Game Report: Crown Point 63 Warsaw 60

<p>What a game. I made the trip up to The Tiger Den Friday night to watch Warsaw host Crown Point and it was worth every second on the road. From the opening tip, this was a hotly contested game that had the feeling of one that would be going down to the wire. That absolutely proved to be true over the course of 32 minutes.</p> <p>Without senior guard [player_tooltip player_id="1168179" first="Judah" last="Simfukwe"] who recently sustained a finger injury, Warsaw was playing a bit short handed already. Then, early in the first quarter, Jaxon Gould was whistled for a questionable technical foul that sent him to the bench. However, even without their two star guards, the Tigers built an 11-9 advantage in the opening period thanks to five points from big man Russ Winchester.</p> <p>Crown Point would grab the lead in the second quarter after a flurry of three-pointers, two coming from [player_tooltip player_id="868237" first="A.J." last="Lux"] and another from [player_tooltip player_id="870293" first="Drew" last="Adzia"] forcing a Tigers timeout. As they would for most of the night though, Warsaw had an answer. Nick Katris hit a pair of triples to retake the lead for Warsaw which they would ride into the locker room 29-27 at halftime.</p> <p>In the third, both teams best players would start to get hot. Lux knocked in two more threes for Crown Point while Gould poured in 10 points in the quarter. Around the midway point of the period there was a stretch of Lux and Gould trading buckets as the score went back and forth. However, Crown Point would have the edge, 43-42 heading into the fourth quarter.</p> <p>It was more of the same in the final minutes. Lux would get a big bucket for the Bulldogs followed by Gould answering on the other end. A tough corner three, followed by a couple of jumpers for seven straight points by Gould, had Warsaw within one at 59-58 with 56.1 seconds left. The junior guard would come up with a steal on the defensive end and just like that the Tigers led 60-59 with 36 seconds remaining.</p> <p>Unfortunately for Warsaw, that would be their final bucket. [player_tooltip player_id="870293" first="Drew" last="Adzia"] came down and was fouled on a jump shot and knocked in both free throws to retake a one point lead. After two more free ones the Bulldogs would escape The Tiger Den with a hard fought 63-60 road victory.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="868237" first="A.J." last="Lux"] scored 21 points including 6/12 shooting from beyond the arc for Crown Point while [player_tooltip player_id="870293" first="Drew" last="Adzia"] added 15 points on 3/6 from three. For Warsaw, it was [player_tooltip player_id="868247" first="Jaxson" last="Gould"] leading the way with a game-high 32 points.</p>