Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
For the first 16 minutes of Saturday's game with Fort Wayne North, Warsaw coach Al Rhodes saw his Tigers play about as well as they could.
Only later would the Tigers know how important their play early in the game would pay off late in the game.
The Tigers led 37-24 at halftime, and that 13-point halftime cushion absorbed much of the blow from a late North rally. The Redskins scored 28 points in the last quarter, but Warsaw still won 72-65.
If Rhodes could have put the first half in a bottle, he probably would have done so.
Offensively, the Tigers ran a layup clinic. They broke down the North Side defense for 22 points in the paint - this against a team that had 6-foot-7, 6-6 and 6-5 frontcourt players. Add to that seven points from the free throw line, and that's 29 of Warsaw's first 37 points.
Four straight field goals under the basket - two by Jason Alspaugh, and one each from Tyler Charlton and Tom Krizmanich - extended Warsaw's lead from 22-11 to 30-15 with just over four minutes in the first half.
Defensively, the Tigers were solid. North made just 11 of 28 shots (39 percent) in the first half.
Earlier this week, North coach Glenn Heaton said his guards would determine how his team played against Warsaw.
Well, starting guards Vernard Hollins and Damon Porter combined for only seven first-half points. More importantly, Warsaw counterparts P.J. Wiley and Charlton hounded them every step of the way and kept them from dumping the ball inside to their big men for easy baskets.
Six-foot-five senior center Kenneth Johnson, who entered the weekend as North's leading scorer with 16 points per game, finished with five against Warsaw.
"I just told the team a good number of minutes in the first half was some of the best basketball we've played all year," Rhodes said afterward. "Our defense has been good and our rebounding good. But our offensive execution has been up and down. We handled their full-court pressure, we handled their half-court trap, we handled their zone defense, and we handled their man-for-man defense.
"When we called something, everybody was in the right place. The passing was sharp. We had a lot of good opportunities."
The Tigers led 50-37 after the third quarter, but then someone woke up Hollins. Hollins, a sophomore who scored only eight points the first three quarters, hit two three-pointers and scored 13 in the last quarter to finish with 21. His steal and assist to Porter with 4:03 left cut the Warsaw lead to 59-51.
The Tigers were never in danger. They never lost the lead. North Side's run was too little, too late. All it did was make the game seem closer than it really was. The closest North Side got to the Warsaw lead in the second half was five at 70-65 with 3.2 seconds left in the game.
But North Side forced the Tigers to make free throws down the stretch, as the Redskins fouled often to stop the clock. The Tigers entered the game shooting only 58 percent (69 of 118) from the free throw line. After making 3 of 8 free throws in the third quarter, the Tigers made 15 of 21 from the line in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers made their free throws when they counted most.
"You have to give Fort Wayne North credit," Rhodes said. "They battled back. We stopped attacking the basket area against their half-court trap in one stretch. That created some problems. We missed some free throws. But even at the free throw line, we were better than we have been."
North Side closed the gap, but that still didn't dampen Rhodes' enthusiasm after this game.
"I was really very pleased, and I hope I see a glimmer of a team that wants to get better, wants to win," Rhodes said.
"I really liked the mental toughness we showed throughout a lot of this ball game, player for player. That was a big key to the win."
Krizmanich paced Warsaw with 18 points and eight rebounds. Charlton added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Luke Reed had 12 points and seven rebounds.
North Side dropped to 1-3.
Warsaw, 6-1 and 2-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference, hosts Northridge at 6:15 p.m. Friday.
