When they met at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne nearly three weeks ago, the Warsaw Tigers ended the Carroll Chargers' 14-game winning streak.
When they meet again Saturday at Huntington North Arena, one team's season is going to end, as the sixth-ranked Tigers (22-2) put their 15-game winning streak on the line against the Chargers (21-3) in the Class 4A northern semistate.The game is scheduled for approximately 3:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on March 27.
"It's an intruiging matchup," Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said at the team's media day Wednesday. "We know they didn't shoot very well the first time we played. We can play better than we did that night, but we know they can play better, too."
After closing the first half on an 18-5 run, the Tigers led by as many as 18 points in their meeting with the Chargers on Feb. 26 and went on to win 66-57.
Standout junior Nic Moore led Warsaw in that nine-point win with 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
"I think it'll be like playing Concord and Elkhart Memorial (the second time)," said Moore, who has scored 477 points this season and moved his name up to fourth on the all-time scoring list at Warsaw Community High School with 1,265 points. "We beat Concord and Elkhart Memorial in the regular season, and then we beat them again in the sectional, but they were really close games. It's gonna be a battle Saturday. Carroll is a good team, but we're pretty solid, too."
The winner of Saturday's semistate game will earn a state finals berth against either No. 3 Indianapolis North Central (23-3) or Jeffersonville (22-4).
"The big thing right now is staying grounded," said Ogle. "We beat them three weeks ago, but in no way are we looking past them. We're not getting ahead of ourselves. Carroll is a very good basketball team."
While Warsaw hasn't lost a game since a 54-48 setback to Noblesville at Mackey Arena on Jan. 2, Carroll has won 18 of its last 19 games - the one loss coming to the Tigers.
The Chargers' other losses came to Fort Wayne Northrop (52-48) on Dec. 8 and Homestead (58-53) on Dec. 18.
In the loss to Warsaw, Carroll trailed 14-12 after the first quarter and 32-21 at halftime.
Warsaw led by 18 points midway through the third quarter, but the Chargers cut the deficit to 11 points going into the fourth quarter and then to five points on three occassions late in the game.
"It's gonna be a battle," Moore said of Saturday's highly-anticipated rematch. "They know us, and we know them. Rebounding is going to be a big thing, and that's something we're pretty solid at. Justin (Clemens) and Lucas (Grose) are both really strong inside and get a lot of rebounds. We're gonna go out and play hard and be solid. We're only one win away from going to state, we're gonna do everything we can to get there."
Moore, who needs just 23 points to become the first Warsaw player to score 500 or more points in a season since Kevin Ault in 1996, leads the Tigers with nearly 21 points per game. The 5-foot-9 junior, who passed Mike Niles and Steve Reed on Warsaw's all-time scoring list this past Saturday in Michigan City Regional wins over Merrillville and Munster, also averages five assists and four rebounds per game.
While Moore gets a lot of the attention from opposing teams' defenses, as well as the media, 6-3 senior Justin Clemens is having quite a solid season himself.
Clemens, a four-year starter, averages 12 points and five rebounds per game and shoots nearly 63 percent from the floor and 76 percent from the free throw line.
Clemens', along with 6-5 sophomore Lucas Grose's, interior defense has been a big part of the Tigers' success this season.
Grose is averaging nearly nine points and seven rebounds per game this season and shoots just under 65 percent from the field.
Sophomore Jordyn Coon averages six points per contest, while seniors Zack Linky and Andy Conrad average close to five and four points per game, respectively.
While Coon, Linky and Conrad may not score a lot of points for the Tigers, they have come up with huge defensive plays in Warsaw's tournament run.
Shane Merryman leads Carroll with an average of 18 points and six rebounds per game, while Tyler Ault adds 14 points and nearly three rebounds and three assists per contest.
In the loss to Warsaw on Feb. 26, Stephen Jones led Carroll with 18 points, while Merryman chipped in with 15 points and Ault scored 12 points.
