After an emotionally and physically draining Friday night win at Plymouth, Warsaw simply ran out of gas in a 53-48 home loss to Merrillville Saturday afternoon at the Tiger Den. The Tigers and their leader, senior Kyle Mangas, got out of the gate quickly. Mangas drained a trio of three-pointers in the first eight minutes, scoring 13 of the Tigers’ 19 points in the period. The Pirates’ Cameron Wilbon, a 6-5 senior, was right there with Mangas, hitting five of six shots for 10 of Merrillville’s 17 points in the first period. Warsaw used a balanced offensive attack in the second period to take a 35-24 lead at halftime, but came out flat and never recovered in the second half. The Tigers scored just 13 points in the final 16 minutes. Wilbon, on the other hand, stayed hot, finishing the game 13 of 15 from the field and finishing with a game-high 28 points. Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said fatigue played a factor in the loss. “I think that they wore us down and we got tired in the second half,” he said. “Their length and pressure got to us. We shot poorly in the second half. “ Mangas led Warsaw with 23 points, but hit just 2 of 13 shots after halftime. “Kyle was tired,” said Ogle. “You look at how much effort he put into Friday night’s game, especially in the comeback. He missed some shots today that he usually doesn’t.” Still, Ogle said there were lessons to be learned from playing an opponent with the talents the Pirates have. “This type of game was good for us to play in,” he said. “Against that kind of quickness and athleticism. They reminded me a little bit of (potential sectional opponent) Elkhart Central. “We’re disappointed in the way we played in the second half, but this shows us some things that we need to work on and shore up. We have a couple of weeks to do that before the sectional starts.” The Tigers (14-7) are off until Saturday when they travel to Carmel to take on the Greyhounds (15-4). Tipoff for the junior varsity is set for 6 p.m. with the varsity following around 7:30.
