FORT WAYNE - Having drawn the bye for next week's sectional at North Side Gym, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team treated Friday's regular-season finale as if it were a first-round sectional game.
Trying to get into a state-tournament type of mindset certainly worked.Blistering-hot shooting in the first half, a trio of double-figurer scorers and a huge advantage on the boards added up to a 71-62 win over the host Carroll Chargers.
"(Asssistant) Coach (Jim) Speicher told the team since we don't play Tuesday that we need to treat tonight's like a first-round sectional game," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose Tigers improved to 12-8 on the season. "I thought Nic Moore, Ryne Robinson and Justin Clemens really played well. We really shot the ball well tonight."
To say that Warsaw shot the ball well - especially in the first half - would be an understatement.
The Tigers, who got 17 points from both Moore and Robinson and 16 from Clemens, were 14 of 17 (82.4 percent) from the field in the first half and led 37-18 after two quarters of play.
Warsaw finished the game 27 of 39 (69.2 percent) from the field overall, 4 of 8 from three-point range, and outrebounded Carroll 26-14.
"When I talked to the team before the game, they looked like they were ready," said Ogle. "I didn't expect them to play this good. We've been talking about being more patient on offense. I thought we were more patient on offense tonight. Our new theme is compete with poise and patience. I think we did that tonight."
The Tigers led 19-12 after the first quarter, 37-18 at halftime and 53-39 at then end of three quarters.
The only reason the final margin was nine points was because Carroll finished the game on a 10-0 run after Ogle cleared the bench.
With the loss, Carroll fell to 9-11 on the season and will enter sectional play on a four-game losing streak.
The Tigers, on the other hand, will enter Friday's sectional semifinal game with Elkhart Memorial after upsetting Class 3A No. 7 Plymouth and dominating Carroll.
"With the momentum we've built in the last two games, if we can keep that going we're going to be a tough out in the sectional," said Ogle. "We played pretty well in the last two games."
To go with his 17 points, Moore pulled down a game-high seven rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists.
Sophomore Andy Conrad came off the bench and finished with eight points and four assists for the Tigers, while Zach Owens, who started the junior varsity game, scored five points.
In all 11 players got varsity minutes for Warsaw. Eight of them scored.
"In the second half, we were able to get some other guys in there," said Ogle. "I was happy about that."
The Chargers finished the game 19 of 40 (47.5 percent) from the field overall, 7 of 19 from three-point range, and converted 17 of 21 free throws.
Senior Dominic Spadafora led Carroll with 19 points, while classmate Max Killion added 18 points and junior Brandon Kinsey scored 11 points.
