HUNTERTOWN - Warsaw Community High School and Indiana University have the same fight song. Their basketball teams have something else in common – they struggle to win on the road. The Warsaw Tigers' road woes continued Friday night, as the host Carroll Chargers made 6 of 7 three-point attempts in the first half en route to a 60-57 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Tigers, who won 11 of their first 12 games, fell to 13-7 with their fifth-straight loss away from the Tiger Den. Carroll snapped a four-game losing streak and will take a 9-13 record into next week's 102nd annual state tournament. "They hit 6 of 7 threes in the first half, they shot well," Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said of the Chargers, who made 7 of 10 total attempts from the arc and 20 of 34 (59 percent) shots overall. "In tonight's game we didn't give Carroll enough respect. I just don't think we respected them. That's the worst mistake you can make in competitive athletics." Warsaw held an 11-9 advantage on the scoreboard after one quarter of play, and then Carroll put on a long-range shooting display in the second quarter – making 5 of 6 treys in the frame and taking a 28-24 lead at halftime. The Chargers led 43-38 at the end of three quarters and 52-42 in the fourth quarter before the Tigers closed the gap late. "We just were not consistent enough tonight," said Ogle. "We had stretches where were made good plays, but were not able to string enough of them together, and Carroll made enough plays to win." A pair of free throws by senior Lucas Grose cut Carroll's lead to three, 52-49, with 36 seconds remaining. The Tigers, however, were forced to foul, and Carroll iced the game at the free throw line. The Chargers were 11 of 14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and led 60-54 before Warsaw sophomore Jordan Stookey hit a three-pointer at the buzzer. The Tigers finished the game 22 of 40 from the field overal, 8 of 17 from the arc, and 5 of 7 at the free throw line. While Warsaw made a respectable 55 percent of its shot attempts, it was defending Carroll on the perimeter that proved to be a problem. "Hopefully the players will think about what we need to do to get better," said Ogle, whose team received a bye in Class 4A Sectional 4 and will play Friday at 7:30 p.m. against either Elkhart Memorial or Northridge. "This is not the type of game we wanted to end our regular season with," continued Ogle. "We have five practices to get ready for Friday." Senior Jordyn Coon, fresh off a 20-point, 9-rebound performance against Fort Wayne Luers, paced the Tigers Friday night with 18 points and eight rebounds. Grose added 14 points and six boards, while junior Jared Bloom scored 10 points and senior Rhett Kesler chipped in with eight points. Carroll had four players score in double figures, led by the 19 points of 6-foot-2 freshman Chandler White. White, who scored 17 points in the second half, has been offered a scholarship by Miami of Ohio and lists Michigan, Purdue and Indiana as schools of interest, according to rivals.com Senior Jon Wenger added 16 points, while classmates Jonathan McKeeman and Tanner Ginder scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. Prior to the start of the game, Carroll honored Wenger, McKeeman and Ginder. Playing in the final home game of their prep careers, the three seniors combined to score 39 points on 13-of-19 shooting. "Carroll played well," said Ogle. "They shot well. "If you look at their losses, they had some close games with some good teams. They're a deceiving team."
