ST. JOHN – Warsaw junior Kyle Mangas hit the front end of a one-and-one to send Friday’s game at Lake Central into overtime, then hit four more freebies in the extra period to lead the Tigers to a 42-38 win. Mangas finished with 18 points and senior Paul Marandet 12 on a night when the Tigers didn’t hit a three-pointer. Meanwhile, Lake Central senior Gage Ray hit seven three-point shots in eight attempts for a game-high 21 points. Ray’s shooting prowess wasn’t exactly in the scouting report, according to Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “The kid that made all the threes had made one basket coming into the game. Now, our defense on him could have been better at times, and that kept them in the game,” he said. Indeed it did. The game featured five ties and 10 lead changes. Warsaw got the ball with 38 seconds left in regulation after Lake Central’s Sean Griffin missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Tigers held the ball for a last shot, and Mangas missed twice down low before the rebound was tied up and the possession arrow pointing Warsaw’s way. Mangas got the ball back on a feed from Marandet, who was double-teamed, and he was fouled with three ticks left. After the second free throw attempt missed, a half court shot from Smith bounced off the top of the backboard, setting up the extra period. Griffin opened the scoring in the extra session by splitting a one-and-one, then with just over three minutes left Mangas hit Jeremy David for a layup to give the Tigers the lead. The squads traded four scoreless possessions until the Tigers got the ball back after a Lake Central offensive foul with 1:45 left. The Tigers ran a minute off the clock before Mangas was fouled, and he hit a pair of free throws to make it 38-35. From there it started to get a little weird. With 28 second left, Smith let go of a game-tying three-pointer just after an official blew his whistle. The foul on Evan Schmidt was away from the ball, and initially the referee counted the shot. After a referees’ convention the shot was waved off, much to the chagrin of Indians head coach Dave Milausnic. Lake Central’s Frank Dijak was sent to the line, where he missed the front end of his one-and-one, with Mangas getting the rebound and being fouled. Mangas hit both his free throws, the first bouncing off the rim three times, and Warsaw had a seemingly safe 40-35 lead. Ray hit one more magic three, this one from just in front of the scorers’ table, with 5.3 seconds left. Marandet received the inbound pass, was fouled, hit a pair of free throws, and sent the Tiger fans back down U.S. 30 in a happy mood. Ogle said he’s more than happy to have Mangas and Marandet as end–of-game options for the Tigers. “Kyle or Paul; either one is a good choice. Those two guys were 14 of 15 from the free-throw line. The only free throw they missed was Kyle’s at the end of regulation,” he said. “I kept telling the guys it was going to come down to getting an offensive rebound. On our last possession in regulation we got an offensive rebound, Kyle got fouled and he made the free throw to put it into overtime.” Warsaw spent the first half getting one shot per possession. Ogle said offensive rebounding after halftime was key to the win. “Overall, our defense was good; we rebounded a lot better in the second half,” he said. “We ended up with seven offensive rebounds when we had zero at halftime. We talked and said ‘let’s see if we can get at least some offensive rebounds.’ We ended up with seven in the second half, and that was just big.“ Mangas added 10 rebounds to his stat line, as the Tigers outrebounded Lake Central 26-19. Warsaw will take a 6-0 record into its game with Wawasee in the Northern Lakes Conference opener for both teams at the Tiger Den Friday.
WARSAW 42, LAKE CENTRAL 38 W 10 9 6 9 8 – 42 LC 9 9 8 8 4 – 38 Warsaw – Kyle Mangas 5-14 8-9 18, Paul Marandet 3-9 6-6 12, Riley Rhoades 1-1 0-0 2, Jeremy David 3-4 0-0 6, Ross Johnson 1-4 0-0 2, Jaceb Burish 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0, Braxton Minix 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-34 14-15 42. L. Central – Sean Griffith 0-1 1-3 1, Norell Smith 2-3 1-1 5, Joe Graziano 0-0 0-0 0, Gage Ray 7-8 0-0 21, Skyler Smith 1-9 0-0 3, Nate Edvardsen 0-1 0-0 0, Austin Atkins 0-2 0-2 0, Ethan Darter 1-3 0-0 2, Ryan Bereda 0-0 2-2 2, Frank Dijak 2-6 0-1 4. -Totals 13-33 4-9 38. Three-pointers – Warsaw 0 , L. Central 8 (Ray 7, S. Smith); Rebounds – Warsaw 26 (Mangas 10) , L. Central 19 (N. Smith 8); Turnovers – Warsaw 9, L. Central 10; Fouls – Warsaw 11, L. Central 20; Fouled out – none; Records: Warsaw 6-0, L. Central 2-3. JV – Lake Central 41, Warsaw 37 Warsaw – Landen Ferber 9, Jack Rhoades 8, Jack Grose 7, Shane Powers 4, Zach Riley 3, Kennis Dye 2, Dane Stookey 2, Asher Blum 2
