Mangas, Hazen Named To Junior All-Stars
INDIANAPOLIS – Kyle Mangas had added yet another honor to his already impressive and lengthy high school basketball list of achievements.
The Warsaw star guard has been named as a Junior All-Star by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. Mangas, along with Columbia City forward Parker Hazen, were named to the North Group.
The Core Group for the Junior All-Stars includes 6-9 forward Jaren Jackson (Park Tudor), 6-9 forward Jack Nnge (Castle), 6-3 guard Paul Scruggs (Southport), 6-4 guard/forward Sasha Stefanovic (Crown Point), 6-7 forward Kris Wilkes (North Central) and 6-11 forward Mailk Williams (Fort Wayne Snider).
The North Group features Mangas and Hazen, along with 6-4 guartd/forward Jalen Adaway (Logansport), 6-9 forward Jaylen Butz (Fort Wayne North), 6-2 guard Jermaine Cousinard (East Chicago Central) and 6-1 guard Tyler Smith (Northeastern).
The South Group includes 6-0 guard Michael Ertel (Mt. Vernon/Fortville), 6-7 forward Zach Gunn (Hamilton Southeastern), 6-0 guard Isaac Hubbard (New Albany), 6-1 guard Jaylen Minnett (Terre Haute South), 6-3 guard Cooper Neese (Cloverdale) and 6-0 guard Justin Roberts (Pike).
Mangas, a 6-3 guard, led the Tigers to a 25-2 mark during the 2015-16 campaign. Coach Doug Ogle’s team won the Northern Lakes Conference title, the Elkhart Sectional crown and the Michigan City Regional championship. Warsaw, ranked No. 5, lost 40-37 on Saturday night to No. 4 McCutcheon in the Class 4-A Lafayette Jefferson Semistate. Mangas scored a game-high 19 points in the season finale versus the Mavericks, who will play No. 1 New Albany in the Class 4-A state championship game this coming Saturday night in Indianapolis.
Mangas averaged a team-high 19.4 points-per-game this season. He led the Tigers in 3-pointers (45) and steals (41) and ranked second in assists (57). He shot 55.5 percent from the field, including 48.4 percent on 3-pointers, and 79.7 percent from the free throw line. He also averaged 3.6 rebounds per game.
“We are happy for Kyle,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle via text Wednesday night. “He is certainly deserving of this recognition. He will be an asset to the team. I am certain of that.”
Mangas, who was the Ink Free News Area Player of the Year, scored 523 points his junior year. That total is the 13th highest single-season mark in the history of the tradition-rich program. It was just the 19th time in program history that a player had scored 500 or more points in a single season and Mangas is the 15th player to reach that mark. Mangas scored in double figures in 26 of 27 games and led the Tigers in scoring 18 times and tied for top honors on two other occasions. He scored 20 or more points 15 times during the 2015-16 campaign.
Mangas, who has 817 points in his prep career, was at his best at crunch time for Warsaw. He hit four game-winning or game-tying shots this season, including a traditional 3-point play with 1.6 seconds left in the game to give his team a 38-35 win over Elkhart Central in the sectional championship contest. Mangas was also part of a team that ranked second in the state in points-allowed-per-game at 39.5.
Hazen, a 6-6 forward, led the Eagles to a 20-7 mark during the 2015-16 campaign. He teamed with his brother Brachen, one of 11 seniors for City, to help the Eagles win a Class 3-A Columbia City Sectional title before a 67-39 loss to Marion in the regional semifinals. Marion, who beat NorthWood in the regional final, is slated to play Griffith tonight in the Class 3-A semistate game at Lafayette Jefferson High School. That game was postponed on Saturday night due to an accident involving the Griffith team bus as it was en route to Lafayette for the semistate contest.
Hazen averaged 15.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for coach Chris Benedict’s team. He shot 67 percent from the field and 72 percent from the free throw line. The Eagles went 5-2 in conference play to earn a tie atop the Northeast Eight Conference standings with three other teams.
The coaches for the Junior All-Stars have not been announced yet.
The Junior All-Stars will face the IndyStar Indiana All-Star senior team in exhibition games on June 7 and 9. The sites for those games is to be determined. The Core Group will play in both exhibition games, with the North and South groups each playing in one game. The IndyStar senior team, which will be named next month, will face the Kentucky All-Stars on June 11 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and on June 12 at Bellarmine University in Louisville.
The Junior All-Stars were selected by the 22-membeer IBCA all-state panel.