Warsaw, Memorial Share NLC TitleAfter shooting 27 percent from the three-point arc in Elkhart Memorial’s first 20 games, 6-foot junior Brackton Miller found his touch Tuesday night against the Warsaw Tigers.
In a high school boys basketball game that was originally scheduled for Jan. 31 and postponed because of the weather, Miller came off the bench and made all five treys he attempted, was 6 of 6 from the field overall and scored a game-high 18 points.
Miller’s performance, which came after making 18 of 67 treys and averaging four points prior to Tuesday, was the difference as the Crimson Chargers won 48-45 and handed Warsaw its first loss in the Tiger Den this season.
As a result of the three-point victory, the Crimson Chargers earned a share of the Northern Lakes Conference title.
Memorial improved to 16-5 overall, while Warsaw fell to 13-6.
Both teams finished the NLC season at 6-1.
The Tigers won have won at least a share of the conference title in five straight seasons and are 32-3 against league opponents in that stretch.
Memorial won its first NLC championship since going 7-0 in 2012.
“We wanted to win tonight, obviously, that goes without saying,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team will face Memorial again Tuesday in the first round of Class 4A Sectional 4 at historic North Side Gym in Elkhart.
“We just weren’t quite good enough. We didn’t shoot well enough. Miller was the outlier in tonight’s game. He came into the game shooting 27 percent, and tonight he was 5 for 5. We could have survived that had we shot better ourselves, and gotten some better shots.”
Memorial finished the game 17 of 39 from the field overall and 8 of 16 from the arc.
The Tigers were 18 of 45 overall and 4 of 15 from three-point range.
Both teams struggled mightily at the free throw line, with the Crimson Chargers making 6 of 15 attempts and Warsaw just 5 of 14.
Senior Hank Smith made 3 of 5 three-point attempts and scored 13 points for Memorial, while classmates Trey Gallope and Ben Roby chipped in with six and five points, respectively.
“It definitely helps when shots fall. That’s not coaching, that’s just good shooting on their part,” Memorial coach Kyle Sears said of Miller and Smith.
“Brackton had a big night for us, and we kind of needed it from him. That’s good to see, especially going into the tournament as well.”
Tuesday’s game featured eight lead changes and four ties.
Memorial led 11-8 after one quarter of play and 27-22 at halftime.
The Tigers outscored the Chargers 17-9 in the third quarter and led 39-36 heading into the final frame.
Warsaw was 12-0 this season when leading after the third quarter, but Tuesday night they were 2 of 8 from the field and 1 of 6 at the charity stripe over the final eight minutes.
“If you had told me we’d be even in the rebounding ... both teams got 30 percent of their misses ... and that we’d hold Hank Smith to 13 points, we’d hold Trey Gallope to six, and we’d have 13 assists against only five turnovers, I would have thought we won the game,” said Ogle.
“But we didn’t shot well. We were 4 out of 15 on three-pointers, and three or four of those threes would shouldn’t have taken.”
Senior Nolan Groninger led Warsaw with 14 points, while classmates Trevor Rumple and Tyler Metzinger netted 10 and six points, respectively.
Senior Jaylen Reese pulled down a team-high five rebounds for the Tigers while scoring two points. His three-pointer just before the buzzer hit the rim and bounced out.
Warsaw is in action again Friday, hosting Carroll for senior night, and then turns its focus to the sectional matchup with Memorial.
“I think we can glean a lot from this game. There’s a lot of takeaways, and they can do the same thing,” said Ogle when asked about facing Memorial twice in a week.
“It’ll be a game that we’re looking foward to. Sure, we’re not happy, we’re ticked that we lost, but it’s not the end of the world. We’re gonna get to play them again, and maybe we can do better a week from tonight.”
The Tigers won the JV game 58-36 over Memorial and improved to 16-3.
Bishop Walters scored 18 points for Warsaw’s JV team, and Brock Poe added 12 points.
ELKHART MEMORIAL 48, WARSAW 45
EM 11 16 9 12 – 48
W 8 14 17 6 – 45
Memorial – Jai-veon Qaiym 1-2 0-0 2, Trey Gallope 3-9 0-3 6, Brackton Miller 6-6 1-2 18, Hank Smith 5-9 0-2 13, Ben Roby 1-4 3-4 5, Brandon Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, D’Arjon Lewis 1-6 1-2 3, Malachi Emmons 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 17-39 6-15 48.
