Defense, it’s been said, wins championships. The Warsaw Tigers are proof of that, and they hope to continue that trend. The Class 4A No. 5 Tigers (23-1) have already won Northern Lakes Conference and Elkhart Sectional titles this season. Next on their to-do list is beating South Bend Riley (22-5), and then either Crown Point (18-8) or East Chicago Central (18-5) to claim Saturday's Michigan City Regional crown. The Tigers, who are in search of their first regional championship since advancing to the state finals in 2010, will meet the Wildcats at 11 a.m. EST at Michigan City High School. The regional final is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST Saturday, with the winner advancing to a one-game semistate that will be hosted by either Huntington North or Lafayette Jeff on March 19. The other 4A regional in the northern part of the state will be played Saturday at Logansport High School and includes No. 4 McCutcheon (25-3), Carroll (22-6), defending state champion Homestead (20-5) and Carmel (17-8), the only team to beat Warsaw this season. Warsaw's game with Riley will certainly feature a contrast in styles, pitting the Tigers’ stingy defense against the Wildcats’ high-scoring offense. Warsaw is second in the state in fewest points allowed per game at 38.4, trailing only 3A No. 13 Angola in that category. Only five times this season has Warsaw allowed more than 45 points in a game. In the Tigers’ last nine games, only one team – Hamilton Southeastern, who lost to Warsaw by 20 – has been able to score 40 points. Riley, on the other hand, gives up 60 points per game, but scores an average of 72 points per game. The Wildcats have scored at least 65 points in 20 of their 27 games, while Warsaw has scored more than 65 just once this season. Something will have to give Saturday. “In 2007, Plymouth had a team led by Randy Davis ... they were all 6-foot-2 and got after it on defense like we do,” Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said when asked if he remembers a high school team that compares to the defense of his own squad. “They could lock people up, and that's kind of the team that I thought of when I thought about our team and what we could do. “It usually starts with Paul (Marandet) and Kyle (Mangas) being able to control the other team's best player. If Paul can control, to some degree, Reontre Lawrence on Saturday, that would be big. Nobody in the Plymouth Sectional could do that, I mean, he went nuts. He played great. “And then Kyle is a good matchup with Damezie Anderson. So the fact that our two best players are also are two best defenders helps us. It's a bit unusual.” Lawrence, the only senior on Riley's roster, leads the Wildcats with 18 points per game, while Anderson, a junior, averages 17.8 points. Sophomore Shamar Dillard averages 9.3 points per game, while junior Maurice Scott Jr., the brother of former Notre Dame All-American Skylar Diggins, scores 8.8 points per game and junior Nate Marino chips in with 8.2 points per contest. “We take a lot of shots, we like to get out in transition and go,” said Riley coach Mark Johnson. “If it's a game in the 40s, that may not bode well for us. Warsaw is very good. They're well-coached. And teams like that don't put themselves in a bad position.” Warsaw's defense is centered around not allowing teams to score in the basket area. Riley present's a different challenge, as the Wildcats have made 209 three-pointers this season – the exact number of treys the Tigers have attempted. Anderson has made 75 treys this season, just seven short of the number Warsaw has made as a team, while Marino and Lawrence have made 58 and 49, respectively. “We've got to play our game, limiting turnovers and rebounding the ball,” Marandet said when asked the key to beating Riley. “Damezi Anderson and Reontre Lawrence are tough to guard, they're good offensive players. We've got to keep them off the glass, and keep them off the free throw line. Playing them last year was a great experience, we know how they play. If we're solid and play our game, I like our chances.” Warsaw beat Riley 57-47 last season in a holiday tournament game at the Tiger Den. Mangas leads the Tigers with 19.1 points per game and shoots 55 percent from the field, while Marandet averages 12 points per game and shoots 52 percent from the field. While Warsaw doesn't want to let Riley get hot from three-point range, the Wildcats don't want to put Mangas or Marandet at the free throw line. Mangas has made 107 of 132 charity attempts, while Marandet is 116 of 139. “They're very good ball players,” Johnson said of Mangas and Marandet. “They know how to lead their team and they know how to get to the free throw line. But Warsaw is a program, they replace really good players with really good players. When you’re 23-1, you've got a lot of really good players on your team. And they’ve won all those games because they're a very good team.”
