Spartans rally to earn first trip to the Region 4 Tournament

Published 9:54 pm Tuesday, February 24, 2026

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The Spartans celebrate as they win 65-58 over the Greenwood Gators in the Boys’ District 14 Tournament at Warren Central High School on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. South Warren advances to their first ever trip to the Region 4 Tournament and will play against Warren Central for the district title Friday. (GRACE McDOWELL / The Daily News)

The South Warren boys’ basketball team needed a historic rally to finally punch its ticket to E.A. Diddle Arena.

South Warren rallied from 15 points down in the second half to race past Greenwood 65-58 in the District 14 Tournament on Tuesday at E.A. Diddle Arena. With the win the Spartans advance to the District 14 title game for the first time in school history, earning the program’s first-ever trip to the Region 4 Tournament which begins next week at Diddle Arena.

“It means a lot,” South Warren coach Carlos Quarles said. “It is program-defining, in my opinion. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into this. Any win you get in this district, you’ve really got to appreciate it. To come back and get this done, I am very, very happy about that.”

The furious comeback came after Greenwood (23-8) appeared to be on its way to its first district title game since 2021.

After South Warren (17-9) scored the first basket, the Gators responded with seven straight to surge in front and kept building the lead from there. Greenwood held a 17-8 advantage after one and pushed the margin to 36-20 after a bucket from Martell Tuttle with 1:04 left in the half.

The Spartans were able to score the final five points in the half, but still trailed by 11.

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Greenwood opened with the first four points in the second half, with the lead 42-27 after two Tuttle free throws with 5:21 left in the third. That’s when the Spartans began to take the momentum.

South Warren used an 11-2 spurt to trim the deficit to 44-38 and was able to get the score down to 46-41 heading into the final period. The Spartans opened the fourth with eight straight points, taking a 49-46 lead after a steal turned into a three-point play for Owen Shively with 6:03 left.

The Gators were able to pull even at 51-all after a 3-pointer from Brayden Kennedy, but the Spartans scored the next four to regain the lead for good. Greenwood got as close as one, but South Warren sealed the win with a steal and layup from Johan Pratt.

“A credit to my guys, they kept plugging,” Quarles said. “I challenged them a little bit at halftime. They were a better ballclub than they showed in the first half. They got going a little bit and then we got a little energy going and it spread throughout the team. We played South Warren basketball right there.”

Shively led the way for the Spartans with 18 points, while Brandon Perkins added 14 points. Pratt finished with 11 points, while Jaxen Decker had 10 points.

“It means a lot,” Shively said. “We’ve had this circled on our calendar since Day 1. It was always our goal to get to region and we finally got it done.”

Isaiah Summers led the Gators with 15 points. Tuttle added 13 points, while Landon Meador finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

“Their playmakers made plays,” Greenwood coach Will McCoy said. “You want to hope your moments throughout the year, the close games — and we’ve had a lot of them — have you battle-tested when teams make that run and we didn’t respond well to that tonight. We lost our offensive identity. We got foul happy, got some of our key guys in foul trouble. Down the stretch we didn’t make enough shots, didn’t make enough stops. They did.

“ … Whether you are the one seed or the four seed in this district, your district opener is a region tournament game. It’s just what it is. It’s not played at Diddle, but in terms of competition and regional rankings, just talent, that is what it is. It was a tale of two halves and unfortunately our bad half was on the back end.”

South Warren advances to face Warren Central for the District 14 championship at 6 p.m. on Friday at Warren Central High School.

“I’ve still got a couple of guys banged up,” Quarles said. “We want to make sure they get healthy for the region tournament. We will see how they feel after tonight, but they played their tails off. I’ll give them a day off tomorrow.”

SWHS 8 17 16 24 — 65

GHS 17 19 10 12 — 58

SW — Shively 18, Perkins 14, Pratt 11, Decker 10, Willis 9, McIntyre 3.

GHS — Summers 15, Tuttle 13, Meador 11, Sampson 9, Kennedy 5, York 3, Huff 2.