A team that put its offense on display in Wednesday's season opener, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team showed off its defense Saturday.
The Tigers, who put up 76 points in a 27-point win over Tippecanoe Valley, held Columbia City to 21 points through three quarters Saturday in a 51-35 win over the visiting Eagles."I'm happy with the defensive improvement from the first game," said seventh-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, who picked up his 80th career win with the Tigers. "We just didn't shoot the ball well tonight. We got good shots, we just didn't make them."
Warsaw finished the game just 17 of 40 from the field, yet it still didn't matter.
The Eagles, who were just 11 of 36 from the field in their 16-point loss, were never a threat to the more talented, more experienced Tigers.
"When you have a team that's well-balanced, it's hard to beat them," Ogle said of his team. "Ryne Robinson only scored three points tonight, and we still beat Columbia City pretty handily. We have a lot of weapons. It's only a matter of time before Ryne Robinson has a breakout game, but tonight we showed that we can be a well-balanced team."
Sophmore Nic Moore led the Tigers with a game-high 13 points, while junior Andy Conrad came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down a game-high seven rebounds.
Junior Justin Clemens chipped in with nine points, while seniors Chase Byerly and Taylor Long added eight and six points, respectively.
Robinson, Warsaw's second-leading scorer at 16 points per game last season, and junior Zack Linky rounded out the Tigers' offensive output with three and two points, respectively.
"Nic Moore does a great job running the team, but we're a well-balanced team," said Ogle. "I thought the combination of Byerly, Clemens and Conrad did a great job tonight."
The Tigers scored their first nine points of the game from behind the three-point arc and raced out to a 13-3 lead.
Warsaw lead 13-5 after one quarter of play and then held a 26-13 advantage at halftime.
The Eagles only managed 21 points in the first 24 minutes of the game, and only in the fourth quarter when Ogle emptied his bench did Columbia City score more than eight points in a quarter.
The Eagles outscored Warsaw 14-13 in the fourth quarter.
"We're off to a solid start," Ogle said of his team's first two games of the season. "We're looking forward to going to DeKalb and Huntington North. Both teams have new coaches with, Jon Everingham (DeKalb) and Joe Bradburn (Huntington North)."
The Tigers play at DeKalb Friday and at Huntington North Saturday.
Freshman Brandon Gay led Columbia City Saturday night with 10 points, while junior Brice Lantz chipped in with nine points and junior Chris Bachelder added seven points.
