ELKHART - While it was hard to see through the fog outside, Elkhart Memorial junior Karvel Anderson found a way to shine inside North Side Gym Monday night.
In a rescheduled Northern Lakes Conference game with the visiting Warsaw Tigers, Anderson scored 39 points and led the Crimson Chargers to a 77-63 win in high school boys basketball action."Karvel Anderson is very good," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team fell to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the NLC. "He made some tough shots, but there were too many where we weren't guarding him like we need to. I was disappointed in our awareness of Karvel Anderson."
Anderson's performance, which included 24 points in the second half, helped Memorial improve to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the NLC. The Crimson Chargers have won their last five games, including victories over conference foes Northridge, Goshen and Warsaw.
To the Tigers' credit, they did put together a 17-4 run in the fourth quarter, cutting Elkhart Memorial's advantage from 19 points to six points.
A three-pointer by sophomore Justin Clemens, his only trey of the season, made it a two-possession game at 66-60 with 1:03 remaining, but the Crimson Chargers were clutch from the free throw line, hitting 17 of 19 in the second half and 21 of 25 overall.
"That's one thing we can count as a positive," Ogle said of his team's fourth-quarter rally.
Memorial led 19-13 after one quarter of play and held a 26-22 advantage at halftime.
After an old-fashioned three-point play by Warsaw junior Ryne Robinson midway through the third quarter, the Crimson Chargers were able to pull away.
Memorial led 51-42 after three quarters of play and then held a 62-43 advantage in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
"I felt good only to be down four points at halftime," said Ogle. "In the third quarter, they started to break loose and pull away. Offensively, we didn't score on some good opportunities. We missed too many shots in the basket area."
Three weeks ago, Warsaw was undefeated in conference play and atop the NLC standings.
With losses at Concord, NorthWood and Memorial, the Tigers are now in a three-way tie for third place.
Plymouth, which will play at Warsaw Thursday, is 6-0 in the NLC and has already wrapped up this year's conference championship.
Memorial is alone in second place at 4-2, followed by Northridge (3-3), Wawasee (3-3), Warsaw (3-3), Goshen (2-4), NorthWood (2-4) and Concord (1-5).
"It's disappointing after we had such a good start," Ogle said of his team's current standing in the conference. "It's disappointing to have lost these three road games, but we've got to be patient with the young guys we have and hope we can turn it around against Plymouth and get ready for the sectional."
The Class 3A No. 7 Pilgrims will bring a 13-2 record and seven-game win streak to the Tiger Den Thursday. What they won't have with them is leading scorer Randy Davis, who was ejected from Saturday's game at Goshen.
"We can't fall into the trap of thinking just because they're not going to have Randy Davis that we're going to beat Plymouth," said Ogle. "When they had four guys suspended a couple years ago, they were still able to win. We can't overlook them because just because he's not playing. We're out of the conference race, but we've got three more games to get ready for the sectional."
Robinson led Warsaw with 19 points against Memorial, while freshman Nic Moore scored 16. Clemens finished with 13, while junior Chase Byerly chipped in with eight points and sophomore Andy Conrad scored seven points off the bench.
To go with Anderson's 39 points, the Crimson Chargers got 19 points from Lavarius Macon and seven points from both Sean Cooper and Michael Kibiloski.
