NAPPANEE - A high school math teacher, Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle is a fan of prime numbers.
Junior Nic Moore certainly gave the eighth-year coach some numbers to crunch Friday night.Moore, wearing jersey No. 11, became the 11th player in Warsaw boys basketball history to score 1,000 career points, as he led the Tigers to a 64-44 win at Northern Lakes Conference rival NorthWood.
Warsaw is now 11-2 on the season and 5-0 in conference play.
"It was pretty special to see No. 11 become the 11th player in Warsaw history to score 1,000 career points," said Ogle. "The 11th player player to do that, we're 11-2 and he's an 11th grader. There's a lot of symmetry to it."
Moore, who scored 11 points in the second half, finished with a game-high 20 points for the conference-leading Tigers.
"Nic Moore is a special basketball player," said third-year NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe, who was Warsaw's junior varsity coaching before taking the job with the Panthers. "Our goal tonight was to keep him in front of us. I thought the guys did a good job. Warsaw is good basketball team. They're playing well."
Moore now has 1,014 career points and is 10th on the all-time scoring list at Warsaw. He needs just eight points to pass Jason McKenzie and move into ninth on the list.
With his current average of almost 19 points per game, Moore could be seventh on Warsaw's all-time scoring list by the end of the regular season.
Friday's 20-point win was Warsaw's fourth-straight victory since a disappointing six-point loss to Noblesville.
With its third-straight loss, NorthWood fell to 5-9 overall and 1-4 in NLC action.
Elkhart Memorial and Plymouth are both 4-1 in conference action, while Concord, Goshen and Wawasee are 2-3 and Northridge is 0-5.
The Tigers travel to North Side Gym Friday to play Memorial, and then host Plymouth on Feb. 11.
Warsaw, which has won its last 10 NLC games, is trying to claim its first conference championship since 2004.
"This sets up a big game with Elkhart Memorial Friday night, our third stop in our tour of Elkhart County," said Ogle. "We're going to enjoy this one, and we're looking forward to playing Elkhart Memorial Friday."
The Tigers will take a perfect conference record into their showdown with Elkhart Memorial because of a balanced effort from Moore's supporting cast and because they took control Friday by closing the first half with a 16-2 run.
"I thought Zack Linky had one of his best games overall," said Ogle. "Jordyn Coon hit a couple big shots for us. Lucas Grose rebounded well. Linky, Coon, Grose and Justin Clemens all were solid. Our depth helped us tonight."
Clemens and Grose, who pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, scored nine points each, while Coon finished with eight points, Linky added seven points and Jalen Roscoe contributed with six points.
The host Panthers led 18-17 at the end of the first quarter, but after scoring 18 points in the first eight minutes, they only scored six points in the second quarter and a total of 26 points over the final 24 minutes.
"I thought our kids did a great job battling and getting a five-point lead in the first half," said Wolfe, whose team led 22-17 before Warsaw rattled off the next 10 points. "We had some defensive breakdowns in that 16-2 stretch that we need to correct."
After Warsaw tied the game at 22-22, a three-pointer and a pair of free throws by Linky put the Tigers up for good.
NorthWood trailed 33-24 at halftime and got no closer than within six points of the Tigers in the second half.
Cameron Williams led NorthWood with 14 points, while Michael Paul chipped in with 10 points, Kyle Heckaman scored nine points, David Zeltwager added six points and Zac Coleman finished with five points.
WARSAW 64, NORTHWOOD 44
W 17 16 10 21 - 64
NW 18 6 11 9 - 44
Warsaw - Andy Conrad 1-3 0-0 2, Joey Sparkman 1-3 0-0 3, Justin Clemens 2-5 4-5 9, Brock Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Moore 8-17 2-3 20, Christopher O'Hara 0-0 0-0 0, Jordyn Coon 3-6 0-1 8, Zack Linky 2-3 2-2 7, Lucas Grose 4-4 1-2 9, Cody Bragg 0-0 0-0 0, Jalen Roscoe 3-3 0-0 6, Travis Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Jay Holladay 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-44 9-13 64.
NorthWood - Michael Paul 4-14 0-0 10, Cameron Williams 6-11 2-4 14, Derek Yoder 0-0 0-0 0, David Zeltwanger 3-8 0-0 6, Aaron Rhoade 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Heckaman 3-6 0-0 9, John Sittler 0-2 0-0 0, Zac Coleman 1-6 2-2 5. Totals 17-48 4-6 44.
