Tigers Eye Conference Perfection
WARSAW – The chance to put an exclamation point on a second straight conference championship.
That’s the golden opportunity that awaits the Warsaw boys basketball team come Friday night.
The undefeated Tigers host old rival Plymouth in the Northern Lakes Conference finale to the 2015-16 campaign. Warsaw, which is No. 4 in this week’s AP Class 4-A poll, looks to go a perfect 7-0 in the NLC for the second year in a row.
Warsaw won back-to-back NLC titles during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The Tigers are also the last program to put together two straight undefeated league seasons as they did it in 1994 and 1995 when they went 6-0 each year under coach Al Rhodes.
Warsaw coach Doug Ogle expects his team to be ready to play versus the Pilgrims.
“To finish at 7-0 in the conference again this year is really important to our players and also to me,” said Ogle Monday. “I think that our players will be highly motivated for the Plymouth game. From our perspective, it would be a shame to lose the game and have to share the NLC championship.”
Warsaw sits atop the NLC standings at 6-0 as the Tigers are off to the best start in program history. Both Plymouth and NorthWood are tied for second in the league at 5-1. NorthWood hosts Elkhart Memorial Friday night to wrap up conference play.
Warsaw, which has been off since a tough 46-39 NLC win at Elkhart Memorial last Thursday night, knows that the Pilgrims will come ready to play.
“We know that Plymouth has a lot to gain if they beat us and we know that they are capable,” noted Ogle. “They played us tough last year. They have three guys who can make threes outside and Anders (6-4 Josh Anders) on the inside.”
Warsaw posted a 42-38 win at Plymouth last year en route to its perfect run through the league. The Pilgrims won 38-31 at Warsaw two years ago. The Tigers lead the all-time series by an 80-56 count.
The Pilgrims come into the Tiger Den Friday night with a lot of momentum. Coach Ryan Bales’ veteran team, which has seven seniors, has won four in a row and nine of their last 10 games. The Pilgrims lone loss in the stretch was a 64-58 setback in overtime at LaPorte back on Jan. 16. Plymouth, who finished 15-8 overall and 3-4 in the NLC a year ago, also lost three in a row earlier in the season to Peru (48-47), NorthWood (75-57) and South Bend Riley (64-63).
Warsaw is led by its prolific pair of great guards in Kyle Mangas and Paul Marandet. Junior Mangas paces Warsaw in scoring (19.3), 3-pointers (29) and steals (3.1) while shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 79.8 percent from the free throw line. Senior Marandet, who does all the little things for his team, averages 12.2 points and has a team-high 81 steals to just 28 turnovers. Marandet is shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 83.3 percent at the line. The duo of senior Riley Rhoades and junior Jeremy David have been strong inside for Warsaw. Rhoades averages 4.8 ppg. and 3.2 rebounds, while David is at 4.8 and a team-high 4.5.
The Tigers are one of the best defensive squads in the state as they allow just 40 points-per-game. Warsaw has held 11 opponents to 39 points or fewer this season. The Tigers also average just 7.9 turnovers per game and are 233-319 from the free throw line while their opponents are 120-182.
Plymouth is led by the duo of Josh Anders and Nick Felke. Anders, a 6-4 senior, averages 15.7 ppg,, while 5-11 junior guard Felke scores 15.1 ppg. Plymouth is averaging 58 ppg. as a team and allowing 47. Coach Ryan Bales, who is 77-33 in his fifth season at Plymouth, is 3-1 during his tenure versus the Tigers.
Warsaw is the lone undefeated team left in the state. Tipton, ranked No. 1 in Class 3-A, lost 65-57 to Eastern Tuesday night to drop to 14-1 on the season.
Ogle still sees work to be done for his team despite its gaudy record.
“I really would like to see us sharpen up our passing, especially our interior passing,” remarked Ogle. “Riley Rhoades has really helped us there with his passing. He gives us another passer on the interior and that’s worth a lot. I also want to see us execute better versus zones and against junk defenses that we have started to see to try and stop Kyle and Paul.”
Ogle also does not hesitate to admit that he is surprised that his team sits at 18-0. The Tigers have won four games in overtime this season, including three on the road.
“I didn’t expect that we would be 18-0,” answered Ogle honestly. “We weren’t that experienced at the start of the season and we did not look as good in the preseason as I was hoping for coming off how good a summer we had. If you would have told me we would be 15-3 right now, I would have signed up for that in a heartbeat.”
The Tigers have four regular-season games left on the docket before taking part in the Elkhart Sectional starting the week of March 1. Warsaw hosts Hamilton Southeastern (12-7) Saturday night and then hosts Carmel (11-6) Feb. 20 and ends the year at Carroll (17-3) on Feb. 26.
Ogle also does not buy into the notion, although he has heard it a lot already, that his team needs to lose a game before the state tournament tips-off.
“I don’t think that we need to lose a game before the sectional,” said Ogle. “I don’t think that it really makes a difference as far as the sectional if we go in there 22-0 or 21-1 or whatever we are. I think are chances of winning a sectional are equal regardless of if we are undefeated or not.
“I think those things take care of themselves. People say that a loss would be good for us because these guys don’t know what it’s like to lose. That’s not true. We know what it’s like to lose. Last year’s loss in the sectional (32-28 to Concord in the first round) is not gone. These guys remember what that felt like.”
The Plymouth at Warsaw game Friday night will be the Channel 46 Game of the Week. The contest will be shown on tape delay at 11 p.m. Friday and again at 9 a.m. on Saturday.