LAPORTE – A fantastic finish kept the Warsaw boys basketball team undefeated Saturday night.

A pair of fantastic guards once again made sure that was going to happen too.

The Tigers, a picture of perserverance, rode the brilliant play in the final frame of standouts Kyle Mangas and Paul Marandet to a tough 53-48 victory over host LaPorte in a non-conference clash.

Warsaw closed the contest with a 13-2 run to stay unbeaten on the season at 9-0. Mangas and Marandet combined for 11 of the points over that run in the final 4:28.

The Tigers hit a stellar 18-21 from the free throw line in the win, including a 10-10 effort from Mangas and a 6-7 showing by Marandet.

Mangas finished with a game-high 23 points after going scoreless in the opening period. The outstanding junior guard scored six points in the final frame, including a pair of free throws with 10.1 seconds to play to seal the win.

Senior Marandet was at his best with the game on the line late. The strong backcourt ace scored eight of his 17 points in the final period, including giving his team the lead for good on a three-point play that made it 49-48 with 1:55 left in the game.

The Tigers also came up big on the defensive end by forcing a pair of LaPorte turnovers in the final 30 seconds on the game.

“Paul wrote the word perseverance on the chalkboard in our locker room after the game and I couldn’t agree more with him,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “Down 46-40 it didn’t look good for us. But our guys reacted well to finish the game the way we did. This is a good win for us.

“The value of Kyle and Paul showed up big time in a lot of ways late in the game. They just made some big plays down the stretch. Kyle just keeps at it. We have a lot of confidence in him.

“The free throws were big. We said we needed to get to the line and we hit 18-21 and they go 7-9. That was a big part of the game.”

Warsaw, which had not played since beating Triton 65-32 on Dec. 22. came up slow. The Slicers, who were coming off of a 55-35 win at John Glenn on Tuesday night, led 8-0 as Ogle took a pair of timeouts early. The hosts led 13-7 after the opening period and 25-21 at halftime.

“We had a rough start and looked like we had not played in a while,” Ogle said. “At halftime we said the score did not matter. We were encouraged to only be down four because we did not play well in the first half. We just didn’t handle the ball well in that first half.”

The Tigers outscored the Slicers 17-13 in the third frame, with Mangas scoring eight points, to tie the game at 38-38 at the end of the third quarter.

LaPorte, which saw its six game winning streak snapped, inched ahead 46-40 on a bucket by Jake Senna with 4:28 to play. The biggest whistle of the game then came with 4:12 to play as LaPorte coach Tom Wells was hit with a technical foul. Marandet hit both free throws on the technical call and then Mangas hit a pair of charity tosses on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 46-46 with 3:58 left.

The Slicers took a 48-46 lead on a jumper by Ben Walker with 3:27 to play. That was the last points of the night for the hosts as Warsaw clamped down on defense, hit free throw and closed the win with a 7-0 run.

The Tigers, who beat LaPorte 54-29 last season, hit 9-15 shots from the field and 13-16 free throws in the second half.

Evan Schmidt scored four points and Jeremy David three for the Tigers. Riley Rhoades, Ross Johnson and Braxton Minix each had two points.  Mangas and Marandet also led the rebounding charge with five each.

Walker scored 18 points and Ben Darmody 10 for the Slicers, who fall to 7-3.  LaPorte won a total of just six games last season.

Warsaw won the junior varsity contest 49-41. Asher Blum led the Tigers with 12 points. Jack Rhoades had 11 and Zach Riley nine. Austin Haferkamp led LaPorte with 15 points.

Warsaw (9-0) plays at conference foe Northridge Friday evening. LaPorte (7-3) plays at league opponent Lake Central Friday night.