Tigers Dominate NLC Rival ConcordHours before a winter storm was predicted to hit northern Indiana, things snowballed in the Tiger Den Friday night.
In a Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball game against Concord, the Warsaw Tigers opened with a 10-0 run, led 35-10 at halftime and dominated in all facets of a 64-25 win over the Minutemen.
How lopsided was Warsaw’s 39-point victory?
Concord, which fell to 2-10 overall and 1-3 in the NLC, scored 25 points over the 32 minutes.
The Tigers, now 9-4 overall and 4-0 in the league standings with their 30th NLC?win in the last 32 tries, tallied 23 points in the second quarter alone.
“No. 1, I told the players before the game, and then again after, the game, we’re gonna build our program and Warsaw is the bar,” said first-year Concord coach Derrick DeShone.
“Warsaw is the bar in the conference, and Coach Ogle does a fantastic job, and that’s where we have to get. This was a great baseline to see where we are to where they’re at, and things that we’ve got to do.
“The pace early in the game is exactly what we wanted. We can’t outscore them ... we wanted to keep it a lower-scoring game, and we did some good things. We were down 6-0, and we missed a layup that would have made it 6-2, and then it got to 8-0 because they scored on that next possession. It’s those little things here and there that add up quickly. We’re not a team that’s gonna come out and fire it and have a lot of scoring power.
“Getting off to a better start in terms of making some shots would have been good, because I thought we got some shots.”
Concord was 3 of 18 from the field in the first half and 8 of 39 (20 percent) for the game.
Warsaw, on the other hand, was 14 of 23 over the first 16 minutes and 25 of 46 (54 percent) for the game.
“It was a good start for us,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “We had a good week of practice, and I felt like our guys were ready to play.
“I thought we were dominant from a rebounding standpoint in the first half. We played pretty well in the first half, and Concord didn’t shoot well. They were 3 of 18, but missed some good shots.”
The Tigers outrebounded Concord 39-17.
Warsaw had nearly as many offensive rebounds (13) as the Minutemen did total rebounds.
Six-foot-4 sophomore Luke Adamiec led Warsaw’s rebounding dominance with nine. He was also 3 of 3 from the field for six points, and dished out seven of Warsaw’s 22 assists.
“I thought a highlight for us tonight was Luke Adamiec’s play off the bench ... seven assists, nine rebounds, six points and he was 3 of 3,” said Ogle. “That’s his best game.
“We had a whole bunch of guys score. Jaylen Coon had his best game to date. He’s starting to get a little more confident. There’s strength in numbers, and the more guys we can put in a game and they can function for a couple minutes here and there and we don’t give up leads, that’s helpful.”
Wyatt Amiss led Warsaw with a game-high 12 points, all of which came from the three-point arc.
Senior Nolan Groninger finished with 10 points, six assists and three rebounds, while classmate Tyler Metzinger added 10 points and three boards, and junior Jaylen Coon chipped in with nine points, four boards and two assists.
Michael Johnson and Drew McDougle led Concord with eight points each. Johnson added a team-high seven rebounds to his statline.
With the convincing win, Warsaw remains atop the NLC standings in a tie with Plymouth at 4-0.
Plymouth kept pace with a 56-47 win over Wawasee Friday night.
Elkhart Memorial and Northridge are 2-1 in NLC action. Neither played Friday night.
With tonight’s game at Fort Wayne Snider cancelled and not scheduled to be made up, the Tigers have a week until they host conference rival NorthWood.
Ogle said he was going to give his players a three-day break before practicing again on Tuesday.
In Friday’s JV contest, Warsaw pulled out a thrilling 51-48 victory.
Brock Poe led the way with 16 points, and Bishop Walters scored 11 points.
