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The team’s last appearance coming 10 days ago, the Warsaw boys basketball team’s first game of 2026 was a big one, as the team traveled to Jayco Arena to take on rival Northridge. The Tigers started slowly on offense and were never able to fully rebound in what was a wire-to-wire 48-30 win for the Raiders.
After the game, Warsaw head coach Matt Moore shouldered the blame for his team’s performance.
“I did not coach a good game. Our staff was not engaged tonight in the right way,” Moore said after the loss. “I thought the guys were prepared, but I don’t think we kept up our end of the bargain for them to continue to be in the position to be successful. It starts with me, and we’re going to move on.”
It appeared as if the Tigers were shaking off the rust of the long layoff in the opening minutes of the game, as the team went the first four minutes of the game before scoring its first point. The Raiders weren’t much better though, as the home side was only able to manage four points during this stretch.
Even as the low-scoring game remained close early, the edge belonged to Northridge here. The Raiders were playing incredibly effective defense against the visitors, forcing a whole lot of passing around the perimeter as Warsaw tried to get set. Offensively, the looks were there for the home team, and once they started going down, the green and gold quickly built up a seven-point lead.
It didn’t get much better offensively for the Tigers the first period winded down. After taking over four minutes to score a basket, the visitors were only to manage one more over the final four minutes of the quarter. Their opponent had no such difficulties after shaking off a slow start, leaving the Raiders with a 13-4 lead after one.
Nearly three more minutes came off the clock before Mydin Burgher’s second basket of the game ended a very long Warsaw drought. It wasn’t all bad news though, as during this stretch, the Tigers had picked it back up on the defensive end and had held their opponents scoreless.
A three-pointer from freshman Nash Wiggins with about four minutes until the half looked like it could be the spark Warsaw was looking for, but it went by the wayside. Now down by just six, the visitors had a plethora of opportunities to chip away even further, but came up empty on multiple offensive trips.
Despite not reaching double figures as a team until a minute before the break, the Tigers were still well within striking distance thanks in large part to their defense. Facing off against a Northridge offense that has rarely struggled this season, Warsaw held the Raiders to just 20 first-half points. Even after a rough first half, the orange and black trailed by seven.
Senior Sam McDaniels of Warsaw puts the ball to the floor while driving to the basket against Thad Campbell of Northridge...Nieter
“It was close but it never felt close on our end. You don’t always lose games in the last three minutes. Sometimes it happens in the first 29,” Moore said. “Tonight, this was one that got away from us because of a lack of execution and our inability to handle the basketball.”
Over the course of the first few minutes of the third, the home side thwarted nearly effort by the Tigers to continue chipping away at that lead. Warsaw was definitely playing better offensively in the primitive moments of the second half, but each time the visitors scored a bucket, Northridge went right down to the other end and matched it. Midway through the period, it was now a 10-point game.
It stayed that way for a couple more minutes before four straight points by Burgher made it a six-point game again with ten minutes left in the game. Burgher, as well as point guard Sam Lara, had made up a majority of the offense to this point, combining for 17 of the team’s 25 points.
However, as had been the case all night, the Raiders were quick to extinguish any hope. The home side spent the final 90 seconds of the third going on a 5-0 run punctuated by a Brady Scholl dunk to make it a much steeper task for Warsaw. With eight minutes to go, Northridge led by eleven.
Scholl continued to be a problem for the Tigers in the fourth, as he neared the 20-point mark with a pair of elbow jumpers. As time was starting to become a serious factor, Warsaw had not gotten any closer. Five minutes remained and the home lead was now 12 and the visiting offense had gone cold once again.
With only two minutes left in the game, Warsaw was still searching for its first field goal of the quarter and now trailed by 16. Northridge, having experience blowing a few late leads to the Tigers in recent memory, did not seem phased this time around. The home side took plenty of time on each possession and still found a way to end it with points.
Eventually, time ran out on what was a miserable fourth quarter for Warsaw. Having managed only one point in the final eight minutes, the end result was a comfortable win for the Raiders.
Warsaw (5-6, 0-2 Northern Lakes Conference) will host undefeated Goshen on Friday night.
“I have to do a better job navigating our group when things aren’t going well. When it’s not easy for us, we struggle, I didn’t do a good job at that tonight and that will have to change,” Moore said. “We have the right guys out there, we just have to keep growing.”
