SYRACUSE - After missing last week's game because of a concussion, Warsaw's Lucas Grose was certainly part of the action Friday night.
The 6-foot-5 junior was 11 of 14 from the field and scored 26 points, complimenting standout senior Nic Moore's 36-point performance and helping the Class 4A No. 3 Tigers beat rival Wawasee 84-76 in Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball action."Lucas Grose finished a lot of plays," said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team improved to 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in the NLC.
"Grose was big tonight," added Ogle. "He's a handful, and I thought he played really well."
The Tigers have won 16 straight regular-season games and 13 consecutive NLC contests.
En route to its latest win, Warsaw raced out to a 13-2 lead and held a 22-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The high scoring Warriors, however, didn't lay down and die, and after scoring just seven points in the first eight minutes of the game put 27 points on the board in the second quarter.
Wawasee struggled shooting the ball and hit just 6 of 23 attempts in the first half but converted 8 of 16 trey attempts after halftime, helping it cut the deficit to 65-55 after three quarters and 68-66 midway through the fourth quarter.
"We weren't hitting shots," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said about the start of the game. "I'm happy with how the kids responded in the second quarter. They held their composure and we were able to get going."
The Warriors trailed by just three, 75-72, late in the fourth quarter, but after Grose missed two free throw attempts, he was able to score from the field and push the lead back to five.
Two more quick buckets extended the advantage to nine, 81-72, and the Tigers were able to hold off the feisty Warriors.
"We knew there would come a time when we'd start hitting our shots," said Mishler. "We had opportunities, but we gave them opportunities numerous, numerous, numerous times. We'd get back in it and then we'd have a turnover, miss a shot, or something else would happen. You can't give the other team opportunies like we did."
In last Saturday's 80-75 setback to the Whitko Wildcats, a game in which Whitko point guard Logan Irwin scored 33 points, the Warriors held a 67-53 with six minutes remaining and let the game get away.
Against Warsaw, Wawasee trailed the majority of the game but fought its way back into the contest.
"We were hitting shots," Mishler said of the way his team fought back, though it fell to 4-2 overall and 0-1 with its second straight loss.
"We've got to make sure we execute," Mishler added. "We gave them opportunity after opportunity. A player like Moore, he's going to score 70 percent of the time."
Moore tossed in 22 of his game-high 36 points in the second half - scoring 11 points in both the third and fourth quarters.
Through five games, Moore is averaging 34.4 points per outing and is just nine points short of 1,500 in his four-year varsity career.
Junior Jordyn Coon added seven points for the Tigers, while classmate Clay Anderson and seniors Jalen Roscoe and Travis Thomas scored four points each.
For Wawasee, seniors Trevor McKibben, Riley Stichter and Cody McBride scored 18 points each, while classmate Logan Hatfield finished with 12 points.
The Tigers were 33 of 54 (61 percent) from the field overall, 4 of 8 from three point range, and 14 of 24 at the free throw line.
Wawasee, on the other hand, was 27 of 66 (41 percent) overall, 14 of 39 behind the arc, and 8 of 8 from the charity stripe.
Both teams will be in action again Tuesday, as Warsaw will square off with Class 1A No. 3 Triton at Grace College's Orthopaedic Capital Center and Wawasee will travel to Columbia City.
WARSAW 84, WAWASEE 76
War 22 20 23 19 - 84
Wawa 7 27 21 21 - 76
Warsaw - Brock Anson 0-2 0-0 0, Joey Sparkman 0-0 0-0 0, Nic Moore 13-20 7-9 36, Jordyn Coon 3-7 1-1 7, Rhett Kesler 1-3 0-0 3, Lucas Grose 11-14 4-8 26, Jay Holladay 0-0 0-0 0, Jalen Roscoe 1-1 2-4 4, Travis Thomas 2-3 0-0 4, Clay Anderson 4. Totals 33-54 14-24 84.
