Kyle Mangas makes a move for Warsaw Saturday night. Mangas had 20 points as the Tigers lost a 36-33 final at home to Carmel.

WARSAW – Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle will now get to see how resilient his team is.

He thinks that he already knows the answer to that million-dollar question.

The Tigers saw their bid for an undefeated regular-season end in dramatic, gut-wrenching fashion Saturday night.

A tough trey just before the final horn by Carmel’s Sterling Brown lifted the Greyhounds to a thrilling 36-33 win over the Class 4-A No. 4 Tigers in the home finale of the 2015-16 campaign.

Brown’s amazing shot, which was well defended, hands Warsaw its first loss in 21 games. The Tigers were the last undefeated team in the state prior to the tough loss on Senior Night.

Junior PJ Barron, making his first start of the season, scored 13 points and Brown 12 to pace Carmel, which improves to 13-8.

Junior Kyle Mangas scored a game-high 20 points to pace the Tigers, who fall to 20-1. He was the lone player in double figures for the hosts.

The Greyhounds, who lost 47-44 at Warren Central Friday night, had lost three of their last four games entering play Saturday night. Carmel won this one by beating the Tigers at their own game by winning the rebounding battle, the turnover battle and the free throw shooting numbers.

“For sure, I wanted to win this game and our guys did too,” said Ogle. “It’s a disappointing loss, but it’s not the tournament or a conference loss. We have a chance to come out of this better and I think that we will.

“Some things got us exposed tonight for us by a very good basketball team. If we handle this the right way, this will help us going forward. I look forward to our team meeting on Monday when we go over this game.”

The Tigers, who had not played since last Saturday night, had tied the game at 33-33 on a step-back 3-pointer by Mangas with 34 seconds to play. The Greyhounds then opted to go for the game winner. Brown, a 6-0 junior guard, used a screen at the top of the key, drove right, bobbled the ball, regained possession and then hit a tough turn-around jumper that found nothing but net just ahead of the final horn.

“He hit a heck of a shot,” noted Ogle of the game winner by Brown. “We defended it very well. It was very similar to the game I saw Friday night when Homestead beat Carroll on a three at the final horn.”

Jeremy David follows through on a shot attempt for the Tigers.

Carmel, which beat Warsaw 45-40 last year, out rebounded the Tigers 17-14 (including grabbing eight offensive rebounds). The Greyhounds also had eight turnovers to 10 for the hosts and were 9-10 at the line to 7-8 by Warsaw. The Tigers entered play Saturday night having outscored its opponents 280-144 from the line in the first 20 games.

“I think the free throw more than anything were the difference tonight,” said Carmel coach Scott Heady, who guided the program to back-to-back Class 4-A state titles in 2012 and 2013. “Our No. 1 goal was to keep Mangas and Marandet off the line. Our guys did a great job doing that.

“This is huge for us. We lost a tough one Friday night and I was not sure how our guys would come back. They did a real good job tonight staying the course. We hit our free throws and put ourselves in a position to win the game. We’ve been playing well, but coming up short. They did a great on on defense on that final play. Sterling just hit a tough shot for us.”

Marandet, who finished with eight points, was 6-6 from the line. Mangas did not attempt a free throw in the contest.

Carmel led 31-26 with 4:24 to play after a bucket by Garret Covington. The Tigers cut the gap to 31-28 on a hoop by Mangas and then to 31-30 on a pair of Marandet free throws with 2:31 to play. The Greyhounds turned the ball over on a traveling call with 1:25 left. Marandet then missed on a drive to the hoop and a rebound putback try by Riley Rhoades rolled in and out. Preston Flamion then drained two free throws with 52.3 seconds to play to give Carmel a 33-30 lead.

“I don’t feel that we played well offensively, rebounding or defensively,” remarked Ogle. “Carmel had a lot to do with  that. They are clearly the best team we have played this season. I told our guys that this could be the game where rebounding exposes us and it did. And we had too many empty possessions on offense.

“We lost to a very good team. We now have to have the mindset come Monday that we do have a bunch of things to shore up. I think our guys are mature enough to accept that move forward from this.”

Carmel led 11-7 after the opening period before Warsaw took a 14-13 halftime lead. Mangas led the Tigers with nine points in the opening half. Carmel inched back ahead by a 25-22 count after the third stanza.

“Warsaw just makes you work for everything you get,” noted Heady. “They stay in front of you so well. The big thing was that we stayed locked in on defense. We got some deflections and some offensive rebounds and in a low possession game like this that was the difference.”

Senior guard Paul Marandet played his final home game Saturday night.

Warsaw shot 12-21 overall from the field, including 2-4 from deep. The Greyhounds were just 11-31 from the field, but went 6-12 in the second half. Carmel hit 5-14 from distance, including 3-6 in the final half. They were also 8-8 from the line in the second half.

“This is disappointing, but it could be a blessing for us,” said Marandet. “He made a tough shot. The rebounding and the turnovers are big things for us to get better from this. I think this does take a little bit of the pressure off of us. But, I’m just excited for us to get better from here.”

Junior Jeremy David had four points and Rhoades one for Warsaw.

Warsaw honored seniors Marandet, Rhoades and Evan Schmidt, all starters, prior to the game.

Carmel won the junior varsity game 57-30. Asher Blum led the Tigers with 13 points. Andrew Owens had 11 points and Eddie Gill and Luke Heady 10 each to pace Carmel.

Warsaw plays at Class 4-A No. 7 Carroll (19-4) and Carmel hosts Brebeuf next Friday night in the regular-season finales for both teams.