Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Like Clark Kent entering a telephone booth and returning as Superman, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team came out of halftime in Saturday's game with visiting Gary Wirt a completely different team.
And Superman in this case was 6-foot-3 Tiger junior Greg Clay, who led all scorers with 19 points as Warsaw picked up a 69-45 win.
With Warsaw leading the Troopers 23-22 after two quarters of play, Clay went wild in the third quarter, scoring 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe.
"Greg Clay had a huge third quarter for us," 21st-year Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "He was very assertive as a player. He's an excellent 17, 18-foot shooter, and it showed tonight."
The 25-point win ups Warsaw's overall season record to 9-4; Gary Wirt, losing its second game of the weekend, falls to 6-4.
"In the first half we had a lot of what I call unforced turnovers," Rhodes said. "We weren't happy about that. We weren't able to contain No. 14 (Marcus Ford). His penetration killed us."
Ford scored 10 points for the Troopers in the first quarter on 5-of-5 shooting, as the Tigers trailed 16-14 after the first eight minutes of action.
Warsaw outscored Wirt 9-6 in the second stanza to take the one-point halftime lead.
After struggling offensively in the first half, namely seven turnovers in the first quarter, Warsaw completely put the game away in the second half.
Wirt senior Minuyard Wheeler cut Warsaw's lead to four, 30-26, with a basket at the 5:25 mark of the third quarter, but three baskets by Clay in a span of 16 seconds gave the Tigers a 10-point lead.
Warsaw outscored the Troopers 26-9 in the third quarter to build a 49-31 advantage heading into the final frame. Wheeler accounted for all of Wirt's third-quarter offense.
Wheeler finished the game with a team-high 13 points, while Ford finished with 12 and sophomore Brandon Cain five.
While it was Warsaw that had problems turning the ball over in the first half, Wirt was that way in the final two quarters. The Troopers turned the ball over nine times in the second half, seven times in the third quarter.
"As we have before, we came out in the third quarter a different team," Rhodes said. "The kids really listened to the adjustments."
Senior guard Trent Martin connected on a three-pointer to start the Tigers' fourth-quarter scoring. Two free throws by 6-7 senior center Paul Finnegan with 5:09 remaining in the game pushed Warsaw's lead to 19, 54-35.
To go with Clay's 19, Martin finished the game with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the three-point line. Finnegan finished with nine points, nine rebounds and three steals, while seniors Josh Buck and Brian Johnson chipped in with eight and six, respectively.
Warsaw outscored the Troopers 46-23 in the final 16 minutes, scoring more points in the second half than Wirt did the entire game.
"It was a nice weekend for us," Rhodes said. "This was a nice team effort. We're excited about next week now that the conference has evened out."
A 20-point win over Concord Friday gave Warsaw a 3-1 record in the Northern Lakes Conference. With Goshen suffering its first NLC loss Friday, Warsaw is now tied for first in the conference.
The Tigers will host NLC rival NorthWood on Friday and then entertain visiting Fort Wayne South on Saturday.
WARSAW 69, GARY WIRT 45
Gary Wirt (6-4) 16 6 9 14 - 45
Warsaw (9-4) 14 9 26 20 - 69
Gary Wirt FG FT R S Pts.
Wheeler (F) 4-5 5-6 5 1 13
Ford (G) 5-11 1-3 2 3 12
Jo. Johnson (G) 2-7 0-0 4 1 4
Ja. Johnson (C) 1-4 1-2 1 1 3
Lee (F) 1-9 0-0 5 0 2
Cain 1-2 2-3 0 0 5
George 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Gholson 2-4 0-0 1 0 4
Brown 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Totals 16-45 11-16 22 7 45
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
G. Clay (G) 8-12 3-4 3 0 19
Finnegan (C) 3-5 3-4 9 3 9
Buck (F) 4-7 0-1 4 0 8
Shaw (F) 1-1 2-2 3 2 4
Seiss (G) 1-3 0-1 2 4 2
Martin 4-7 0-0 1 0 12
C. Clay 0-1 2-2 2 0 2
Johnson 3-5 0-0 0 1 6
Fussle 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
DeGeeter 2-2 0-0 0 0 5
Knepper 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Foster 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Fawley 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 27-45 10-14 26 10 69
Three-point goals - Wirt 2-8 (Ford 1-4, Cain 1-1, Ja. Johnson 0-1, C. Johnson 0-1, Gholson 0-1), Warsw 5-8 (Martin 4-7, DeGeeter 1-1). Turnovers - Wirt 13, Warsaw 13. Fouls - Wirt 17, Warsaw 16. Fouled out - none.
JV - Warsaw 62, Gary Wirt 32
Gary Wirt - Jonathon George 6, Jaymar Johnson 6, Marcus Johnson 5, Brandon Cain 5, Montrell McLaurin 4, Montre Metcalf 2, Jason Williams 2, Marques Reese 1, Robin Henderson 1
Warsaw (12-0) - Erik Fussle 17, Riley Fuller 10, Ryan DeGeeter 10, William Knepper 10, Geoff Walmer 5, Suraj Datta 3, Jeremy Lursen 2, David Scott 1, Grant Toney 1, Steven Kuhn 1
