Waraw’s Jake Mangas looks for two inside against a Huntington North defender. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WARSAW – Just one night removed from falling by one point to Homestead, the Warsaw Tigers basketball team responded in grand fashion in front of its home crowd.

The Tigers used efficient execution from a variety of players to knock off a confident and undefeated Huntington North squad on Saturday night 50-46 in the Tiger Den.

The Tigers were without two of their key players for the first half of Saturday’s game as Jordan Stookey and Rashaan Jackson both served suspensions for violating the team’s curfew rule. But despite missing those two, Warsaw hardly missed a beat in the first half.

Keaton Irwin, a future Grace College Lancer, hit a three-pointer for the Vikings at the start of the game and put the Tigers in an early 3-0 hole. But Warsaw would outscore the visiting team 9-1 to close out the first quarter and never lose the lead again. The three-point shot would be Irwin’s only make on the night.

Jake Mangas was the catalyst for Warsaw in the first half. The junior was four-of-six from the field and led all scorers with nine points before the half. Mangas’ statistical production slowed in the second half, scoring just two points to finish the night with 11.

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The Tigers shot 53-percent from the floor in the first half, much better than Huntington North’s 35-percent performance, and managed to take a 20-13 lead into the locker room. Warsaw head coach Doug Ogle was relieved to have a lead at half against a talented opponent.

Viking head coach Rob Irwin argues with an official on Saturday night. Irwin’s team lost to Warsaw 50-46.

“I was really impressed with the group of guys we had out there to start,” started Ogle. “The group we had in the first half did a very nice job. They were led by Nate Pearl, Paul Marandet and Jake Mangas.

“To be up seven half was good, I was happy about that. (Peyton) Long and (Cameron) Hoskins did not play in that first half either. So, we had a few guys that got some important experience, Moses Marandet had a huge three-point play in the first half for us. That’s a huge confidence builder for him. Tim Swanson hit both of his shots in the first half for us. It was good experience for those guys. As for the guys that were suspended, I hope it was a growing time for all of them.”

Moses Marandet, Darren Walcott and Kyle Mangas all played significant time in the first half but never made it onto the floor in the final two quarters. The three could be labeled as unsung heroes in Saturday’s four-point victory as the trio combined for four points, two rebounds and a steal.

Rashaan Jackson drops in two of his 11 points for the Tigers.

Already in command of a seven-point lead, Warsaw came back fully-loaded in the second half with a full roster of players and continued to go toe-to-toe with the Vikings and leading scorer Caleb Landrum.

Landrum, a junior, led all scorers with 13 points in the second half. He sparked a nine-point run for Huntington North to close the gap in the second half but ultimately could not out-do the three-headed monster that was Stookey, Jackson and Pearl. Landrum finished with 15 points, a game high.

Stookey scored eight while Jackson tallied 11 to combine for 19 of Warsaw’s 31 second half points. Pearl iced the victory by hitting seven of his eight free throw attempts in the third and fourth quarters. Pearl finished with a team-high 12 points.

Following the game, Viking assistant coach Marcus Moore offered comments on the team’s performance. Head coach Rob Irwin was unavailable for comment as he left immediately after the game to be with his player, Matt Hogan, who suffered an injury in the second half and was taken to the hospital.

“Matt’s toughness is one our biggest strength’s,” started Moore. “He is just a good basketball player, all-around. He is our engine. The best thing we can take out of this, with losing a guy like that, is learning how to play without a player like Matt. Outside of that, it’s a learning curve. You have to learn from it. We have to have five guys ready to play at any given time.

Nate Pearl takes and makes one of his seven free throws in the second half.

“We have to give credit to Warsaw, they got a lot of those 50/50 balls. We started to get on a little bit of a roll but really struggled to get consecutive stops on defense or baskets on offense. We told the guys to not panic, there is no 10-point shot in basketball. Warsaw took a lot away from us and made a lot of good plays down the stretch.”

Warsaw rolled to a 44-21 win in the junior varsity contest. Jeremy David paced the Tigers with 12 points. Evan Schmidt and Xavier Lynch each scored eight points for Warsaw, while Kyle Mangas and Luke Wilson each added six.

Huntington North (3-1) will look to rebound on Tuesday night as they travel to New Haven (2-0). Warsaw (2-2) will travel to North Manchester to take on the Squires (3-0) for the first time since 1976. Tip-off is set for 7:45 p.m. at Manchester High School.