Warsaw’s Jared Bloom surveys the defense Friday night at Goshen. Bloom scored 18 points in a 56-51 loss to the Redskins.

GOSHEN – The Goshen boys basketball program honored a former team that sat atop the Northern Lakes Conference for the lone time in school history prior to Friday night’s league game with Warsaw.

The current Redskin team then went out and made sure by night’s end that the Tigers were no longer sitting atop the NLC today.

Goshen built a huge lead and then hit enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the charging Tigers 56-51 in league play.

Goshen honored its 2002-03 team, which was led by Indiana All-Star Andrew Hershberger, prior to the varsity tilt Friday night. The team won the program’s only NLC championship by going 6-1 in league play that season.

The Redskins, who improve to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the NLC, got 18 points each from seniors Sam Stegelmann and Jesse Good.  Good calmly hit 6-of-6 free throws in the final 18 seconds of play to seal the win. The senior finished 10-of-12 from the stripe as the hosts hit 24-of-31 free throws in the win. Warsaw went just 7-of-14 from the line and missed four critical tosses in the fourth quarter to help thwart their comeback bid.

Senior Jared Bloom scored 18 points for Warsaw, which saw its five-game winning streak snapped. The Tigers, who had won three straight games by two points, also got a dozen points on four treys from junior guard Nate Pearl.

Warsaw, which had also had won seven of its prior eight games before Friday night, drops to 8-5 overall and 2-1 in the NLC. Concord, which defeated Plymouth 50-42 at home in overtime, and NorthWood, which topped host Northridge 61-46 both on Friday night, sit atop the league at 3-0.

The Tigers, who had won the last seven versus the Redskins, simply dug too deep a hole to get out of in this one. Warsaw was dreadful offensively in the opening half. Goshen took a quick 7-0 lead to open the game and led 14-4 after the opening period. The hosts, with Stegelmann scoring nine, led 26-10 at halftime as Warsaw shot a miserable 4-of-15 in the opening half.

Jason Ferguson prepares to pass the ball Friday night against Goshen.

“We did not have poise tonight,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “Our offensive woes in the first half were because we were rushing. We compounded that by not shooting well, having only one offensive rebound and 10 turnovers. We were impatient and did not trust our offense tonight. We took a couple of big steps backward for us offensively tonight.

“Credit Goshen. Their defense was good and Stegelmann played well. They deserved to win. I was proud of how we battled back into the game in the second half. But, we fouled when we didn’t need to and put them on the line too many times to win the game. It was our lack of poise that hurt us tonight. Maybe we were feeling too good about ourselves. That’s possible.”

Warsaw, which trailed 36-26 going into the final quarter, almost made it the entire way back from what was once an 18-point deficit in the opening half.  The Tigers pulled within 50-48 with 25 seconds to play when Pearl drained a trey from the baseline, his third 3-pointer of the final period. Good then hit two free throws with 18 seconds left to make it 52-48. Bloom then hit the second of two charity tosses with 14 seconds to play before Good hit two more free throws with 13 seconds to play and six ticks left to ice the Goshen win.

The Redskins drained 16-of-20 free throws in the final quarter with Warsaw forced to foul late to stop the clock. Goshen scored its final 12 points from the line in the final 2:38 of the contest.

Goshen, which was coming off back-to-back blowout losses to powers Penn and Concord, shot 14-of-26 from the field. The hosts used the playmaking and smarts of savvy freshman point guard Brady Bechtel, who also had 10 points, to get good shots all night long.

“I thought we had a lot more energy than they did in the first half,” said Goshen coach Brian Bechtel, a former standout player at Fairfield High School and Bethel College. “We hit shots and that created energy and momentum for us. Our communication defensively was very good. In the second half, we had a hard time stopping them. Warsaw did a really good job executing in the second half.

“We put a lot of responsibility on our seniors this week to step up in terms of leadership after the losses to Penn and Concord, the two best teams I believe on our schedule. We definitely had a focus in practice this week.  We are a good team.

“I thought my staff did a great job adjusting tonight what we were running to what Warsaw was doing on defense. The free throws to finish it were huge. Jesse showed a great deal of poise and we definitely have a lot of confidence with the ball in Brady’s hands late in a game.

“Late in the game tonight, last year (a 45-43 loss at Warsaw) came to my mind, as did 2003 and 2009 against them when we had opportunities to put them away and didn’t. I knew our seniors tonight would remember that loss last year at Warsaw.”

Jared Bloom protects the ball while being guarded at Goshen Friday night.

Taylor Cone had eight points and Jordan Stookey seven for Warsaw.

Warsaw won the junior varsity contest 35-28. Jonny Hollar and Cameron Hoskins each scored seven points and Nick Sands and Cody Freeman each had six for the Tigers. Jack Gingerich led Goshen with eight points.

Warsaw hosts Concord Friday night. Goshen entertains Mishawaka Marian and Notre Dame recruit Demetrius Jackson Tuesday evening.