WINONA LAKE - In the inaugural Mid-Winter Classic Tuesday night, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team had more down the stretch - as in 5-foot-9 senior guard Nic Moore.
A lively crowd at Grace College's Orthopaedic Capital Center saw the Illinois State-bound Moore score 15 of Warsaw's 19 fourth-quarter points, as the Class 4A No. 3 Tigers beat the Class 1A No. 2 Triton Trojans 55-43."Nic Moore was tremendous in the second half," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team won its 17th consecutive regular season game and improved to 6-0 this season. He scored in a variety of ways. Nic, almost single-handidly, won the game."
Moore scored 24 points in the second half and finished with a game-high 35 points, while juniors Jordyn Coon and Lucas Grose scored 12 and five points, respectively, in the win.
"I was a little too patient in the first half," said Moore, who became just the third Warsaw boys basketball player to score 1,500 points in a career, joining Kevin Ault (2,028) and Jeff Grose (1,749). "I knew I had to come out in the second half and be a leader. I started hitting some jump shots and getting some passes inside to Jordyn, Lucas and Jalen (Roscoe)."
With Warsaw trailing 31-25, Moore scored seven points during an 11-0 run that gave the Tigers the lead for good.
That spurt turned into a 16-2 run, and Warsaw led 41-33 with 6:50 remaining in the game.
The Trojans, who fell to 5-3 on the season, got no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Moore added four steals to his stat line, as the Trojans were hampered by 13 turnovers in the loss, eight of which came in the second half.
The Tigers turned the ball over just five times in the game.
"Our margin of error against a team like Warsaw is very small," said Triton coach Jason Groves. "Those turnovers in the second half hurt, and Warsaw made us pay."
Another thing that hurt Triton was its shooting in the second half.
The Trojans shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but only made 7 of 22 (32 percent) attempts in the third and fourth quarters.
Warsaw, on the other hand, went from shooting 38 percent in the first half to 57 percent in the second half.
"We had some good looks in the second half, but just couldn't finish," said Groves. "Once Warsaw started making their run, we sort of lost focus. We were right there, but credit Nic (Moore), he took over."
Moore, who has now scored 1,526 career points, has scored at least 31 points in five of Warsaw's six games this season and is averaging 34.5 points per game.
"I thought that Nic responded well," Ogle said of Warsaw's second-half charge. "He knew we needed to score some points. He has the unique ability to generate a lot of offense."
Moore's 35 points came against a Triton team that entered the game with the eighth-best defensive average in the state, as the Trojans were surrendering just 40 points per game.
Senior Griffyn Carpenter led Triton with 13 points, while sophomore Clay Yeo added 10 points.
Tuesday marked the first matchup between the Tigers and Trojans since the 1997 sectional, when Warsaw raced out to a 22-0 lead and beat Triton 60-50.
It was the first regular-season matchup between the teams since the Tigers won 70-55 in 1983.
Warsaw leads the all-time series 29-4.
"I appreciate Grace College for doing this, and Warsaw for playing us," said Groves. "I've always admired Warsaw's program, and I have a lot of respect for what they've done over the years."
The Tigers will be in action again Dec. 30 when they play second-ranked Bloomington South in the City Securities Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle.
Triton will host Elkhart Christian on Jan. 4.
WARSAW 55, TRITON 43
W 9 12 15 19 - 55
T 11 13 7 12 - 43
Warsaw - Joey Sparkman 0-1 0-0 0, Nic Moore 14-27 2-5 35, Jordyn Coon 4-6 4-7 12, Rhett Kesler 0-2 0-0 0, Lucas Grose 2-4 1-2 5, Jay Holladay 0-1 0-0 0, Jalen Roscoe 1-3 0-2 2, Travis Thomas 0-1 1-2 1, Clay Anderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-45 8-18 55.
