 38 (21 percent) from the field overall, 3 of 19 from three-point range, and were outscored 26-14 in the second half of a 32-28 loss to the Minutemen. Warsaw took an 18-4 record into the game against the 6-16 Minutemen and had won regular season games over each of the other five teams in the field. None of that mattered Tuesday, however, as Concord used a 20-6 run in the second half to advance to Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal game against Elkhart Memorial (13-9). Goshen (14-9) beat Elkhart Central (5-17) by a 46-37 count in Tuesday's second game and will play Northridge (12-9) in Friday's second semifinal game. Friday's winners will play in the sectional final at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. “We couldn't do anything right really,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team beat Concord 39-37 at the Tiger Den on Jan. 23. “Even in the first half, we shot poorly, and we should have been up by more than eight at halftime. The second half was just a calamity. We weren't poised. We rushed. We couldn't make layups. Credit Concord. They made plays, and we couldn't do anything right.” After trailing 8-4 after one quarter of play and 14-6 at halftime, Concord scored the first eight points of the third quarter and extended that into a 20-6 run, taking a 26-20 lead when senior Filip Serwatka made two free throws with 2:35 remaining in the game. The Tigers responded with eight straight points of their own, grabbing a two-point advantage on a bucket by senior Rashaan Jackson, but a trey by sophomore Denzel Halliburton gave the Minutemen the lead for good at 29-28. Concord sophomore Cedric Mitchell made a steal on Warsaw's next possession, was fouled, and made 1 of 2 free throws to give his team a 30-28 lead with 17 seconds left. Still clinging to postseason life, the Tigers had a chance to tie the game with seven seconds remaining, but senior Jake Mangas missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity. Serwatka grabbed the rebound, and with four seconds remaining made two more charity tosses to account for the final score. Despite his team having just six wins, compared to the 18 wins Warsaw had, Concord coach Steve Austin said he didn't believe Tuesday's outcome was an upset. “We don't think it was an upset,” said Austin, whose team was 19-1 and knocked out of the tournament in three overtimes by a scrappy Warsaw team two years ago. “You have to be confident. We thought we beat ourselves when we played them earlier (in the regular season), and we were minus two starters in that game. The only way we were going to win tonight was if our kids left everything on the floor, and maybe for the first time this season, they all left everything on the floor.” Serwatka scored 13 of his game-high 15 points in the second half. The 6-foot-5 standout also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Sophomore Brandon Emerick scored five points for the Minutemen, while senior Brett Austin scored four points, Halliburton and Mitchell finished with three each and senior Daniel McMahon added two points in the win. “Warsaw is a very good team and hard to play against,” said Austin. “In the first half I thought our kids backed down. At halftime, all we really stressed was being aggressive. If we were gonna lose, we were gonna leave it all on the floor, and I thought we did that.” Senior Nick Sands led Warsaw with 10 points, while sophomore Kyle Mangas scored seven points in the loss. Senior Jake Mangas finished with four points for the Tigers, while classmate Tim Swanson added three points and junior Paul Marandet and Jackson rounded out Warsaw's offensive output with two points each. Warsaw's 28 points were the fewest scored since the Tigers lost 49-25 at Concord on Feb. 4, 2014. “I'm surprised at how we played,” said Ogle. “I wouldn't have expected us to play like that. I didn't sense that at all. We just couldn't really do anything right, and Concord made plays late in the game.”
