Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - It appeared to be one of those nights for the Warsaw Tigers.
Warsaw was able to break rival Wawasee's swarming press for the most part, and the Tigers held the guard trio of Andrew Mock, Joe Leach and Tylor Trobaguh relatively in check.
But too many makeable shots bounced off the iron as Warsaw struggled through an 11-of-42 (26 percent) shooting performance as Class 3A No. 8 Wawasee topped the Tigers 46-30 Friday night in both teams' Northern Lakes Conference opener.
The win was the fourth straight over Warsaw and improved the Warriors to 6-0 on the season, while Warsaw fell to 5-3.
"We executed well and were able to break their press," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. "We got good shots but we were just 4 of 27 in the first half. On the other hand, Wawasee shot well in the first half."
The Warriors charged out to a 27-9 halftime lead without much backcourt scoring.
What Wawasee relied on was the post play of Brandon Geiger, who took advantage of his matchup on Warsaw freshman Justin Clemens.
While Clemens looked impressive on the offensive end with a team-high 10 points, he struggled on defense against Geiger.
Geiger scored Wawasee's first seven points of the second quarter as the Warriors outscored Warsaw 19-4 in the stanza.
Geiger ended the evening with 16 points and seven rebounds.
"Geiger was getting some good looks tonight and he was able to convert," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "I'm happy with how he's played the last two games. What he does for us offensively and defensively will dictate how successful we are."
Warsaw finally broke into double digits in the second half when senior Eric Blanton hit a three-pointer at the begining of the third quarter, cutting Wawasee's advantage to 27-12.
Wawasee then proceeded to go on 6-0 run, with the first five points coming from Geiger.
The Tigers finally showed some offensive spark in the fourth quarter after scoring just 14 points through the first three quarters.
Geiger himself had 14 points for the Warriors through three quarters.
Senior Tommy Reinholt scored his only four points of the game in the fourth quarter while Clemens had seven points as the Tigers were able to develop some offense on the low blocks.
Reinholt led Tigers in rebounding with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Warsaw went on a 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter but the Tigers were quickly deflated when Mock nailed a three-pointer to silence the Warsaw crowd and end Warsaw's run.
Mock finished with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting while Trobaugh scored seven points and Leach finished with four.
The Wawasee faithful held its breath at the 3:16 mark of the third quarter when Leach fell going for a loose ball and hit his head on the gym floor.
Leach missed the Warriors' last game against Whitko due to injury.
While Leach appeared shaken up after his fall he was able to leave the court under his own power and eventually returned to the game.
Mishler cited the excitement of a rivlary game and the opening of the Northern Lakes Conference as to why his tremendous guards, who Ogle refered to as the "three amigos" after the game, didn't scorch the nets at the Hardwood Teepee Friday night.
"Obviously there were some nerves for both teams," said Mishler. "I might have underestimated how much of an effect it had on our guys."
Ogle believed those nerves may have led to his team's poor shooting.
"Sometimes if you get too excited its difficult to funciton," said Ogle. "It's our conference opener and Wawasee is so good we wanted to show what we've got."
Steve Lemasters, who averages 17.9 points per game for Warsaw, shot just 2 of 13 from the field and finished with nine points. Blanton finished with five points and Ben Truman added two. The Tigers didn't get any bench scoring in the game.
Lance Zimmerman finished with eight points for Wawasee while Barry Singrey came off the bench to score two points.
Warsaw's 30 points is its lowest point total since the 2004-2005 season opener against Columbia City when the Tigers lost 47-27.
Warsaw leads the all-time series over Wawasee 46-15. The Warriors have picked up five of their 15 wins since 2001.
The Tigers travel to Elkhart Central tonight. Wawasee takes part in the Plymouth Shootout a week from today at 10 a.m. against DeKalb and at 6 p.m. against Carroll.
WAWASEE 46, WARSAW 30
Warsaw 5 4 5 16 - 30
Wawasee 8 19 8 11 - 46
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
*Clemens 4-7 2-3 1 1 10
*Truman 1-6 0-0 1 3 2
*Reinholt 2-5 0-2 10 2 4
*Blanton 2-7 0-0 1 0 5
*Lemasters 2-13 4-4 3 1 9
Robinson 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Waikel 0-1 0-0 1 2 0
Harman 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Sharp 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 11-42 6-9 18 9 30
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
*Mock 3-6 2-2 3 5 9
*Trobaugh 2-5 1-2 3 2 7
*Leach 2-3 0-2 3 1 4
*Geiger 6-11 4-5 7 1 16
*Zimmerman 2-4 4-4 7 0 8
Singrey 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Stichter 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 16-31 11-15 23 9 46
Three-point goals - Warsaw 2-9 (Blanton 1-2, Lemasters 1-5, Truman 0-1, Waikel 0-1), Wawasee 3-8 (Trobaugh 2-3, Mock 1-4, Geiger 0-1). Turnovers - Warsaw 15, Wawasee 14. Fouls - Warsaw 13, Wawasee 15. Fouled out - None.
JV - Warsaw 36, Wawasee 28
Warsaw (8-0, 1-0) - Andy Conrad 14, Taylor Long 7, Chase Byerly 6, Ryne Robinson 4, Jesse Sharp 2, Luke Holladay 2, Kyle Tucker 1
Wawasee (5-1, 0-1) - Grant Ruch 9, Drew Johnson 4, Jesse McBride 4, Wes Kaiser 4, Brad Granger 2, Dan Dingledein 2, Chas Amadeo 2, Ryan Koble 1
