ELKHART - Attendance and revenue might suggest Hoosier Hysteria is dying, but Friday's Class 4A Sectional 4 semifinal clash between rivals Concord and Warsaw was proof it isn't dead yet.
Played at historic North Side Gym, the see-saw battle between the tradition-rich programs was like a stroll down memory lane, a visit to a time when a high school basketball game was the best ticket in town.And after six ties and six lead changes, the sixth-ranked Warsaw Tigers escaped with a 53-51 win over the Mintumen, as they won their 12th-consecutive game and advanced to tonight's 7:30 p.m. sectional championshp game against Elkhart Memorial.
Warsaw improved to 19-2, while Concord finished its season with a 17-5 record.
Elkhart Memorial advanced to tonight's title tilt by beating Northridge 56-47 in Friday's second semifinal game.
"Concord did a good job of guarding Nic Moore, the best anybody has done all year," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. "Obviously he got frustrated. After he was called for the technical foul, he settled down. He's intelligent, and he played well in the fourth quarter."
Moore, who entered Friday's contest averaging nearly 21 points per game, was just 3 of 9 from the field against the Minutemen. But his ability to get to the free throw line, however, went a long in putting the Tigers in the sectional championship game for the second time in three years.
En route to a team-high 18 points, Moore made 12 of 14 free throws in the win, including 9 of 10 in the fourth quarter.
As a team, Warsaw was just 3 of 12 from the field in the second half, but cashed in on 20 of 24 charity tosses in the third and fourth quarters.
"I thought we rushed things too many times in the first half," said Ogle. "I'm proud of the players for not folding. They showed a lot of poise, and we hit some big free throws."
After Concord's Larone Smith tied the game at 49-all with a three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining, Moore converted a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left and made two more with six seconds remaining for a 53-49 advantage.
Concord scored its final two points at the buzzer to account for the final score.
"The fouls added up," said Ogle. "We got in the one-and-one pretty quickly in the second half. That was the difference in the game, our free throw shooting."
Just as the Tigers have done to their opponents the majority of the season, they made free throws than the Mintumen attempted.
Warsaw was 22 of 26 at the line, while Concord was 10 of 18.
"We were silly enough to foul them 90 feet from the basket," said Concord coach Steve Austin, whose team hosted and fell 54-48 to the Tigers on Jan. 22. "We did silly things and put them at the line."
Outside of the fouls, Concord executed its gameplane.
The Minutemen shot well from the outside, finishing 9 of 20 from three-point range, and they were able to frustrate Moore and make him work for his points.
"I've seen six, seven, eight, nine of their games," Austin said of Warsaw. "He's a great player. He doesn't have to work very hard. Our whole goal was to make him work hard and not let him get the ball. He made a lot of free throws. They just killed us at the free throw line."
To go with Moore's 18 points and six assists, Warsaw got 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists from Justin Clemens, 10 points and six boards from Jordyn Coon and nine points and seven rebounds from Lucas Grose.
Zack Linky scored Warsaw's other five points, with all of his offensive output coming in the first quarter.
The Tigers led 15-14 after the first quarter and 27-24 at halftime.
The Minutemen, who trailed by as many seven points in the second quarter, went toe-to-toe with Warsaw and started the second half with an 8-1 run to take a 32-28 lead.
With Concord leading 35-33, Concord's Doug Acker converted two free throws stemming from a technical foul on Moore, and the Minutemen went on to lead 39-34 heading into the fourth quarter.
A steal and bucket by Moore knotted the game at 41-all with 4:52 remaining, and then Moore and Grose hit two free throws each.
Smith converted a three-point play for Concord, cutting the Tigers' advantage to one, 45-44, with 2:48 to play.
Coon pushed Warsaw's lead back to three with a pair of charity tosses, and Smith trimmed the Tigers' advantage again with a bucket of his own.
A no-look pass from Moore to Coon resulted in a 49-46 lead for the Tigers, and then Smith's three tied the game at 49-all.
Smith led Concord with a game-high 26 points and nine rebounds, while Acker added 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
"Concord made some shots," said Ogle. "We knew they were going to shoot better than the first time we played them."
The Minutemen finished the game 16 of 48 (33 percent) from the field, while the Tigers were 15 fo 32 (47 percent).
Warsaw now holds a 40-15 advantage in the all-time series against Concord.
The Mintuemen haven't beat the Tigers in the postseason since a 57-55 overtime win in the regional championshp game in 1986, when Shawn Kemp was a sophomore at Concord and Rick Fox was a junior at Warsaw.
WARSAW 53, CONCORD 51
W 15 12 7 19 - 53
C 14 10 15 12 - 51
Warsaw - Andy Conrad 0-0 0-0 0, Justin Clemens 4-5 3-4 11, Nic Moore 3-9 12-14 18, Jordyn Coon 4-7 2-2 10, Zack Linky 2-5 0-0 5, Lucas Grose 2-6 5-6 9, Jalen Roscoe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-32 22-26 53.
Concord - Jordon Haitsma 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Yoder 3-6 0-0 7, DuWhan Alford 0-2 0-0 0, Franko House 1-5 0-0 2, Larone Smith 8-17 5-11 26, Doug Acker 3-10 5-5 14, Coty Brown 0-2 0-0 0, Jason Spriggs 1-4 0-2 2. Totals 16-48 10-18 51.
