Tigers dominate Raiders on the boards in 60-47 win
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
The Northridge Raiders tried crashing the party. The Warsaw Tigers, however, crashed the boards and celebrated an outright Northern Lakes Conference championship. In a high school boys basketball game that was originally slated for Jan. 9 but rescheduled for Tuesday night because of Mother Nature, the Tigers used a 30-15 advantage in rebounding and posted a 60-47 win. Warsaw's dominance on the boards, which included a 13-3 advantage on the offensive glass, allowed the Tigers to outscore the Raiders 20-0 in second-chance points. “That was pretty much the difference in the game,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team completed the NLC season with a 7-0 record and improved to 17-3 overall with its fifth-straight win. “We didn't shoot well in the first half, but we covered that up with some aggressive offensive rebounding. I think that was pretty much the difference in the game in a lot of ways.” The Tigers’ perfect conference record comes a year after they were 2-5 in NLC competition. NorthWood finished second with a 6-1 record, followed by Northridge (4-3), Goshen (3-4), Concord (1-6) and Wawasee (0-7). Plymouth and Elkhart Memorial are both 3-3 in the NLC and are scheduled to play each other Saturday afternoon. “It's hard to win all seven conference games,” said Ogle. “We felt like we could do it, but to actually go out and do it is quite an accomplishment.” To complete their perfect conference season, the Tigers had to fend off a feisty Northridge team, a squad that came into Tuesday's game on a three-game win streak but went back to Middlebury with a 10-8 record. Warsaw trailed 13-10 after one quarter of play, but closed the first half on a 10-0 run and took a 25-18 lead into the third quarter. Northridge cut the Tigers’ lead to 29-27 with a free throw from Kurtis Hochstetler with 3:55 left in the third quarter, but Warsaw's Tim Swanson scored the game's next eight points, giving his team a 10-point lead. “Tim Swanson came in and hit some big shots,” said Ogle. The Raiders cut the deficit to four, 39-35, when Tom Morrison’s trey at the buzzer was on target, and then again at 51-47 with 2:08 remaining in the game on a trey from Pete Smith. The Tigers responded to Smith’s three-point bucket with a 9-0 run to close the game, capturing its first outright conference title since going 6-1 during the 2010-2011 season. Sandwiched between Warsaw’s conference championship seasons were NLC records of 3-4, 3-4 and 2-5. “A lot of the credit (for the turnaround) goes to the seniors and their leadership,” said Ogle. “The M&M boys, Kyle Mangas and Paul Marandet, have also been pretty good. The combination of the seniors and those two underclassmen, as well as Riley Rhoades, has been pretty good.” Sophomore Kyle Mangas led Warsaw in scoring Tuesday with 13 points, while Marandet, a junior, and seniors Swanson and Jake Mangas scored 11 points each. Senior Rashaan Jackson chipped in with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds. “We had five guys in double figures,” said Ogle. “Our balance has been the key to the season we’ve had. There’s been times where guys have missed shots, but we haven’t had a game where everybody was missing. Our balance has been key.” That balance will be necessary Saturday when the Tigers travel to Carmel to play the fourth-ranked Greyhounds. Carmel, the Class 4A state champion in 2012 and 2013, is currently 17-2. “We’re looking forward to going to Carmel Saturday and playing one of the top three or four teams in Indiana,” said Ogle. “That’ll be a good experience for our guys.” Smith and Morrison scored 13 points each for Northridge, and Christian Bach chipped in with eight points. While Tuesday’s contest ended celebratory fashion for Warsaw, the evening started on a somber note, as the crowd stood and paused for a moment of silence to recognize the recent passing of beloved community members Dane Miller, Roger Haeck and Scott Hoskins.
WARSAW 60, NORTHRIDGE 47 NR 13 5 17 12 – 47 War 10 15 14 21 – 60 Northridge – Collin Utley 1-3 2-2 4, Joe Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Payton Smith 1-1 0-0 3, Pete Smith 5-11 0-0 13, Kurtis Hochstetler 1-5 1-2 4, Tom Morrison 5-10 2-2 13, Caleb Kiser 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Bach 3-4 2-2 8. Totals 17-36 7-8 47. Warsaw – Kyle Mangas 6-9 1-1 13, Paul Marandet 1-2 9-10 11, Jeremy David 0-0 0-0 0, Peyton Long 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Tim Swanson 4-9 0-0 11, Nick Sands 1-8 0-0 2, Jake Mangas 4-6 3-3 11, Rashaan Jackson 4-9 2-4 10, Riley Rhoades 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-44 15-18 60. Three-pointers – Northridge 6 (Pe. Smith 3, Pa. Smith, Hochstetler, Morrison), Warsaw 3 (Swanson 3); Rebounds – Northridge 15, Warsaw 30 (Jackson 8); Turnovers – Northridge 15, Warsaw 11; Fouls – Northridge 17, Warsaw 9; Fouled out – Utley; Records: Northridge 10-8 (4-3 NLC), Warsaw 17-3 (7-0 NLC) JV – Warsaw 53, Northridge 41 Warsaw (12-8) – Braxton Minix 16, Evan Schmidt 13, Jeremy David 6, Bishop Harrison 6, Tristan Frye 4, Ross Johnson 2, Jordan Steffensmeir 2, Jaceb Burish 2, Kyle Skeans 2
