An old sports adage states that offense wins games and defense wins championships.
Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team won 19 games last season, the most wins the Tigers have had in a season since the 2001-2002 campaign when they were 21-3 in Al Rhodes' final season with the program.There were no championships for the Tigers, however, as they finished second in the Northern Lakes Conference and were later upended in the sectional semifinals by an Elkhart Memorial team they had already beat.
With junior standout Nic Moore, seniors Justin Clemens, Andy Conrad and Zack Linky, as well as the potential of junior Jalen Roscoe and sophomores Lucas Grose and Jordyn Coon, Warsaw has offensive firepower again this season.
It's the defensive end of the floor that eighth-year coach Doug Ogle is focused on this season.
"It looked like in a lot of games last year we just outscored teams," said Ogle, who owns a 97-57 record with two sectional championships and a conference championship in his head coaching tenure with the Tigers. "We want to be effective consistenly on defense. You put yourself at risk when you just play offensively. If you have a bad shooting night, you may be in trouble. As I evaulated last season, that jumped out at me. We really want to focus on the defensive end this year."
As a program, Warsaw was 55-6 last season, as the varsity posted a 19-3 record, the junior varsity was 18-2 and the freshman team finished with an 18-1 mark.
"We're really excited about all of our teams," said Ogle. "We had good seasons at all three levels last year, as good as we've been in a long time, and we want that trend to continue."
Gone from last year's varsity team are starters Ryne Robinson, Chase Byerly and Taylor Long, as well as reserve guard Kyle Tucker.
Robinson was second on the team with 16 points per game and also averaged four rebounds per contest, while Byerly and Long both averaged nearly five points per outing.
Leading the list of returners is the 5-foot-9 Moore, who scored a total of 788 points in his freshman and sophomore seasons. Moore averaged a team-best 18 points per game last season and shot 86 percent from the free throw line, 41 percent from three-point range and 48 percent from the field overall..
Moore led the Tigers last season with 103 assists and 37 steals.
With Warsaw playing four of its first five games on the road, Moore's play at point guard will be critical for the Tigers as some of them play major varsity minutes for the first time.
"When you have a point guard like Nic Moore, it's always helpful no matter where you play," said Ogle, whose team opens play Wednesday at Tippecanoe Valley. "Nic Moore is a very good player."
Following Wednesday's season opener at Valley, the Tigers play at Columbia City Saturday, at Fort Wayne South Dec. 4, host Huntington North Dec. 5 and play at Rochester Dec. 11.
Other notable returners for Warsaw include Clemens, Conrad and Linky.
Clemens enters his fourth season as a starter, while Conrad has been the sixth man the past two seasons but has started a number of games.
Clemens shot 62 percent from the field last season and averaged 10 points and five rebounds per game, while Conrad shot 56 percent from the field and averaged nearly eight points and five rebounds per game.
Linky only averaged three points per game last season, but provided strong defensive play and key three-point shooting.
All three seniors, as well as Moore, will be a big part of how successful the Tigers are this season.
"With Justin Clemens, you probably have 60 varsity starts," said Ogle. "Nic Moore is a two-year starter, and Andy Conrad is a two-year varsity player who is like a starter. Technically, we only have two starters back from last year, but realistically we have three starters back."
Joining Moore, Clemens and Conrad in the starting lineup will likely be Linky and Grose, a 6-5 sophomore whose surname is no stranger to Tiger Basketball as he is the son of 1985 Mr. Basketball Jeff Grose.
Others on Warsaw's roster include juniors Joey Sparkman, Brock Davis, Christopher O'Hara and Cody Bragg.
"I like the makeup of this team," said Ogle. "We're going to miss the contributions of Taylor Long, Ryne Robinson, Chase Byerly and Kyle Tucker, but we have some experience back and some talented younger players. I really like the makeup of this team."
