WCHS senior Kyle Mangas was tabbed as an Indiana All-Star on Monday.

WARSAW – Kyle Mangas proved time and time again throughout his brilliant high school basketball career that he was an elite player.

Now, the former Warsaw star is right where he belongs.

As an Indiana All-Star.

The clutch and consistent Mangas was tabbed as one of the state’s best earlier today when the 13-member team was announced by All-Star game director Charlie Hall.

Mangas, as mild-mannered and humble a young man as you will find, admitted he wanted to make this team.

“I really wanted this pretty bad,” said Mangas in a phone interview this afternoon. “I felt like I had worked hard to make the progress I did and I felt that I deserved to be an All-Star.”

“It’s been on my mind since our season ended. But I was not going to let it get to me or get in my head. I did not want to stress about it.”

Mangas, who just returned from Spring Break, got quite the welcome home call from Hall Sunday night.

“I was super excited and very happy when he called,” Mangas recounted. “It was really a pretty emotional time. I got off the phone and I could tell that my parents were really excited for me and proud. I also called my brother (Jake) because he was such a big part of this.

“I think that I made it because of my consistency and efficiency and the success of our team. I just can’t wait for the experience to play with the other All-Stars. I just plan to bring a lot defensively and offensively to the team.”

Mangas earned his second straight Ink Free News Player of the Year honor after a stellar senior season. The 6-3 guard averaged 22.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in leading the Tigers to an 18-10 mark. He led Warsaw to its second straight Class 4-A sectional title and its third consecutive undefeated season in the Northern Lakes Conference, the first time an NLC program has ever achieved that feat. Mangas scored a career-high 47 points in a double-overtime win over East Chicago Central in a regional semifinal game.

Mangas, who will play at Indiana Wesleyan University, went 61-17 in his three-year stint as a Tiger. He finished fourth in program history with 1,450 career points, trailing only Mr. Basketball Award winners Jeff Grose and Kevin Ault and Mr. Basketball runner-up Nic Moore, the last Tiger to earn All-Star honors back in 2011.

Mangas becomes the 11th player in the tradition-rich history of the WCHS boys basketball program to be named an Indiana All-Star.

“It’s hard for me to imagine a player who is more deserving of being an All-Star than Kyle is,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “He just checks all the boxes. You combine our team’s success with his individual success and his stellar personal character. He’s done it all.

“I’m just really happy for Kyle because he earned this. I just appreciated his clockwork like consistency in both games and practices throughout his career for us. I appreciate the combination he has of being humble and confident both. That’s hard to do. He’s just so well grounded and that’s a testament to having unbelievable parenting.”

Mangas, who also earned Academic All-State First Team honors following his senior season, will be joined by a who’s who of the state’s top talent.

The All-Star team is led by the four finalists for the IndyStar Mr. Basketball Award in Cloverdale’s Cooper Neese (Butler), Castle’s Jack Nunge (Iowa), North Central’s Kris Wilkes (UCLA) and Fort Wayne Snider’s Malik Williams (Louisville). The Mr. Basketball winner will be announced at the Indiana Sports Award banquet on April 27.

The Indiana All-Stars will play exhibition games against the Junior All-Stars on June 6 at New Albany and on June 8 at Plainfield. The games against the Kentucky All-Stars are set for June 10 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and June 11 at a still-to-be-determined location in Kentucky.

There are five other Indiana All-Stars committed to in-state college programs, including Mangas and Purdue recruit and 6-4 Crown Point guard Sasha Stefanovic. Others are 6-6 Hamilton Southeastern forward Zach Gunn (Ball State) and 6-6 Connersville forward Grant Smith (Indiana Wesleyan) and 6-1 Terre Haute South guard Jaylen Minnett (IUPUI).

Other players selected to the team by Hall are Warren Central 6-2 guard Mack Smith (Eastern Illinois) and Mt. Vernon 6-2 guard Michael Ertel (Louisiana-Monroe). Rounding out the team are 6-10 Fort Wayne North Side forward Jaylen Butz (DePaul) and 6-4 East Chicago Central guard Jermaine Couisnard (undecided).

Marty Beasley of Fort Wayne Carroll will coach the All-Star squad. Beasley will be assisted by Connersville’s Kerry Brown and Culver Academy’s Mark Galloway.

Mangas’ parents Tim and Ann were both standout athletes at Wawasee High School. His older brother Jake played both basketball and football for the Tigers.

“I have to thank my parents and my brother for all of their support,” said Mangas. “Also all the Warsaw coaches and coach Tonagel at Indiana Wesleyan.

“I can’t thank coach Ogle enough for all that he did to help support me to become an All-Star. He did an awful lot and it really means a lot to me.”