WATERLOO - As it turns out, the fourth time was the charm for Warsaw Community High School's varsity boys basketball team.
Winless in the program's previous three trips to DeKalb High School (2002, 2005, 2007), the Tigers got 29 points out of the duo of Nic Moore and Andy Conrad and some key three-pointers from Taylor Long and Zack Linky as they posted a 46-40 win over the Barons Friday night."This was a good team win," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team improved to 3-0 on the season. "It wasn't pretty, but it was nice to have to grind one out."
The Tigers and Barons have met in boys basketball action six times now, with DeKalb holding a 4-2 advantage.
Moore led Warsaw with a game-high 18 points, while Conrad finished with 11 points. Conrad and Moore led the Tigers with six and five rebounds, respetively.
Justin Clemens scored seven points for Warsaw, while Long added five points and Linky scored three points. Ryne Robinson and Chase Byerly rounded out the Tigers' scoring with a free throw each.
"Andy Conrad in the first half gave us lots of hustle and offensive production," said Ogle. "Taylor hit some big shots. Zack Linky hit a big three-pointer in the corner. Justin Clemens played well. It was a good team win."
Conrad scored all 11 of his points in the first half. He scored Warsaw's first eight points in the second quarter.
The Tigers' other three points in the second stanza came from Long on a buzzer-beating three-pointer that gave Warsaw a 24-14 lead at halftime.
Though they held DeKalb to just two points in the second quarter and led by 10 at halftime, the Tigers were tested in the second half for the first time this season.
Warsaw opened the season with a 27-point win over Tippecanoe Valley and then beat Columbia City by 16 points, but Friday against DeKalb the host Barons made a game of it after the intermission.
DeKalb opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run, a scoring spurt that was halted by Linky's three-pointer from the corner, a shot that gave the Tigers a 27-22 advantage.
A basket by DeKalb's Ryan Boester later cut Warsaw's lead to one, 27-26, but the Tigers went on to lead 36-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Barons held the ball for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, and then capitalized on the stall-play with a three-pointer from Boester.
A bucket from Boester cut the Tigers' lead to three, 38-35, with 2:17 remaining in the game, but the Tigers got another clutch bucket from Long and were 6 of 6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to preserve the win. For the game, Warsaw was 13 of 15 at the free throw line, while the Barons were 7 of 8.
"It was an odd game," said Ogle, whose team scored the first four points of the game and never trailed. "I thought we did a good job getting the lead in the second quarter, and then DeKalb came out and had a great start to the third quarter. We weren't really into it at the start of the third quarter."
Though his team allowed the Barons to score the first eight points of the third quarter, Ogle was proud of the way the Tigers finished things down the stretch.
"I thought we handled it well," Ogle said of DeKalb's run. "I thought we showed good poise when they made their run. We were patient and showed good poise."
Because his team is on the road again tonight, playing at Huntington North, Ogle said he wasn't upset that DeKalb chose to hold the ball for half of the fourth quarter.
"With the game (tonight) against Huntington North, I didn't mind them holding the ball," said Ogle. "We were up six at that point. They scored, but we came right back and scored, so it didn't hurt us."
The loss dropped DeKalb to 1-2 on the season.
Boester led the Barons with 16 ponts, while Zach Shiley scored seven points, John Haynes chipped in with six points and Jordan Pfister added five points.
WARSAW 46, DEKALB 40
W 13 11 12 10 - 46
D 12 2 16 10 - 40
Warsaw - Conrad 4 3-3 11, Clemens 2 3-3 7, Moore 6 5-5 18, Linky 1 0-0 3, Robinson 0 1-2 1, Long 2 0-0 5, Byerly 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 13-15 46.
