Senior Nic Moore put the Class 4A No. 7 Warsaw boys basketball team on his shoulders early and never gave the South Bend Clay Colonials a chance Tuesday at the Tiger Den.
Scoring 16 first-quarter points and 23 in the opening half, Moore helped give the Tigers (17-2) a 43-26 first-half lead en route to a 79-56 victory over the Colonials (10-8)."He was ready to go," Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said about Moore.
Climbing to 1,865 career points, Moore finished the game 11 of 19 from the field and 10 of 12 from the free throw line. On top of his point production, Moore also led the Tigers with seven assists and six steals.
With his full stat line, Clay could never bottle the 5-foot-9 senior, leading to a lopsided win.
"It's nice to have a game that's not real stressful," Ogle said.
Along with Moore's production, Ogle was pleased with the way his team moved the ball, finding the open man and finishing the game shooting 57 percent.
"This was our best game, so far, in terms of our communication on the floor," Ogle said. "That's a really important area for us. That helped us a lot. I thought our communication was sectional-championship level."
The ball movement helped junior Jay Holladay score eight points, junior Jordyn Coon and junior Rhett Kesler net seven and sophomore Jared Bloom and junior Lucas Grose finish with six.
Along with his seven points, Coon also posted a game-high boards to go with three assists and two steals.
In the loss, Clay was led by junior Jurod Wooden and sophomore Taron Miller, who scored 17 each, but it wasn't nearly enough.
Now, the competition goes up a notch for the Tigers, as they prepare to travel to Class 2A No. 5 Fort Wayne Luers, where the junior varsity tips off at 6:15 p.m. Friday.
"We're excited about going over there," Ogle said. "We know Luers is good. We know it's going to be an exciting atmosphere. I'm sure it will be sold out. It's going to be good for us, because with Evan Blackmon, Kenny Mullins and James Blackmon Jr., it will be a good game for us."
With the Class 2A semistate taking place at the Tiger Den, Luers has been willing to play each of their games against the Tigers in Warsaw the past three years, losing the last two. However, this year, the Luers Knights will actually be playing the home game on their home court.
"We've never played there, but I've been there to watch the Lady Tigers play," Ogle said. "We thought it was only right, that if they came here three times, we could go there one time."
A fun fact going into the Luers game, is that with 32 points, Moore will match Luers head coach James Blackmon's career scoring mark of 1,897 points, which he accomplished in 1983 as a senior at Marion High School.
Blackmon was an All-American for legendary Marion coach Bill Green, then went on to star for the Kentucky Wildcats.
WARSAW 79, SB CLAY 56
C 13 13 18 12 - 56
W 22 21 19 17 - 79
Warsaw - Nic Moore 11-19 10-12 35, Jordyn Coon 3-5 0-1 7, Lucas Grose 1-4 4-4 6, Jay Holladay 3-6 0-0 8, Jalen Roscoe 1-1 0-0 2, Brock Anson 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Bloom 2-3 1-2 6, Joey Sparkman 1-3 0-0 2, Brock Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Christopher O'Hara 1-1 0-0 2, Rhett Kesler 1-1 4-4 7, Travis Thomas 1-1 0-0 2, Clay Anderson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-46 19-23 79.
Clay - Adrian Easton 0-1 0-0 0, Jurod Wooden 6-10 1-3 17, Donavan Campbell 2-5 3-4 7, Taron Miller 5-9 4-6 17, Tony Shead 0-3 3-4 3, Nick Burke 0-2 0-0 0, Sidney Staples 0-1 0-0 0, Jalen Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Zach Nemeth 1-6 0-0 2, Darren Taylor 4-7 0-1 8. Totals 19-45 11-18 56.
