Schmidt pours in 20; Warsaw whips Wawasee in Ogle's 200th win
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
A breakout performance from senior Evan Schmidt helped Warsaw coach Doug Ogle notch a milestone win Friday night. Against the Wawasee Warriors in the Northern Lakes Conference opener, Schmidt scored a game-high 20 points, including a 6-of-8 effort from three-point range. Schmidt’s performance led the Tigers to a 79-34 victory, and also lifted Ogle to his 200th career win at the helm of Warsaw’s tradition-rich program. “I told my wife Melissa Thursday night that Evan had a really good week of practice,” said Ogle, whose team improved to 7-0 on the season. “I’m serious. He had a great week of practice. I was thinking, I hope he gets rewarded for it. “He’s been in a bit of a slump ... he shot bad for about four games in a row. I was just happy for him because he had it dialed in at practice in every way, not just shooting the ball. I was really happy for him, because that’s how he practiced this week.” In the first six games of the season, Schmidt was 7 of 22 from three-point range. His shooting touch Friday night was the knockout punch the Warriors couldn’t handle, as they fell to 1-5 this season and lost their 29th consecutive NLC contest. Warsaw led 22-5 after one quarter of play, 45-11 at halftime and 63-18 at the end of the third quarter. Schmidt outscored Wawasee 11-6 by himself in the second stanza, and when Ogle sat his starters at the end of the third quarter, Schmidt had a two-point lead over the Warriors. “Kyle (Mangas) and Paul (Marandet) draw a lot of attention, they’re great players,” Schmidt said of his talented teammates. “Night in and night out, they’re going to draw a lot of attention. I just gotta be ready to shoot when they find me. “Everybody on this team is unselfish, everybody is always looking for the open man. Everybody just wants to win, it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.” Mangas scored 14 points for the Tigers, including two crowd-pleasing dunks, and dished out six assists. Marandet took just three shots from the field and finished the game with six points and six assists. As a team, Warsaw was 34 of 49 from the field overall, 7 of 16 from the arc, and 4 of 5 at the free throw line. Showing off their unselfish brand of basketball, the Tigers had 23 assists, which led to easy buckets and kept Wawasee on its heels. “What it really starts with is Mangas being able to get in the lane so well,” said Wawasee coach Steve Wiktorowski. “There’s not many people that can stop him 1-on-1. You gotta bring some help, and we didn’t do a very good job of keeping track of people. I thought we ran too many people at him at times, and he picked us apart inside, and their shooters picked us apart outside. “I thought Coach Ogle’s press was good early, it kept us from getting into any kind of offensive rhythm. We already struggled with that, and that took us out even more. With Mangas penetrating, and Marandet’s strength and being able to go inside, and then you add No. 24 (Schmidt), and No. 30 (Braxton Minix), he can shoot too ... they’re pretty good.” The Warriors finished the game 14 of 41 from the field overall, 3 of 12 from three-point range, and 3 of 9 at the charity stripe. Jayce Boatwright led Wawasee with seven points, while Tyler Miller and Chase Rookstool scored five points each, and Cayden Wegener chipped in with four points. Asher Blum scored seven points for Warsaw, all in the fourth quarter after Ogle emptied his bench, while Minix, Ross Johnson and Jeremy David scored six points each and Riley Rhoades chipped in with five. The Tigers have won the last nine meetings with Wawasee and now boast a 56-14 record in the all-time series. Ogle, in his 14th season as Warsaw’s varsity coach, owns a career record of 200-99. Ogle also coached the Warsaw JV team for 15 years, compiling a record of 270-30. Al Rhodes, who won 405 games in 22 seasons at Warsaw, is the only other coach to win at least 200 games with the Tigers. “As I reflected on it a little bit this week, I just thought about all the people who have been a part of it,” said Ogle. “This is my 14th year ... from all of the players, to the coaches, to the administration, to my wife Melissa, and (daughters) Courtney, Cendall and Creigh, I’m just very blessed to get to be in this position. The 200 wins is nice, but just to be a part of this ... to be the boys basketball coach at Warsaw is special, it’s a good job, and I just appreciate that I get to do it.” The Tigers are in action again Tuesday when they host Triton, while the Warriors host Columbia City Tuesday.
WARSAW 79, WAWASEE 34 Wawa 5 6 7 16 – 34 War 22 23 18 16 – 79 Wawasee – Cayden Wegener 2-6 0-0 4, Stephon Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Smith 2-5 1-2 5, Jairus Boyer 1-2 0-0 3, Jacob Hand 0-1 0-0 0, Cameron Schlabach 1-3 0-0 3, Jayce Boatwright 3-9 0-0 7, Ben Hoffert 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Hatfield 1-3 1-4 3, Tim Conley 1-4 0-0 2, Chase Rookstool 2-3 1-3 5, Dalton Pearish 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 14-41 3-9 34. Warsaw – Kyle Mangas 7-10 0-0 14, Paul Marandet 2-3 2-2 6, Riley Rhoades 2-2 1-1 5, Jeremy David 3-3 0-0 6, Sam Miller 1-1 0-0 3, Jack Rhoades 1-1 0-0 2, Aaron Sandoval 0-1 0-0 0, Ross Johnson 3-5 0-0 6, Jaceb Burish 2-3 0-0 4, Evan Schmidt 7-9 0-0 20, Braxton Minix 3-7 0-0 6, Asher Blum 3-4 1-2 7. Totals 34-49 4-5 79. Three-pointers – Wawasee 3 (Boyer, Schlabach, Boatwright), Warsaw 7 (Schmidt 6, Miller); Rebounds – Wawasee 16 (Pearish 4), Warsaw 31 (R. Rhoades 5); Turnovers – Wawasee 12, Warsaw 5; Fouls – Wawasee 11, Warsaw 14; Fouled out – none; Records: Wawasee 1-5 (0-1 NLC), Warsaw 7-0 (1-0 NLC) JV – Warsaw 43, Wawasee 41 Wawasee – Ben Hoffert 8, Brian Collins 8, John Kennedy 7, Cameron Schlabach 6, Ryan Edington 5, Jacob Hand 3, Will Geer 2, Zak Linnemeier 2 Warsaw – Jack Rhoades 9, Asher Blum 9, Zach Riley 8, Tristan Frye 7, Jack Grose 5, Dane Stookey 3, Landan Ferber 2
