Warsaw’s Rashaan Jackson prepares to shoot a jumper Saturday night. Jackson helped the host Tigers outlast Merrillville 63-60 in double overtime to win their own tournament title.

WARSAW – During this season of giving, the charity stripe was so rewarding to the Warsaw boys basketball team Saturday night.

The host Tigers were fine from the line in rallying past No. 10 Merrillville 63-60 in double overtime in the championship game of the Warsaw Holiday Tournament.

Warsaw, which improves to 7-1 with its fifth straight win, outscored Merrillville 23-8 from the charity stripe to hand the Pirates (6-1) their first loss of the season.

The Tigers, who used a 23-9 edge from the line earlier in the day in a 57-47 victory over South Bend Riley, hit 23-29 from the stripe. The hosts were a red-hit 20-26 from the line in the second half and pair of four-minute overtime sessions.

Merrillville finished just 8-12 from the line for the game.

The champion Tigers got a huge performance from Kyle Mangas. The smooth sophomore scored a game-high 18 points in the title tilt and was 9-10 from the line.

Mangas, who earned tourney MVP honors, hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 50-50. He then scored five of his team’s six points in the first overtime period and drained a pair of free throws with 10.3 seconds left in the second overtime for the three-point margin of victory.

Jake Mangas looks for room to operate for Warsaw.

The Tigers also got a huge three-point play from Paul Marandet  to put them ahead for good at 61-60 with 1:59 to play. Nick Sands also came up with two huge defensive plays in the final overtime for the champs, grabbing a steal and drawing an offensive foul call on the Pirates with 40 seconds to play.

“I’m really happy for Kyle tonight,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “He showed a lot of poise and is emerging as a good player for us. He’s more aggressive now and this is the way I thought he would play all along this season for us.

“This is a good win for us. Merrilville is a bouncy, talented team. We won both games today at the free throw line. Our constant theme is to get the ball inside early and often. We practice a lot of 1-on-1 in the post. Our post players are not the biggest but they can play down there.”

“I thought that our defense was pretty solid late in the game and in the overtimes. We guarded them well towards the end. We did a good job staying in position and in front of them and a good job switching.”

Guard Paul Marandet had two strong all-around games Saturday.

Warsaw led 11-10 after the opening period. The Pirates canned five treys in the second quarter to outscore the hosts 17-9 to lead 27-20 at halftime.

“We didn’t play very well in that first half,” noted Ogle. “We had 10 turnovers and with their threes (6-9) we were lucky to be down only seven.”

The Tigers trailed by as many as 10 points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth before rallying.

“I was really proud of our perseverance tonight,” said Ogle. “We were down 10 and came back and then they got back up seven and we came back again to force overtime. Our guys showed a lot of toughness and grit tonight and I’m proud of them for that.”

Rashaan Jackson and Nick Sands each scored 11 points for Warsaw, Sands hit three clutch treys. Paul Marandet had nine key points and Jake Mangas six points and six rebounds.

Warsaw out rebounded the athletic Pirates 30-22.

Cameron Wilbon scored 14 points and D.J. Wilkins 13 to pace Merrillville.

“We’re making strides and I’m not surprised to be 7-1,” Ogle said. “Our bench is really helping us. Guys like Tim Swanson, Riley Rhoades, Jeremy David and Peyton Long have been huge for us.”

Kokomo edged Riley 73-69 in the consolation game.

The all-tourney team featured MVP Kyle Mangas and Rashaan Jackson of Warsaw, along with Wilbon and Jairus Stevens of Merrillville, Jordan Matthews of Kokomo and Reontre Lawrence of Riley.

The Warsaw junior varsity beat Riley 59-37 and Merrillville 48-45 to win the JV tourney.

Warsaw returns to action Friday, Jan. 2 at Triton for a girls/boys varsity doubleheader.

Jeremy David gave the Tigers a nice boost Saturday night.