Tigers Fall To No. 7 Homestead In Home OpenerDoug Ogle’s fears played out Friday night in a 70-51 loss to Class 4A No. 7 Homestead.
The 18th-year Warsaw boys basketball head coach feared the Spartans’ physicality, athleticism and length would result in a big advantage on the boards, and that’s exactly what happened.
Homestead outrebounded the hosts 32-20 and rode a 13-0 scoring spurt to start the game to the 19-point win that spoiled the Tigers’ home opener.
Six-foot-6 junior Luke Goode, a Division I football recruit who scored a game-high 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds for the Spartans, while 6-4 senior Alec Grinsfelder pulled down six boards to go with his nine points.
Senior point guard Zak Krueger tallied 10 points and four assists in the win, while senior forward Patrick Raudenbush chipped in with nine points, four rebounds and two of the team’s eight blocked shots.
“He had a very efficient game,” Ogle said of Goode, Homestead’s standout quarterback who has visited Michigan State, among other Division I schools. “His rebounding was impressive tonight, just the way he competed.
“The combination of Goode and Grinsfelder, their rebounding, they got 50 percent of their misses in the first half and that was one of our main concerns. We knew that if we didn’t rebound it was going to be tough.
“I have a lot of respect for how Homestead competes physically, and it shows up in the rebounding big time. They were getting all the 50/50 balls.
“That’s a top five team, that’s a state championship-level team, and they showed that tonight. What we learned is we’ve got to chip away at it, and I’m curious to see how we react to this when we welcome Huntington North into the Tiger Den (tonight).”
The Tigers beat Homestead 39-27 in Friday’s freshman game, and followed that up with a 40-37 victory in the junior varsity contest.
The Spartans, however, controlled the varsity game from the get-go.
After scoring the game’s first 13 points, Homestead led 17-5 after one quarter of play, 31-19 at halftime and 53-33 at the end of the third quarter.
Warsaw cut the deficit to eight points at 19-11, but got no closer than that, as the Tigers fell to 2-1 on the season while Homestead improved to 2-0.
“They got off to a really good start, and they were very physical, in the rebounding especially,” Ogle said of the Spartans, who own an 8-1 advantage in the all-time series against Warsaw.
“They just got off to a good start. Their defense was really good at the start of the game and we weren’t quite ready for it. There’s just a lot of talent on that team, and lot of strength, and a lot of physical capability. They’re hard to play against.”
Homestead finished the game 25 of 42 from the field overall, including a 10-of-20 effort from three-point range.
The Spartans were a sizzling 14 of 20 from the field in the second half, which included a 7-of-10 performance from the arc.
Warsaw made 18 of 47 attempts from the field, 3 of 12 from the arc.
The Tigers were just 6 of 20 overall in the first half and missed both attempts from the arc over the first 16 minutes.
A bright spot in the loss for Warsaw was the play of 6-1 junior guard Brock Poe, who came off the bench to score a career-high 18 points.
Poe finished the game 6 of 9 from the field overall, making his only three-point attempt, and was 5 of 6 at the free throw line.
“Poe did some good things coming off the bench,” said Ogle. “Poe shot well, and was aggressive at times, I like that. He was a bright spot tonight for sure.”
Junior Bishop Walters scored eight points in the loss, while seniors Wyatt Amiss and Jaylen Coon tallied seven points each, and senior Connor Lennox chipped in with six points.
Of concern for Ogle and the Tigers is an injury that 6-6 sophomore starter Jackson Dawson suffered in the first quarter.
Dawson was helped to the training room by trainer Corey Branam and a Homestead player, and later came back to the bench on crutches and with a bag of ice wrapped to his right knee.
