Warsaw’s Asher Blum is defended by Kameron Jackson Saturday. Merrillville rallied to top the Tigers 53-48.

WARSAW – The Warsaw boys basketball team expended a lot of energy and effort Friday night in a historic win at Plymouth.

That performance took its toll in the end on the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.

Visting Merrillville, led by the sensational performance of Cameron Wilbon,  used a big time second-half rally to top Warsaw 53-48 in a non-conference tilt.

Wilbon, a 6-5 senior guard, poured in a game-high 28 points as the quick, athletic and physical Pirates simply wore down the Tigers in the final half.

Wilbon, who finished a dazzling 13-15 from the field, scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as Merrillville outscored Warsaw 15-9 to notch the win. The Pirates, who beat conference foe LaPorte 66-55 Friday night, improve to 15-6.

Senior Jonah Jackson hit four free throws in the final 11.6 seconds, including a pair with 0.6 left, to seal the win.

Warsaw, which falls to 14-7, saw an an 11-point lead evaporate in the final half. The hosts shot just 6-27 in the second half in being outscored 29-13.

The Tigers had won 51-40 at Plymouth Friday night to cap off the program’s history-making third straight 7-0 run in Northern Lakes Conference play. The game Saturday was moved to an earlier start (with the varsity tipping off just before 5 p.m.) due to Merrillville’s girls basketball team playing in the regional at LaPorte on Saturday.

The gas tank simply hit empty in the final half in this one for the Tigers.

“I think that they wore us down and we got tired in the second half,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “Their length and pressure just wore us down. We shot poorly in the second half. You look at the effort that our guys put in Friday night at Plymouth and then with a quick turnaround today.”

Warsaw star Kyle Mangas felt the effects of a pair of tough back-to-back games. The senior guard still netted 23 points, his 12th straight game of 20 points or more, but was 7-23 from the floor. Mangas scored 18 of his points in a brilliant first-half performance, but then struggled in the final half.

Kyle Mangas led the Tigers with 23 points.

“I think that Kyle was tired,” noted Ogle. “You look at how much effort he put into Friday night’s game, especially in the fourth quarter (when Mangas scored nine points to rally his team to the win). Me missed some shots today that he usually doesn’t.”

Warsaw raced out to a 19-17 lead with a fine first quarter in the up-and-down game. Mangas drilled a trio of treys in the opening frame in scoring 13 points, while Wilbon buried 10 points for the Pirates. The Tigers outscored the Pirates 16-7 in the second stanza to lead 35-24 at intermission. The hosts shot 12-18 from the field in the first half.

The Pirates got back into the game in the third period thanks to guess who?

Wilbon.

He scored seven points as Merrillville outscored Warsaw 14-6 to cut the gap to 41-38. The smooth senior then took over in the final period, scoring his team’s first 11 points of the fourth quarter, including a hoop with 3:15 to play that gave his team the lead for good at 44-43.

“We have some competitive guys and I thought that they responded in the second half,” said Merrillville coach T.J. Lux. “We challenged them at halftime and I thought that the difference was our defense.

“Cameron loves challenges. He’s such a big piece of what we do. We think that he’s one of the best players in the state with his versatility.”

Wilbon was injured late in the regular season last year, suffering a dislocated kneecap.

“I thought that it was our offense, more than our defense, that hurt us today,” Ogle said. “We rushed things and did not take care of the basketball. We missed four or rive really good shots in the second half. You have to make those. We just have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. I thought that if we had a positive assist to turnover ratio today that we would win and that did not happen (Warsaw had nine assists and 13 turnovers).”

Ogle, despite the loss, felt it was a good experience for his team. The Tigers could see a similar Elkhart Central team, which boasts a ton of quickness and athleticism, in the sectional in a couple of weeks. Warsaw lost to the Blue Blazers 50-45 back on Jan. 28 at North Side Gym, which will host the sectional.

Jaceb Burish works inside for Warsaw.

“This type of game was good for us to play in,” remarked Ogle. “Against that kind of quickness and athleticism. We’re disappointted in the way we played in the second half, but this shows us some things that we need to work on and shore up. We have a couple of weeks to do that.”

Merrillville shot 21-39 from the field, including 10-17 in the second half. The Pirates won despite shooting 6-13 from the free throw line.

Warsaw was 18-45 overall from the field and went 7-7 from the line. The hosts had a 28-22  rebounding edge.

Jaceb Burish scored eight points and Jeremy David six for the Tigers. Braxton Minix added four points, while Zach Riley had three and Asher Blum and Jack Rhoades two each.

Mangas led his team with eight rebounds.

Jackson finished with 10 points for the Pirates.

Warsaw edged past the Pirates 34-33 in the junior varsity game. Tyler Metzinger hit the second of two free throws with 2.1 seconds to play to give the Tigers the win. Metzinger and Landon Ferber each scored nine points and Trevor Rumple eight to lead the victory.

Warsaw plays at Carmel next Saturday night and hosts Carroll on Feb. 24 in the regular-season finale. Merrillville host Michigan City Friday night.

Kyle Mangas surveys the Merrillville defense for Warsaw Saturday.