ELKHART - To say that Nic Moore had a hand in Warsaw's Northern Lakes Conference win over Elkhart Memorial Friday night at North Side Gym would be an understatement.
The ultra-talented 5-foot-9 junior point guard was active on both offense and defense for the Tigers, scoring 24 points, making 10 steals and dishing out six assists, as Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team beat the host Crimson Chargers 57-46."The Lord had a basketball player in mind when he brought Nic Moore into the world," said eighth-year Warsaw coach Doug, whose team improved to 12-2 overall and 6-0 in the NLC with its fifth-straight win.
The 11-point victory guaranteed the Tigers at least a share of their first NLC championship since 2004.
Warsaw can with the conference title outright with a victory over Plymouth Thursday at the Tiger Den.
Plymouth improved to 11-5 overall and 5-1 in the NLC Friday night with a 47-40 win at Goshen.
A victory over the Pilgrims Thursday would be the first time since 1999 that Warsaw has gone through the conference season undefeated.
And that's exactly what Moore has in mind for he and his teammates.
"We don't want to share the conference with anybody," said Moore. "We'll be ready to go against Plymouth, we don't want to share the conference championship with anybody."
With his 24 points Friday night, Moore passed 1992 Indiana All-Star Jason McKenzie on Warsaw's all-time scoring list and is now ninth with 1,038 career points. Moore needs nine points to pass 1992 grad Dan Elliott and move into eighth on the list.
"I can tell you that Nic Moore had a great week of practice," said Ogle. "He was very impressive. He was a leader. I would have been shocked if he didn't play great tonight."
While Moore eventually stole the show, it was the Crimson Chargers who came out and set the tone early, taking an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game.
After Ogle called a timeout, Moore scored Warsaw's first five points, senior Zack Linky added a three-pointer and the Tigers built some momentum of their own, cutting the deficit to three, 17-14, after one quarter of play.
A bucket by Moore tied the game at 17-17, and then a Moore assist to junior Jalen Roscoe gave the Tigers a 19-17 lead with 5:05 to play in the second quarter.
Warsaw used a 23-6 run and built a 27-21 advantage at halftime.
Memorial, which fell to 10-7 overall and 4-2 in the NLC, trailed by at least five points throughout the entire second half.
"I'm proud of the team for fighting back after we were down 11-0," said Ogle, whose team has won 11 straight NLC games and is 7-0 in conference road games this season and last season. "We were playing without a starter. Andy Conrad sat out with an ankle injury. I thought Zack Linky did a nice job tonight, and we did a great job rebounding. Elkhart Memorial has a lot of rebounding power."
The Tigers outrebounded Memorial 32-20, as sophomore Lucas Grose led the way with a game-high seven boards and classmate Jordyn Coon and senior Justin Clemens pulled down six rebounds each.
To go with Moore's 24 points, Warsaw also got 12 points from Clemens and eight points each from Grose and Linky, who hit two big three-pointers.
The Crimson Chargers were led in scoring by Antonio Sanders' 16, while Michael Kibiloski chipped in with 13 points and seven rebounds and Todd Johnson finished with 12 points and seven assists.
WARSAW 57, ELKHART MEMORIAL 46
W 14 13 12 18 - 57
EM 17 4 11 14 - 46
Warsaw - Joey Sparkman 0-0 0-0 0, Justin Clemens 6-10 0-0 12, Nic Moore 7-14 9-11 24, Jordyn Coon 0-3 2-2 2, Zack Linky 2-5 2-2 8, Lucas Grose 3-6 2-6 8, Jalen Roscoe 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 19-41 16-23 57.
Memorial - Tyler Keck 0-0 0-0 0, Todd Johnson 5-8 0-0 12, John Bloczynski 0-1 0-0 0, Jaron Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Markese McGuire 0-5 0-0 0, Urston Smith 2-4 0-0 5, Antonio Sanders 8-11 0-2 16, Michael Kibiloski 5-14 0-2 13. Totals 20-44 0-4 46.
Three-point goals - Warsaw 3 (Linky 2, Moore), Memorial 6 (Kibiloski 3, Johnson 2, Smith). Rebounds - Warsaw 32 (Grose 7), Memorial 20 (Kibiloski 7). Turnovers - Warsaw 15, Memorial 13. Assists - Warsaw 11 (Moore 6), Memorial 15 (Johnson 7). Steals - Warsaw 11 (Moore 10), Memorial 3. Fouls - Warsaw 10, Memorial 18. Fouled out - none. Records: Warsaw 12-2, 6-0 NLC, Memorial 10-7, 4-2 NLC.
JV - Memorial 40, Warsaw 35
Warsaw (11-4) - Brock Anson 12, Rhett Kesler 9, Jay Holladay 6, Clay Anderson 4, Travis Thomas 2, Jordan Wray 2
Memorial (12-1) - Jyrron Cooper 10, Jakyah Qaiyim 9, Evan Weaver 8, Parker Devenney 6, Paul Miller 4, T.J. Gray 3
