FORT WAYNE – Carroll tried its best to play keep away from Warsaw in the fourth quarter Friday night.

The Tigers instead played take away in rallying to edge the Chargers in a clash of Class 4-A ranked teams.

Warsaw got huge defensive plays late from Jeremy David and Paul Marandet and clutch points from Kyle Mangas to edge Carroll 32-29 in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Mangas scored the final five points of the contest as the No. 6 Tigers outscored the No. 9 Chargers 8-0 in the final stanza.

Mangas led the way for Warsaw, which improves to 21-1, with a game-high 18 points. The junior guard hit 6-11 overall from the field, including 3-5 from 3-point range. Mangas also hit all three of his free throws, which were the only attempts of the night by Warsaw.

Senior guard Paul Marandet finished with nine points to go with four assists for the Tigers. Sophomore Ross Johnson scored three points and senior Evan Schmidt two for Warsaw.

Kyle Mallers netted 11 points to lead Carroll, which drops to 19-6 with its third straight loss. Jacob Redding chipped in with 10 points for the Chargers.

Carroll used a strong third quarter effort to lead 29-24 entering the fourth quarter. Johnson hit a triple for the Tigers to cut the deficit to 29-27 on Warsaw’s first possession in the final frame. The Chargers then opted to hold the ball for over four minutes.

The Tigers, as they have all season, then responded with defense to win another one.

Warsaw, which decided to start trapping the Chargers with about three minutes to go in the game, first got a huge steal from Jeremy David. Mangas then converted a three-point play to give the Tigers a 30-29 lead with 59.5 seconds to play in the game. Marandet then came up with a steal with 4.2 seconds left. Mangas then hit a pair of free throws with 2.0 ticks left for the 32-29 final.

“I was pretty happy to get the game shortened like that,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle in a phone interview following the win. “I’ve seen them pull the ball out like that when they have a lead. They are good free throw shooters and we had five team fouls at the time, so I was okay with them holding the ball.”

“This is a really good win for us. It was just a defensive battle and we made the two defensive plays by Jeremy and Paul late in the game when we needed them. We out rebounded them and I was happy with that.”

Carroll, which was coming off back-to-back losses to Homestead and North Central, led 5-0 to open the game. The Tigers used a 7-2 run in the opening period to tie the game at 9-9 after the first frame. Warsaw led 17-15 at halftime as Mangas had eight points and Marandet seven. Redding then scored eight points in the third quarter as the Chargers outscored Warsaw 14-7 to take a 29-24 advantage.

The close game was nothing new for the two teams in the series. Warsaw won last year 48-47 in overtime and the previous five games prior to Friday night had been decided by a grand total of 14 points with Carroll winning three of those contests.

Ogle was also happy to see him team respond after its first loss. The Tigers dropped a 36-33 final to Carmel last Saturday night at home on a 3-pointer at the final horn. Warsaw had also only practiced twice this week (Tuesday and Thursday) as school was not in session on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday due to the weather.

“We were disappointed with our play in the loss to Carmel and I was anxious to see how we would play tonight,” remarked Ogle. “David Wayne (Warsaw’s assistant coach) told our guys several times that we were the tougher team tonight and he ended up being right. It’s a good win and I feel like we righted the ship going into the sectional next week.”

Warsaw shot 12-24 from the field overall in the win, including a key 5-8 from distance. The Tigers were 3-3 from the line, had 11 rebounds and committed three turnovers.

Carroll finished 10-18 overall from the field, including 2-7 from deep. The hosts were 7-8 from the line, had 10 rebounds and finished with three turnovers.

Carroll won the junior varsity game 47-32. Ashler Blum led Warsaw with seven points. Shane Powers scored six points and Jack Rhoades five for the Tigers. Dillon Redding led Carroll with 10 points.

Warsaw will face Penn or Northridge in a semifinal game of the Elkhart Sectional on March 4 at 6 p.m. The Kingsmen face the Raiders on Tuesday night in the opening game of the sectional at North Side Gym.

Carroll will play Fort Wayne Snider on Tuesday night in the Class 4-A DeKalb Sectional.