South Warren’s Jordan McDonald (left) shoots Tuesday during the Spartans’ win at Warren East.

Jonathan Minton was exactly where he wanted to be Tuesday night.

The Warren East junior, who a month ago watched practice on crutches as he recovered from a bone fracture in his foot and broken pinkie toe, stood at the free-throw line with 13 seconds to play with a chance to effectively put away South Warren in a key District 14 boys’ basketball matchup at Warren East High School.

Minton’s first free throw was no thing of beauty as the ball splattered against the back iron like a wet bag of sand. It went in, though, making it a two-possession game. He sank his second with a more aesthetically pleasing swish through the net, tallying the final point in the Raiders’ 56-51 win.

“I love games like that,” Minton said. “I love late game-situations, I love to play in them. That was a pretty good game.”

Minton provided a fourth-quarter boost for Warren East (14-10 overall, 3-4 District 14), sinking a game-tying 3-pointer from the corner and burying 4-of-4 free-throw attempts for seven points. Not bad, considering Minton – who transferred after playing last season at Hart County – has missed much of the season with his injury.

“The last couple games I haven’t got that many minutes, but I knew my time was coming,” Minton said. “I just fought through it and kept going and you see how it got.”

After trailing the entire third quarter, the Raiders drew even at 44 on Minton’s 3-pointer. It was still tied at 48 when the Raiders’ Brevon Whitney slipped through the lane for a go-ahead layup with 1:46 to go. Minton followed with a pair of free throws to push the lead to four, but the Spartans’ Eddie Bahic answered with a layup with 1:06 to go.

South Warren (12-13, 1-7) couldn’t get any closer as the Raiders sank 7-of-8 free throws over the final 1:13.

The Spartans played again without normal starting guard Daniel Moore, who has missed about two weeks with an illness and could be out for the rest of the year. South Warren coach Nelson Cundiff said his team missed Moore’s toughness and rebounding ability Tuesday.

“We missed two layups late that really hurt us bad, but I’m not really concerned about that,” Cundiff said. “I’m concerned about the defensive end and we can’t get a rebound.”

The Raiders couldn’t seem to make a shot in the first three quarters, hitting just 15-of-56 from the field before warming up in the fourth quarter to sink 4-of-9 shots.

“I thought we took good shots,” Raiders coach Brandon Combs said. “We had kids taking shots that I thought came out of the offense, which is what you want. It was just like there was a lid on the basket.”

Down 28-27 at halftime, Warren East’s continued cold shooting allowed the Spartans to stretch their lead to as many as six in the third quarter. It might have been worse if not for Raiders senior forward Tashawn Neal, who scored seven in the third and finished with a team-high 21 points. Neal just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, helping the Raiders outrebound South Warren 32-26.

“My 3-pointers weren’t falling and coach is always telling me if they’re not falling early, get in mid-range, get some shots up and maybe they’ll fall,” Neal said. “And they were falling and they kept leaving me open, so I kept shooting.”

Whitney added 17 points for the Raiders, who still have a chance to secure the No. 3 seed in the District 14 tournament depending on how the final week of district play shakes out. Warren East visits district rival Bowling Green on Friday.

“We did what we needed to do tonight,” Combs said. “You know, you can’t go through scenarios and coin flips. You’ve got to worry about your team, especially this time of year. And it’s good to get a District 14 win, and it’s good to get one late in the game especially.”

Tyler Martin had a game-high 21 points for the Spartans, and Gavin Spurrier tallied a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“I thought Spurrier just played lights out,” Cundiff said. “He was on the floor, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots. We’ve just gotta help him get some rebounds.”

South Warren hosts Franklin-Simpson on Thursday.

SWHS – 11 17 15 8 – 51

WEHS – 10 17 12 17 – 56

SW — Martin 21, Spurrier 12, Bahic 6, Carver 4, Haggarty 3, C. Moore 3, Howard 2.

WE — Neal 21, Whitney 17, Maxey 9, Minton 7, Wallace 2.

Girls

South Warren 63, Warren East 47

Considering his team had just dropped a 63-47 decision to visiting South Warren on Tuesday, it might seem odd that Lady Raiders coach Orlando Hayden practically beamed afterward.

Conversely, Spartans coach Blane Embry could barely suppress a scowl despite the 16-point win.

Why? Look no further than here – with 3:44 left in the third quarter, a Natalie Pierce layup capped a 10-2 run for the Spartans that put them up by 30 at 46-16.

Then it happened – the Lady Raiders began hitting shots, lots of them. Warren East closed out the third on a 12-0 run and extended that to 19 unanswered points with Hailey Hymer’s 3-pointer punctuating that astonishing rally by the Lady Raiders, who later closed within 12 on Cressida Duncan’s drive with 5:08 to play.

South Warren (24-3, 8-0) bounced back, attacking in the paint to draw fouls, enough to shoot 15 free throws – and hit 10 – in the final four minutes.

Duncan tallied a monster night for Warren East (16-11, 4-4) with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Cailyn Howard added 13 points for the Lady Raiders, who fared much better the second time around after losing 79-26 to the Spartans on Dec. 8.

“For us to fight back and lose by 16, like I told the girls in the locker room, I’m proud of that,” Hayden said. “I was like, ‘First of all, you weren’t even supposed to be here anyway. You’ve surprised everybody so far.’ You’re talking about probably one of the top-10 teams in the state (South Warren).”

Leading 36-11 at the break, South Warren backed off a press that forced 15 first-half turnovers.

“When we quit playing defense, that’s what happens,” Embry said. “Everybody looks at how many points we score and stuff like that, but it basically starts with moving our feet on the defensive end, getting into our spots. We quit pressing in the second half, trying to work on some stuff.

“… When we’re not pressing, we just think that we don’t have to play defense anymore.”

Pierce and Amaya Lasley finished with 18 points each to lead the Spartans, and Peyton Ferry added 11.

South Warren hosts Franklin-Simpson on Thursday. Warren East next plays Friday at Bowling Green.

SWHS – 18 18 10 17 – 63

WEHS – 8 3 17 19 – 47

SW — Lasley 18, Pierce 18, Ferry 11, McDonald 9, Dennison 4, Stevenson 3.

WE — Duncan 18, Howard 13, Hymer 8, Hendrick 4, Forrester 2, Patterson 2.