Tigers See Stellar Season End
ELKHART – There are simply no guarantees come tournament time.
The Warsaw boys basketball team found that out in a tough way Tuesday night.
The sectional favorite Tigers saw a stellar season end in disappointing fashion in a 32-28 loss to Concord in the opening game of the Class 4-A Elkhart Central Sectional.
Warsaw, which finishes its season at 18-5, simply struggled in every phase of the game in falling to the Minutemen at North Side Gym.
The Tigers, who were 5-0 versus the sectional field including a 39-37 home win over Concord back on Jan. 23, shot just 8-38 from the field in the loss.
Warsaw was outscored 26-14 in the second half and had a season low in points. The Tigers, who were averaging 51.4 points-per-game, previous offensive output low was 36 points in a 36-28 win at Goshen.
Senior Filip Serwatka scored 13 of his game-high 15 points in the second half to power Concord to the win. The 6-5 center also had a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Minutemen, now 7-16, will play Elkhart Memorial (13-9) in the first semifinal game Friday night at 6 p.m. Northridge (12-9) will meet Goshen (14-9) in the second semifinal contest. Goshen beat Elkhart Central 46-37 in the second game Tuesday night.
The championship game is set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
“We couldn’t do anything right really tonight,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “We just did not make the simple plays and we paid the price. We just rushed shots, forced too many plays and didn’t finish shots.
“I’m surprised how we played. I didn’t sense that we would play like that. Credit Conocrd. They hung in there and they competed well. They made the plays late in the game.”
Warsaw used an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to turn a 26-20 deficit into a 28-26 lead on a layup by Rashaan Jackson with 54 seconds to play.
The Minutemen then rose to the challenge.
Sophomore Denzell Halliburton made the biggest bucket of the game and his only one of the night. The 6-2 guard drained a 3-pointer with 39 seconds to play to give Concord a 29-28 lead. Sophomore Cedric Mitchell then came up with a steal with 19 seconds to play for the Minutemen. Mitchell hit the second of two free throws with 17.1 ticks on the clock to make it 30-28.
The Tigers went for the tie on the ensuing possession, but Nick Sands’ well-defended triple came up short. Jake Mangas grabbed an offensive rebound on the play for Warsaw and was fouled with 7.0 to play. Mangas missed a feee throw and then Serwatka hit a pair of charity tosses with 4.3 seconds remaining to seal the deal for the Minutemen.
Warsaw led 8-4 after the opening period and 14-6 at halftime despite shooting just 4-18 from the field. Concord outscored the Tigers 15-4 in the pivotal third period, including an 8-0 run to open the final half, as Serwatka got going for nine huge points.
“We should have been up by more than eight at halftime, but we shot poorly in the first half,” noted Ogle. “The second half was just a calamity.”
Concord played Warsaw the first time without a pair of starters in Mitchell and senior Brett Austin.
“We don’t believe this was an upset,” said Concord coach Steve Austin. “You have to be confident. We felt we beat ourselves in the first game with them and we were minus two starters in that game.
“Warsaw is very good and hard to play against. I thought in the first half tonight our kids backed down. Almost all we stressed at halftime was being aggressive. If we got beat we wanted to leave it all on the floor.
“The only way we were going to win was if all our kids left everything on the court tonight and they all did, maybe for the first time all season. I was very pleased with our defense and our rebounding was much better tonight than the first time we played them.”
Warsaw shot 8-38 overall from the field, including 3-19 on 3-pointers. The Tigers were 9-15 from the line and had 14 turnovers and just a 27-26 rebounding edge. Warsaw out rebounded Concord 25-14 in their first meeting.
Sands, one of five seniors, led Warsaw with 10 points. Sophomore Kyle Mangas scored seven points, senior Jake Mangas four, senior Tim Swanson three, junior Paul Marandet two and senior Jackson two.
Concord shot 9-24 overall from the field (6-13 in the second half), including 3-8 on treys. The Minutemen were 11-18 from the line and had 21 turnovers.
Sophomore Brandon Emerick had five points for the Minutemen.
The Tigers, who won the NLC title at 7-0, lose seniors Sands, Jake Mangas, Jackson, Swanson and Peyton Long.