Kyle Mangas calls out a play for Warsaw Friday night. The junior star had 10 points as the undefeated Tigers beat NorthWood 51-35 in Nappanee.

NAPPANEE – The Warsaw boys basketball team may not have locked up the Northern Lakes Conference championship  just quite yet Friday night.

The undefeated Tigers though by locking down NorthWood sure took a big step towards it.

Warsaw rode the combination of defense and rebounding to a convincing 51-35 win over the host Panthers in a league clash of titans.

A capacity crowd of some 3,300 in the Panther Pit looked on as Class 4-A No. 5 Warsaw used a huge second-half effort to pull away from the Class 3-A No. 2 Panthers.

Warsaw got a monster game from Paul Marandet on the offensive end as the senior exploded for a career and game-high 23 points. Junior Kyle Mangas scored 10 points and Riley Rhoades and Jeremy David each came up huge with eight points each for the Tigers.

The Tigers improve to 16-0 overall and alone atop the NLC standings at 5-0. NorthWood, which saw its 10-game winning streak end, drops to 13-2 overall and 4-1 in the NLC.

Evan Schmidt looks for room to operate for the Tigers.

Warsaw won this one though with defense and rebounding. The Tigers held the potent Panthers to a season-low point total. NorthWood entered play Friday night averaging 68 points-per-game with a previous low of 48 points in their only other loss, a 49-48 setback to Fishers back on Dec. 5. Warsaw entered play Friday night with one of the top defensive averages in the state, only giving up 40.7 ppg.

The Tigers also out rebounded NorthWood by a 24-14 count. The Panthers entered play Friday night out rebounding their opponents by an average of 10.6 caroms per contest. Rhoades and David came up huge on the glass in addition to their offense as each grabbed seven rebounds for the Tigers.

“Our rebounding and defense were championship calibre tonight,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “I couldn’t ask for more from our guys. We are an elite defensive team and proved that tonight. Our defense just wears you down. It gets old. It annoys you.

“I think I underestimate how physical we are on defense. David Wayne (assistant coach of the Tigers) tells me that all the time. All five of our guys can guard on the perimeter and can switch everything out there. I thought that we could guard them. We gave them very few easy baskets tonight.

“We rebounded well. I would have never have fathomed that we would do that as far as the rebounding advantage that we had tonight. I was just hoping that we would stay somewhere near even with them. Our guys just did a great job. Both Riley and Jeremy were great for us tonight. To get 16 points out of those two guys was big for us”

Warsaw coach Doug Ogle shares his opinion with an official.

Warsaw took control of the close game with a huge 15-0 run over the pivotal stretch in the third and fourth quarters. The game was tied at 24-24 after a bucket by NorthWood’s Luke Zurcher with 5:10 to play in the third quarter. Marandet then sparked the dominating stretch with seven points as Warsaw rolled to a 39-24 lead. The Panthers did not score again until Braxton Linville hit a pair of free throws with 5:57 to play in the final quarter.

“The game came down to a stretch of possessions there in that run and they got control of the game,” said NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe of the key 15-0 scoring spree by Warsaw. “They got some strong baskets by Paul in that stretch.

“Their individual defense tonight was tremendous. Their ability not to foul is impressive. They kept us off the line. Their players stay in front on defense and what makes them unique is that they can guard guards with their post players too. They are just a very solid basketball team.”

NorthWood, which saw its 21-game homecourt winning streak end, led 10-9 after the opening period of play. Warsaw led 20-18 at halftime despite having eight turnovers. Marandet scored 10 points and Mangas seven in the opening half.

The Panthers shot just 15-41 overall from the field, including 7-20 in the second half. NorthWood was just 2-9 from 3-point range and 3-4 at the free throw line.  Warsaw was 19-30 overall from the field, including 11-16 in the final half. The Tigers were 2-4 from distance and 11-14 from the line.

Ross Johnson added two points for Warsaw. The Tigers had 13 turnovers to just nine for the Panthers.

Senior Dakiyron Fox led NorthWood with 12 points. Senior guard Braxton Linville, who will play at Grace College next season, scored nine points and junior Luke Zurcher seven. Junior guard Vinny Miranda, who was averaging a team-high 17.6 ppg., was held to five points on 2-12 shooting.

The Friday night clash will be replayed on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on WHME-TV (Channel 46).

Kyle Mangas prepares to attack for Warsaw.

Warsaw still has NLC games left at Elkhart Memorial Feb. 4 and home to Plymouth Feb. 12. NorthWood will play at Concord Feb. 4 and host Memorial Feb. 12 to wrap up league play.

Warsaw won the junior varsity game 46-38. Jack Rhoades led Warsaw with 14 points. Asher Blum had nine points, Zach Riley eight and Landen Ferber seven for the Tigers. Brad Dello led NorthWood with 13 points.

Warsaw hosts Elkhart Central Saturday night.  The Blue Blazers dropped to 10-3 after losing at Mishawaka Marian 73-58 Friday night.

NorthWood plays at Concord on Thursday night.

Riley Rhoades of Warsaw (at left) mixes it up with Dakiyron Fox of NorthWood for rebounding position. Rhoades was huge for the Tigers with eight points and seven rebounds in a 51-35 win.