CROWN POINT – There are times for a basketball team when shots just don't fall.
For the Warsaw Tigers, that was the second half of Saturday night's non-conference boys game at Crown Point.
A night after shooting 61 percent in a double-digit win over conference rival Wawasee, Warsaw made just 9 of 25 shot attempts over the final 16 minutes and lost 48-41.
The Tigers, who fell to 4-3 on the season, never led in the contest, but were down just 38-36 when senior point guard Nolan Groninger converted two free throws with 3:53 remaining.
Despite his team's shooting woes, which were both the result of Crown Point's defense and the Tigers' attempts just not dropping, Warsaw coach Doug Ogle believed his team was going to pull out a win.
"I thought we were gonna win the game there when we got it down to two in the middle of the fourth quarter," said Ogle, whose team was looking for its third-straight win after losing back-to-back games at Homestead and Huntington North.
"I thought 'hey, we might just mess around and get this thing done.' But then we turned the ball over two of our next three possessions, and we just couldn't get over the hump. Crown Point is a solid team and they were just better than we were tonight.
"We just didn't really have anybody play well, and yet we were right there at the end with four minutes to go. We climbed back in it, and what this game shows us is we have to become more physical, that's probably the bottom line. That shows up in our defense, it shows up in our rebounding. We had a hard time guarding the ball tonight. They kept getting to the basket on us. I thought we were gonna play better, I did, but we just didn't play well."
The Tigers, who finished the game 16 of 40 from the field overall, 2 of 11 from three-point range, and 7 of 10 at the free throw line, trailed 15-11 after one quarter of play, 25-18 at halftime and 35-27 heading into the final frame.
The Bulldogs, who improved to 4-1, struggled through a 9-of-22 effort from the field in the first half, but found their touch in the second half and shot 44 percent for the game.
Crown Point also won the rebounding battle 26-22, and was 14 of 16 at the free throw line, including an 8-of-8 effort in the second half.
"We didn't shoot well, and we really didn't rebound well for a lot of the game," said Ogle. "In the first half we only had two offensive rebounds, and we know that's effort. That's all effort and focus, so we're disappointed in that.
"Crown Point was just more physical. They were more physical in their rebounding, they were physical on defense, and that caused us problems with ballhandling."
Groninger led the Tigers with a game-high 16 points, but he was among just three Warsaw players that scored more than four points.
Senior frontliners Tyler Metzinger and Jaylen Reese scored nine and seven points, respectively.
Junior Blake Marsh chipped in with four points, senior Trevor Rumple hit a three-pointer, and junior Jaylen Coon made the only shot he attempted to round out the Tigers's scoring with two points.
Crown Point benefitted from a balanced scoring attack, as Sam Snodgrass scored 13 points to go with seven rebounds, Elias Gerodemos added 12 points and seven boards, and Sam Decker was 4 of 4 from the field and 2 of 2 at the charity stripe en route to 11 points.
The Tigers fell 42-39 in the JV game.
Luke Adamiec, Bishop Walters and Jackson Dawson scored eight points each for the JV Tigers.
Warsaw will be in action again Wednesday at Whitko.
