January 14, 2011
Goshen, IN

	#7 (4A) Warsaw Tigers (11-1)	67
	Goshen Redskins	51

Playing their fourth game in just seven days, the Warsaw Tigers geared up for another Northern Lakes Conference matchup in Goshen Friday night. The Tiger schedule in 2011 has mirrored that of an NBA team. Warsaw played back-to-back last weekend before hitting the road both Wednesday and Friday of this week.

The Goshen Redskins came into this contest having lost seven of their last eight basketball games. Nonetheless, the Tigers had to find a way to get motivated for this NLC road battle.

From the onset you could tell that Goshen Head Coach Brian Bechtel had decided to employ a unique defensive strategy on the Tigers. The Redskins were tracking Warsaw star Nic Moore with two defenders and willing to take their chances with the remaining Tiger players to beat them.

That's exactly what happened. Pick your poison.

With the Redskin players chasing Nic Moore around the perimeter, Tiger Junior Lucas Grose was having a field day around the basket. Grose amassed 7 first quarter points on point blank looks from 2-3 feet. Fellow classmates Jay Holladay and Rhett Kesler both knocked down wide open three point shots as Moore simply lobbed the ball from half court to his teammates.

Goshen made 4 three point baskets in the quarter.

End of Quarter #1: Warsaw 17 - Goshen 16

Nic Moore continued to control the court to open the second. Sir Sic Nic used his defense to create scoring opportunities. Moore stole the ball twice from the Goshen point guard to get two easy lay-ups.

In the half court, Nic took what the defense was giving his team on his way to 10 first half points and 6 assists. His first half against 2 to 3 defenders was already a good complete game for most high school point guards. Nic Moore is extra special and his teammates are very good. Nic completely understands the situation on the court at all times and will choose winning over individual accolades.

The main reasons he wins Mr. Basketball 2011 are his incredible basketball mind coupled with basketball intangibles. It literally is like having a member of the coaching staff on the basketball floor. Nic Moore gets it.

As an opposing coach, you are faced with the tough decision on how you attempt to defend Nic Moore and the Tigers. You can track Nic with 2-3 guys, but you have to be willing to give up easy lay-ups to the Tiger bigs (Grose, Roscoe, & Anderson) and wide open looks to the Warsaw sharpshooters (Coon, Holladay, Bloom, & Kesler).
When Nic is double-teamed Grose gets 16, Holladay 11, Kesler 8, and Bloom 5 for a GRAND TOTAL of 40 Tiger Points. Other teams have played straight up man-to-man defense and Nic has burnt them for 40 point outbursts of his own.

One thing most opponents fail to take into consideration is the Warsaw Tiger defense. This group of Tigers is very strong physically. This group spends a ton of time in the weight room and you can see it when you look at guys like Lucas Grose, Jay Holladay, and Nic Moore. Warsaw is most always the more physical team and their offense is created by strong defense.

The Tigers forced Goshen into 15 turnovers in this game. Warsaw outscored Goshen 20-3 in points off of turnovers. That is +17 for Warsaw and the Tigers win by 16 going away. See the correlation?

Pick your poison.

End of Quarter #2: Warsaw 34 - Goshen 26

The second half was really a carbon copy of the first. Goshen continued their strategy of using multiple defenders on Moore. Lucas Grose continued to dominate the painted area while Holladay, Kesler, and Bloom continued to knock down open shots for the Tigers.

Grose finished the contest with game-highs in points (16) and rebounds (8). The 6'5" junior forward is now averaging 15.3 points per game in Northern Lakes Conference play. Lucas is a major reason why the Tigers have now won an amazing 15 consecutive NLC contests dating back to 2009.

Jay Holladay is quickly instilling himself as the 2011 version of Zack Linky. Holladay has knocked down seven three point baskets in the last two games on 70% (7 of 10) shooting from beyond the arc. Jay's exceptional ability to shoot the basketball will be a huge asset during the stretch run for Coach Doug Ogle's Tigers.

Nic Moore accumulated another 40+ performance for his Tigers. The beauty behind this Moore masterpiece was in the "how". Moore dominated this basketball game in different ways Friday night. While Moore only scored half of his 33 point average, his 10 assists accounted for a whopping 25 points, and his 5 steals all led to Warsaw points. Need I mention that he also pulled down 4 rebounds. Nearly a Triple-Double!

Goshen, though they tried their best, simply had no answer.

Final Score: Warsaw 67 - Goshen 51

Warsaw shot an exceptional 60% (25 of 42) from the field in this game. The Tigers were 6 of 13 from three point land and 11 of 16 (69%) from the charity stripe. Warsaw committed only 7 turnovers while creating 9 total steals on the defensive side of the ball.

Complete Scoring for Warsaw:

The Tigers are now 11-1 (3-0 NLC) on the season. Warsaw will host the Concord Minutemen next Friday night, January 21st, in the Tiger Den. The Tigers and Minutemen met twice last season in very close games. Make sure to be at this important NLC matchup that will have a significant outcome in the overall conference title.

Go Tigers!!

Posted In: Boy's Sports > Basketball

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