Turnovers, missed shots lead to 40-37 semistate loss to McCutcheon
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
LAFAYETTE – Defensively, the fifth-ranked Warsaw Tigers did enough Saturday night to win their Class 4A semistate battle with No. 5 McCutcheon. It was on the offensive end, where they’ve been so efficient all season, that the Tigers struggled. With a trip to Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and a berth in the state finals on the line, Warsaw turned the ball over 11 times in the first half and missed a number of shots in the paint throughout the game. Those miscues, some of which were a result of McCutcheon’s zone defense, led to a 40-37 loss for the Tigers, who finished the season with a 25-2 record. The Mavericks, who averaged 74 points per game, improved to 28-3 and advanced to the state finals for the first time. McCutcheon will face No. 1 New Albany, an 82-64 winner over No. 9 Southport in the southern 4A semistate, at approximately 8 p.m. Saturday. “We just missed too many shots in the basket area, too many turnovers, and we let them get to the basket too much,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team was 5 of 12 from three-point range, but only 8 of 18 inside the arc. “It was a combination of things.” After a buzzer-beater by junior Kyle Mangas, the Tigers led 8-7 at the end of a the first quarter. McCutcheon led 21-18 at halftime, and Ogle admitted after the game he was happy to only be down three points after the 11 first-half turnovers. “I felt like at halftime, I think we turned the ball over 11 times, we were fortunate to only be down by three,” said Ogle. McCutcheon, a team that has topped the century mark on the scoreboard multiple times this season, led 33-29 after three quarters of play. With his team leading by four, Mavericks head coach Rick Peckinpaugh decided to slow the game down even more than the two squads already had, and McCutcheon stood in place and stalled half the quarter away. Ogle was content in allowing McCutcheon to stall, though it worked in the Mavericks’ favor, as junior Hayden Deaton’s bucket with 3:14 remaining pushed Warsaw’s deficit to six, 35-29. The Tigers didn’t score their first points of the final frame until senior Paul Marandet his two free throws with 39 seconds remaining, cutting McCutcheon’s lead to 37-31. “We were down four, we weren’t playing well really in any phase, so I was OK just to let them take it down,” Ogle said of allowing McCutcheon to stall. “They scored on that possession, which was big. We just allowed too many drives where they got into the basket area on us. Our defense wasn’t that good today.” After Marandet’s free throws, senior Darnell Butler made two charity tosses for McCutcheon, followed by a three-pointer from Warsaw junior Kyle Mangas. Butler made 1 of 2 free throw attempts with 12 seconds left to give the Mavericks a 40-34 advantage, and Mangas made another trey to account for the final three-point margin. Mangas was 8 of 13 from the field overall, 3 of 6 from the arc, and led the Tigers with a game-high 19 points. Marandet and Schmidt, both seniors, scored six points in the loss, while junior Jeremy David scored four points and senior Riley Rhoades finished the game with a pair of free throws. As a team, Warsaw was 13 of 30 from the field overall and 6 of 6 at the charity stripe. McCutcheon finished the game 14 of 33 overall, 2 of 11 from the arc, and 10 of 16 at the free throw line. While the Tigers did make every free throw they attempted Saturday, they didn’t get to the line as often as they had the majority of the season. Prior to Saturday’s semistate game, Warsaw averaged 19 free throw attempts per game, and the Tigers averaged 14 points at the stripe per game. In the Tigers’ two losses this season they struggled to get to the free throw line, attempting just 14 total charity tosses against Carmel and McCutcheon. “We couldn’t get to the free throw line,” said Ogle. “We were 6 of 6, but we needed more free throw attempts. So, in a nutshell, lack of free throws, too many turnovers, they’re really good, all those things.” Sophomore Robert Phinisee led McCutcheon with 16 points, while Butler and Deaton scored nine and six points, respectively. Junior Eddy Collins chipped in with five points, while senior Charles Phinisee rounded out the Mavericks’ scoring with four points. The 25 wins this season was the most for a Warsaw team since the 1996 squad, led by Mr. Basketball Kevin Ault, went 25-3 and lost to New Albany in the semifinal of the state finals in the old one-class tournament. The Tigers lose three starters in Marandet, Schmidt and Rhoades. “It’s been a great ride,” said Marandet, a three-year starter. “But knowing that we can beat that team, that’s probably the toughest part.”
