Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Third-year Warsaw varsity boys basketball coach Doug Ogle was right - South Bend Clay is a different team than Columbia City.
For Ogle and his Tigers, however, it was the same outcome as they improved to 2-0 with a 56-45 win over the Colonials Tuesday night.
Warsaw opened the season Saturday with a 20-point win over visiting Columbia City, a team with a 6-foot-7 center that scored 16 of his team's 27 points and gave the Tigers trouble inside, but not a team that coaches would describe as overly athletic.
Tuesday night the Tigers hosted Clay, a team that started 6-6 junior Daniel Payne and 6-7 senior Ashton Daniel.
The Colonials' size and athleticism troubled the Tigers at times, but as is often the case with teams that are taller and agressive, Clay got in foul trouble and Warsaw took advantage.
The Tigers finished the game 14 of 18 at the charity stripe and converted 8 of 9 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
Clay hit just 6 of 14 free throws in the game, which was its season opener.
"Clay's size and athleticism was a problem for us," said Ogle, whose Tigers started the season 2-0 for the first time in his short varsity tenure. "We can't simulate Payne and Daniel in practice. Clay is not a bad team. Free throw shooting was big in this game."
The Tigers led by eight after three quarters and didn't completely put the Colonials away until late in the fourth.
Warsaw led just 42-38 with 3:27 to play in the game, but the Tigers bumped the lead to 10 after a bucket from junior Colin Clemens, a basket by senior Michael Wienhorst and a pair of free throws by junior Shaun Cabrera with 1:51 remaining.
The Tigers led by at least eight points the rest of the way and were able to maintain the lead with Daniel fouled out of the game.
Daniel finished the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds for Clay, while Arreon Neely had 13 points and seven rebounds and Payne nine points and four rebounds.
"Their rebounding was very powerful," Ogle said of the Colonials. "We knew it was going to be that way. Their size and length is good."
Clay outrebounded the Tigers 33-29.
Wienhorst led all scorers, backing up his 22-point performance against Columbia City with 26 points against Clay. The 6-2 senior was 7 of 14 from the field, 11 of 11 from the free throw line, and scored 10 in the fourth quarter.
Clemens added 10 points and eight rebounds for Warsaw, while juniors John-Wesley Maierle and Cabrera and senior Andrew Holladay added six points each.
Warsaw, which led 20-18 at the half after shooting 29 percent from the field, was 13 of 20 from the field in the second half, hitting 20 of 44 field goals overall.
Clay was 18 of 47 (38.3 percent) from the field for the game and hit just 11 of 27 shots in the second half.
The Tigers are in action again Friday when they host Fort Wayne South Side.
WARSAW 56, S.B. CLAY 45
Clay 11 7 14 13 - 45
Warsaw 10 10 20 16 - 56
Clay FG FT R S Pts.
* Vail 1-6 0-0 2 1 3
* Neely 6-15 0-1 7 2 13
* Kenny 2-4 0-1 1 0 4
* Payne 3-7 2-3 4 2 9
* Daniel 5-13 4-7 11 3 14
Keultjes 1-1 0-2 1 0 2
Moffett 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Tate 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
King 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Youngquist 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 5 0 0
Totals 18-47 6-14 33 8 45
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Cabrera 1-4 3-5 4 2 4
* Holladay 3-7 0-0 2 1 6
* Maierle 3-4 0-1 4 2 6
* Wienhorst 7-14 11-11 4 1 26
* Clemens 5-10 0-1 8 1 10
Conley 0-2 0-0 1 2 0
Fuller 1-1 0-0 2 0 2
Reinholt 0-2 0-0 2 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 20-44 14-18 29 9 56
Three-point goals - Clay 3-12 (Neely 1-5, Vail 1-4, Payne 1-2, Moffet 0-1), Warsaw 2-12 (Cabrera 1-4, Wienhorst 1-2, Clemens 0-3, Holladay 0-2, Conley 0-1). Turnovers - Clay 19, Warsaw 15. Fouls - Clay 22, Warsaw 17. Fouled out - Keultjes, Daniel.
JV - Clay 39, Warsaw 38
