Kyle Mangas put on a show at the Michigan City Regional. Here’s a look at what he did against East Chicago Central and Merrillville.

Mangas, an Indiana Wesleyan commitment, scored the first 16 points for Warsaw against East Chicago Central. Somehow, he didn’t slow down much over the game. Mangas finished with 47 points in the win over East Chicago. It was a tremendous performance.

The first thought basketball people have when hearing a player scored 47 points is, “How many shots did he take?” The answer for Mangas against East Chicago was 25. He also got to the free throw line 17 times. Yes, his usage was high but his efficiency was even better.

A surprising part of the scoring outburst was that Mangas only hit two three-pointers against East Chicago. He focused on taking outside shots a little bit more against Merrillville. In the game against EC, Mangas was able to get to the paint with relative ease. He has a great ability to slide through small spaces like traps and double teams.

Merrillville put its entire defensive focus on Mangas. He deferred to his teammates in the first half. He had eight points at halftime. In the second half, he took over. Mangas scored 16 points in the final 16 minutes of the game. He started the half by hitting a couple threes then started scoring in the paint again.

Mangas had seven steals and three dunks in the two games. Those two stats would probably surprise a lot of people. Mangas does a good job of anticipating passes and spots where opponents are going. Simply put, he is a competitor that looks for spots that he can exploit. It works out well for him on both ends of the floor.

I’ve always thought Mangas would be able to impact teams in the Ohio Valley, Patriot League, America East, Atlantic Sun and Southland Conferences. His performances Saturday confirmed those thoughts in my mind. He tallied 71 points against good athletes while being extremely efficient.

Locking down players like Kyle Mangas is why Indiana Wesleyan is a national title contender every year in the NAIA.