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A night after exacting revenge on an Elkhart team that defeated them earlier this year, the Warsaw boys basketball team looked to avenge an early season loss to Northridge on Friday night as the team sought its third straight sectional championship at Elkhart’s North Side Gym. In a physical, back and forth contest, the Tigers gave their opponent everything they had, but the Raiders proved to be too much in a 49-37 win for the green and gold.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my team.Our effort, our focus, our gameplan, I thought it was all there,” Warsaw head coach Matt Moore said. “We just needed to hit some shots that didn’t fall for us.
There was no short supply of intensity in the opening minutes of the game, as both teams made it clear that nothing was going to come easy in this championship contest. To say physicality was on display early would be an understatement. Both sides were locking down defensively and not letting anything easy take place. Most baskets scored in the first four minutes had some form of contact to accompany them.
The lead changed hands numerous times over the first eight minutes, as neither side wanted to let its opponent hang on to any sort of momentum for more than a few moments. The Tigers were holding their own, with Sam Lara and Mydin Burgher leading the way offensively.
A pair of threes for Raiders gave the green and gold a bit of breathing room, putting them up five with less than two minutes to go in the first. Northridge star Brady Scholl was held to just four points in the opening period, but was making an impact in other ways. Most notably, he was locking down the paint defensively. Warsaw was incredibly hesitant to challenge him down low, and for good reason. After eight minutes, the Raiders led 13-9.
“I don’t think Brady’s impact can be measured. He had 15 points tonight but he did so much more than that,” Moore said. “Especially if you’re going to call the game the way it was called tonight, that was not going to go well for us,” Moore said. “I didn’t think it was the best officiated game tonight, but we needed to do a better job of playing through and around that.”
As the game continued on, the offensive inconsistency that had been a problem for the Tigers all season long became more and more of an issue. Warsaw’s offensive possessions were long and drawn out, relying on players to get where they needed to be and for the ball to meet them at the perfect time. That combined with Scholl still keeping the paint off-limits, the visitors were struggling to keep up. With Northridge working quickly, it opened the door for the home team on the scoreboard to continue expanding their lead, which they did, going up by seven.
“When you don’t have a lot of ball handling, it puts a lot of pressure on the guys that have to do it, and in spurts, they exploited that tonight,” Moore said. “But I thought we did a lot of things right tonight. We led in the third quarter. We gave them everything we had and it gave us a chance.”
But, as had been the case so far on this night, the tide turned quickly. The Tigers were able to stack together a few stops and scores to get back within one with just over two minutes until halftime. It was a classic case of turning the defense into offense, something the orange and black have used to their advantage all season long. Warsaw had a prime opportunity to keep that momentum going into the locker room and even take a lead, but instead, the Raiders scored the final bucket before the break to go up 20-17 midway through the contest.
Warsaw senior Jaron Courtois snares a rebound during the fourth quarter of Saturday night's sectional championship game against Northridge...Nieter
Lara tied things up with his second triple of the night 90 seconds into the third. Both teams were taking their time offensively to begin the second half, which was not too surprising considering how much energy each had expended already. Things remained neck-and-neck for the next few minutes, with Northridge remaining in front. But, with three and a half minutes left in the third, an and-one for Burgher, who had contributed a majority of the offense to this point, gave Warsaw its first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
“I thought our execution in pockets was really good. I’m sure a lot of people saw last night’s game and thought we were going to slow things down and play a possession game.” Moore said. “We wanted to score and score quickly tonight. We had the best guard on the floor and we wanted to get him going downhill. I think that gave us a chance tonight.”
Now it was the Raiders who were struggling offensively. The Tigers were doing a great job staying in front defensively and denying Scholl the ball. They were forcing the Northridge guards to beat them by shooting at the perimeter, which for the most part, was not working.
That was until the visitors finally jumped in front. Seeing themselves trailing seemed to awaken something in the Raiders, as they took control of the game over the next two minutes. Looking downright dominant, the green and gold unleashed a 6-0 run to not only retake the lead, but to go up by multiple possessions. The Tigers were still in it, but had to put an end to this run immediately.
For the most part, the orange and black were able to finish the quarter strongly. The two sides traded baskets in the final two minutes, keeping it a five-point game as the fourth quarter arrived. Eight minutes separated Warsaw and a third straight sectional title, but the team would have to come from behind to capture it.
The task only got taller in the early stages of the fourth, as Northridge was only getting stronger as the game wore on. With a little under seven minutes to go, the Raiders had extended their lead to double figures and things were starting to look bleak as the Tiger offense had stalled once more.
A hoop plus the harm for Lara made it a seven-point game with five minutes left, but Warsaw needed to start stringing some stops together if it was going to make a difference. The visitors were able to force two empty trips in a row following Lara’s make, but just took too long to capitalize. Precious seconds were ticking off the clock while the Tigers tried to mount their comeback, but it just wasn’t there on the offensive end.
With less than two minutes to go it was a nine-point affair once again and things were starting to look bleak. It had been over three minutes since the team’s last basket, and while Northridge hadn’t lit up the scoreboard in the quarter either, they had more than a comfortable lead to work with.
As the final seconds ticked away, Warsaw was forced to play the foul game to try and extend things. The Raiders didn’t let that go on for very long, hitting their shots at the charity stripe to put the game away and end the Tigers’ postseason dominance at North Side Gym.
Warsaw (13-12) will return next season.
“These guys did a great job all season of not listening to the noise. It’s easy to have an opinion when you’re on the outside,” Moore said. “I’m sure not a lot of people gave them much of a shot tonight and I’m incredibly proud of the way they fought and how much they grew this year.”
