Great Guards Pace Tigers To Title
MICHIGAN CITY – The Warsaw boys basketball team never let its guard down Saturday night.
A pair of great guards made absolute sure of that for the champion Tigers.
The dynamite duo of Paul Marandet and Kyle Mangas ruled the evening on offense and defense to lead No. 5 Warsaw past Crown Point 46-33 in the title game of the Class 4-A Michigan City Regional.
Warsaw, which improves to 25-1, claims the 14th regional championship in the storied tradition of the program and its first since 2010.
The Tigers will face No. 4 McCutcheon (27-3) next Saturday in the semistate at either Huntingon North or Lafayette Jeff. The IHSAA will determine the site and the tip-off times for the semistate on Sunday.
McCutcheon defeated Homestead 85-66 Saturday night in the title game of the Logansport Regional.
Marandet and Mangas were simply sensational for the second straight game Saturday night. The pair, who combined for 65 points in a 79-74 double-overtime win over South Bend Riley in the semifinals, totaled 36 in the regional finale.
Marandet finished with 18 points and set the tone from the opening tipoff. The stellar senior guard scored Warsaw’s first 10 points of the contest as the Tigers, who never trailed, were up 10-2 early in the second quarter.
“This feels unreal,” said Marandet amidst the postgame celebration. “My confidence level is pretty high right now. My teammates and my coaches believe in me. I was just locked in all week getting ready for this. I shot a lot of shots and free throws to get ready.”
Ready he was all day long too.
Marandet, who entered the regional averaging 12 points-per-game, hit an astounding 28-29 free throws in the two regional wins in piling up his 55 points.
Mangas, who had been battling an illness which caused him to miss practice on Wednesday, took over in the third period. The Junior All-Star candidate, who should be a shoo-in for the honor, scored his team’s first 11 points of the final half. Mangas, who was held scoreless in the opening half, drained a trio of treys in his own dominating offensive display as the Tigers took control of the game. Warsaw led just 13-9 at halftime before outscoring the Bulldogs 13-5 in the pivotal third period for a 26-14 edge.
“In the second half, I just tried to let the game come to me more,” explained Mangas, who finished with 18 points. “I just made open shots. We used a lot of energy in that first game today, but we were determined to win tonight.”
Marandet and Mangas also paired on defense to shut down Crown Point standout Grant Gelon. The 6-6 senior guard, who has signed to play at Indiana University, finished with nine points. He shot just 3-11 from the field and all nine of his points came in the fourth quarter after the outcome was already decided. Gelon, who made 103 treys his junior season when he averaged 14.2 points-per-game, was just 3-10 from beyond the arc.
The Tiger defense, which entered play Saturday with the second best points-per-game allowed average in the state at 38.38, gave up just three points to Crown Point leading scorer Sasha Stefanovic. The Bulldogs shot an abysmal 12-47 overall from the field, including a woeful 4-27 from distance.
“We matched up well with Crown Point and thought that we could guard them,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “David Wayne had the scouting report on Crown Point and we executed it. I just did not know how much we had left after the Riley game. I was worried about our energy.
“I was thankful we got off to a good start tonight. Paul came out early and let everyone know that he was going to bring it again. He’s the real deal. He just had a historic performance today for us.
“The combination of Paul and Kyle are just stellar for us. It’s a pretty good place to start when you put No. 2 (Mangas) and No. 3 (Marandet) on the top of your lineup card. Kyle is just unflappable. He just keeps playing. Paul is just so strong and so tough.”
Warsaw hit 17-20 from the line in the title game, led by a 7-8 effort from both Marandet and Mangas, to finish 56-65 from the stripe on the day. Crown Point was just 5-6 from the line.
Evan Schmidt had three points for the Tigers. Riley Rhoades, Jeremy David and Jack Rhoades each had two points and Sam Miller one. Marandet had seven rebounds and Mangas six as the Tigers posted a 32-19 edge on the glass. Warsaw shot 12-25 from the field for the game, including 5-6 from distance.