Warsaw Boys Hold Off Huntington NorthThings got interesting down the stretch, but for the most part of Saturday’s varsity boys basketball game against Huntington North the Warsaw Tigers were in complete control.
In a 57-52 win over the Vikings at the Tiger Den, Warsaw gave up just 26 points through the first three quarters before surrendering that many in the fourth quarter.
After leading by as many as 14 points early in the final frame, veteran coach Doug Ogle cleared his bench, only to see Huntington North close the gap in a hurry.
The Vikings cut Warsaw’s advantage to 54-48 when junior Sam Thompson hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds left, and later trimmed the Tigers’ lead to 54-50 with senior Deven Newcomb’s bucket with 25 seconds left.
With their starters back in the game, however, the Tigers held off the Vikings and evened the all-time series at 48-48 and improved to 3-1 this season.
Huntington North, which had won the previous two meetings between the teams, fell to 1-3.
“I subbed too early, for sure,” said Ogle. “It was right at three minutes (left), so I should have waited until two minutes. A lot of times it works out, but this time it didn’t. Once in a while it turns around on you, and tonight it turned around on us.
“Once we put our first group back in things didn’t go very well, but I take full responsibility for that because they came out of the game, then they had to go back in.
“It was a bad last three minutes of the game, but we played well, all things considered.”
The game was never tied after the first basket and Warsaw never trailed.
The Tigers led 8-2 early, and went on to lead 13-9 after the first quarter of play, 27-18 at halftime and 38-26 heading into the final frame.
A big reason for Warsaw’s double-digit lead in the first half was the shooting of senior Jaylen Coon, who was 4 of 5 from the arc and 3 of 3 at the free throw line for 15 points over the first 16 minutes.
Coon, who scored a career-high 19 points at Columbia City in the second game of the season, finished Saturday’s contest with a game-high 18 points, adding four rebounds and three assists to his statline.
“I thought Jaylen Coon had a good game,” said Ogle. “He shot really well.
“Keagan Larsh played well off the bench tonight, scoring inside. Our rebounding was good in the first half. Blake Marsh handled the ball well for us, he didn’t have any turnovers.
“I am happy with how we played for the most of the game.”
Larsh was 5 of 6 from the field en route to 10 points, junior Bishop Walters added nine points, and Marsh tallied seven points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The Tigers’ win came a night after suffering a 19-point home loss to 4A No. 7 Homestead, a contest in which 6-foot-6 sophomore starting center Jackson Dawson suffered a knee injury.
Ogle said Dawson could be out four to six weeks.
Good news, however, for the Tigers is juniors Luke Adamiec and Ben Bergen will soon make their season debuts after serving suspensions.
Sophomore Dominic Cardwell led Huntington North with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Newcomb chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
Warsaw won the JV game 44-29.
Jaxson Gould led the JV Tigers with 19 points, while Judah Simfukwe scored 16 points.
In the freshman game, Drew heckaman and Russ Winchester scored 15 points each in Warsaw’s 44-39 loss to the Vikings.
Warsaw travels to Lake Central Friday, then hosts Crown Point Saturday.
