Johnson leads balanced Warsaw effort in 65-50 win over 4A No. 10 Homestead
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
In the first two games of the season, Ross Johnson scored six points and played a total of 16 minutes. The 6-foot-3 Warsaw sophomore had a breakout performance Friday, and it helped the Tigers beat Class 4A No. 10 and defending state champion Homestead 65-50. In Warsaw’s home opener, Johnson came off the bench to make 5 of 6 attempts from the field overall, 3 of 3 from the arc, and 2 of 2 at the free throw line as he scored a team-high 15 points. “Ross had a really good week of practice,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team improved to 3-0 on the season. “He didn’t get to play that much at Columbia City, but he had a good week of practice, and he’s been shooting well. In practice he’s been making threes consistently. “We knew that (6-7 junior Braxton) Minix wasn’t going to be good for much time tonight because he was just too sick. He was only in school two days. I’m just really happy with our team depth. “I’m just pleasantly surprised. (Jaceb) Burish was good again tonight, and Ross was just lights out.” If anybody thought Warsaw was nothing more than a two-man show with standout guards Kyle Mangas and Paul Marandet, they’re sadly mistaken. Burish, who made the steal to seal the deal in last week’s double-overtime win at Columbia City, started in Minix’s place Friday night and made the most of the opportunity. The blue-collar 6-2 forward was 5 of 7 from the field and finished the game with 14 points and four boards. Mangas, who was averaging nearly 24 points per game, chipped in with 13 points, six assists, four boards and three steals, while Jeremy David tallied nine points and four boards, and Marandet contributed eight points, seven assists and five rebounds. Evan Schmidt rounded out Warsaw’s scoring with two of the team’s nine three-pointers. “I am impressed with how unselfish our team is,” said Ogle, while looking at a stat sheet that revealed the Tigers had 16 assists to just five turnovers. “Actually, there was a couple times Kyle Mangas should have shot the ball and he passed it. But to weather pretty serious foul trouble for Kyle Mangas ... when he gets his fourth foul in the third quarter and it’s still a game ... that says a lot about our team.” Homestead coach Chris Johnson, who was denied his 250th win with the Spartans and 330th overall, put together a scouting report that was centered around Mangas and Marandet. He admitted after the 15-point loss he had no idea Johnson would play as well as he did, or that the Tigers would be 20 of 38 from the field overall, 9 of 15 from the arc, and 16 of 21 at the charity stripe. “We scouted them against Columbia City, and they didn’t shoot the ball nearly as well,” said Johnson, whose team fell to 1-1. “We knew coming in here that they were going to shoot the ball a lot better. I didn’t think they’d shoot as well as they did. It’s tough to beat teams when they shoot like that. “We wanted to close out short on No. 20 (Johnson) and 24 (Schmidt). We wanted to make sure Mangas and Marandet, we could keep them out of the lane, and I thought we did that for the most part for three quarters. “We’re a different team than we were last year, we don’t have the firepower to where we can come out and guard man-to-man and chase those guys. And that’s what we had to do when we got behind.” The teams were tied 12-12 after one quarter of play, and then Warsaw led 28-24 at halftime and 43-37 at the end of the third quarter. The Tigers closed the game on a 13-3 run en route to their first win over Homestead. The Spartans have a 4-1 record in the all-time series, with three of the wins coming by a combined five points. Tahj Curry led Homestead Friday with a game-high 22 points, while Brandon Durnell added 12 points and eight boards, and Chase Neiswonger chipped in with 10 points. Warsaw is in action again tonight when it hosts Huntington North, while Homestead plays at Fort Wayne Dwenger Friday.
