In a battle of Northern Lakes Conference heavyweights, the Warsaw Tigers came out swinging offensively, and then withstood everything the NorthWood Panthers threw at them Friday. With first place in the NLC on the line, the host Tigers built a 20-6 lead in the first half, and later pulled out a 47-39 win with experience and poise after the Panthers rallied to take a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter. As a result of their eight-point victory, Warsaw is now 13-3 overall and alone atop the conference standings with a 4-0 mark. NorthWood, which went into Friday’s highly-anticipated matchup with a 12-game win streak, fell to 13-2 overall and 4-1 in the NLC. The Panthers’ only other loss this season was a 65-64 setback at South Bend St. Joe on Nov. 29. “We handled the ball well in the end against their trap,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “In the first half, they were 13 of 15 at the free throw line. We fouled them too much when we didn’t need to. They only scored four points from the field (in the first half). We got off to a good start, we just needed to quit fouling.” While the Tigers were 10 of 18 from the field in the first half, the Panthers were just 2 of 13. What allowed NorthWood to claw back into the game and cut the deficit to six, 23-17, by halftime was cashing in with the 13-of-15 effort at the charity stripe. “In the first quarter, all that could go wrong did,” said NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe. “We did a nice job in the second quarter, keeping our poise and battling in a live environment.” After cutting the Warsaw advantage to 32-31 after three quarters of play, the Panthers took their only lead of the game when junior Dakiyron Fox scored the first bucket of the final frame. The Tigers responded with a basket from senior Jake Mangas, reclaiming the lead for good and upping their home record this season to 8-1. “Warsaw is a very good basketball team,” said Wolfe, a former Warsaw assistant coach before taking over the NorthWood program eight years ago. “To outplay them for an entire game is unrealistic. For us to make a run at them, I think we played at a pretty high level. With that being said, the start is so important, and being down like that in the first half took a lot of our emotional energy.” Defense has been one of the Tigers’ strengths this season, and it was certainly on display Friday night. Warsaw held the Panthers 26 points below their season average and to just 36 percent from the field. “I asked the kids in practice what we should make our goal,” said Ogle. “NorthWood was averaging 65 points per game. Tim Swanson said 40. Guys were looking at him like he was crazy, so we set it at 50. I never imagined we’d hold NorthWood to 39 points in a game.” Asked what that kind of defensive effort says about his team, Ogle said, “It tells me we have pretty good defensive team. If you take away the second quarter, we played well defensively.” The Tigers also outrebounded NorthWood 21-20. The Panthers came in averaging a plus-12 advantage on the boards. “They’ve been outrebounding teams by an average of 12 per game, that’s ridiculous,” said Ogle. “We were concerned about their rebounding power. They didn’t get a lot of second-chance points tonight. That’s where they get a lot of their offense.” NorthWood scored just four second-chance points Friday night, and after the Panthers were 13 of 15 at the free throw line in the first half, they were 2 of 4 in the third and fourth quarters. Sophomore Vincent Miranda led NorthWood with 13 points, while junior Braxton Linville and Fox scored 12 points each. The trio combined to scored 37 of the Panthers’ 39 points. Sophomore Luke Zurcher scored NorthWood’s only other two points. “Those three guys were averaging 50 points together,” Ogle said of Miranda, Linville and Fox. “They got 37 tonight. I was proud of our defensive effort.” Sophomore Kyle Mangas led Warsaw with a game-high 16 points, nine of which he scored in the first quarter, helping the Tigers to a 17-4 lead after eight minutes of play. Senior Rashaan Jackson finished the game with 15 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Jackson scored eight of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. “Kyle continues to get more and more aggressive,” said Ogle. “I thought Rashaan played well. I’m happy for him. He hasn’t played that well in a long time. I’m really happy for him.” Jake Mangas chipped in with eight points in the win, while senior Nick Sands and junior Paul Marandet rounded out Warsaw’s scoring with three points each. The Tigers are in action again Friday when they host Elkhart Memorial, while NorthWood travels to West Noble Tuesday.
