Warsaw’s John Swanson and Tanner Andrews of Tippecanoe Valley battle for the opening tip-off Wednesday night in the Tiger Den. Both players enjoyed outstanding games as the Tigers defeated the Vikings 72-64 in the season opener for both teams.

WARSAW – Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle predicted his relatively inexperienced team would surprise some people this season.

Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball coach Bill Patrick predicted that the Tigers’ John Swanson would surprise some people with his improvement from a year ago.

It turns out that both savvy, veteran coaches were right, although Ogle had to be much happier than Patrick to see his prediction come true Wednesday night.

Swanson played a huge role as the efficient and effective Tigers turned back the Vikings 72-64 in the 2012-13 campaign lid lifter for both squads in the Tiger Den.

Swanson made his first-ever varsity start one to remember as the senior netted 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field as the balanced Tigers used a team effort to top the experienced Vikings.

Jared Bloom of Warsaw eyes Jacob Ritchey of Tippecanoe Valley Wednesday night. Bloom popped in 18 points to help the Tigers to a 72-64 victory.

Standouts Jared Bloom and Jordan Stookey, the two players with by far the most varsity experience from last year’s 13-8 squad,  were both tough as each scored 18 points for Warsaw. Swanson, a 6-5 forward who started on the JV team last year and scored a total of nine varsity points in playing a total of 20 mainly mop up minutes, hit for 16, while senior Taylor Cone and junior Nate Pearl each added 10.

The Tigers, who beat Valley for the sixth straight time, shot 27-of-45 from the field by sharing the basketball. The hosts were also 14-of-16 from the line, all in the second half, including a clutch 7-of-8 by Pearl, who hit 4-of-4 in the final 1:50 to seal the win.

Valley, which returns four starters from its 16-5 team, got a monster game from Tanner Andrews. The athletic 6-3 junior forward poured in a game-high 25 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Junior guard Robby Groom added 14 points for the Vikings.

Valley standout shooting guard Nick Kindig managed just 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting, including 0-of-3 from 3-point range. The senior sniper averaged 20 points-per-game as a junior and hit 42 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.

Tanner Andrews of Valley finds himself defended by Warsaw’s Taylor Cone. Andrews netted a game-high 25 points for the Vikings in the season opener Wednesday night.

“This was a heck of a game for us to win,” said Ogle, whose team prevailed 64-47 at Valley last year. “It’s one game, but I told our players they have every right to feel good about this game. Valley is not going to lose very many games this season I don’t think.”

“We played probably a notch or two better than I thought we would tonight. Especially when you look at the fact that we scored 72 points and we had five guys score in double figures. I’m real happy for John. He did a great job. Nate Pearl was solid and hit some big free throws and I thought Rashaan Jackson was solid for us.

“I’m just really happy for all our guys. It was just a good team effort. I told you guys we had a chance to be an unselfish team and we had a lot of good passing tonight and we needed it. Andrews was tremendous for them. I thought our defense on their other players was pretty good. We wanted to be there on the catch against Kindig. He got a couple of good looks, but we did a good job for the most part on him.”

The Tigers opened the final quarter with a 6-0 run to lead 54-40 with 6:41 to play before Andrews and senior Jacob Ritchey led a Valley surge. The Vikings, getting two big treys from Ritchey and seven points from Andrews, got within 63-60 on a Ritchey triple with 2:11 left. Warsaw answered the challenge as Pearl hit his four free throws down the stretch and Swanson scored a huge layup bucket with 1:00 to play off a great pass from a driving Stookey.

“Swanson can play,” reiterated Patrick after the game. “He’s strong, he plays hard and he hurt us inside. He makes a difference for them, especially with the two good shooters they have in Bloom and Stookey.

“The fouls hurt us late when we got it within three points. The difference though was that they played better team basketball than we did. They made 4-5 passes and got open shots. We played too much individual basketball and you’re not going to win like that. You’re not going to beat a good team playing the way we played tonight.”

The game was tied at 12-12 after the opening period before the Tigers inched ahead 28-24 at halftime. Bloom scored nine points and Swanson eight in the first half for the Tigers, who shot 13-of-23 from the field. Andrews kept Valley close with a dozen points, but spent a large chunk of the second period on the bench after getting his second foul early in the period on a very iffy offensive charging call.

“We lost the game when Tanner got his second foul and had to come out,” Patrick said. “They had no answer for him.  It was a big call on him, a very questionable one. If he stays in, it’s a totally different game.  He plays hard, he’s quick and he’s just a good team player.

“Nick took himself out of the game tonight. I think he was probably trying too hard. He forced some things. He has to relax and let the game come to him  and just get in the flow of the game.

“We played a terrible first half and we were only down four. We couldn’t play worse than we did in that first half.”

Jordan Stookey brings the ball up the court versus Valley’s Robby Groom Wednesday night at WCHS. Stookey scored 18 points as the Tigers won 72-64.

Warsaw continued its balanced attack in the third period. Bloom scored seven and Stookey six as the Tigers led 48-40 after three quarters. Andrews and Groom each netted six points in the third stanza for the Vikings.

Senior Bloom, who averaged 9.8 points-per-game last year, was 7-of-14 from the field. Junior Stookey, who averaged 6.0 ppg. last season, connected on 7-of-15 shots. Bloom started 19 games and Stookey seven last season.

Stookey swished through a clutch triple from the baseline midway through the final period after Valley had used a 13-4 run to pull within 58-53.

“That was a huge shot by Stookey,” said Ogle. “It stemmed the tide at that point. Then, Pearl hit some big free throws for us.”

The Vikings shot a strong 26-of-52 from the field, but were just 4-of-13 on 3-point tries. Valley also went 8-of-13 from the free throw line in the loss.

The Warsaw junior varsity used a fourth-quarter rally to edge Valley 20-19. The Tigers outscored the Vikings 10-4 in the final period. Nick Sands led Warsaw with eight points. Aaron Hoffman paced the Vikings with six points.

Warsaw (1-0) hosts Columbia City Saturday night. Valley (0-1) hosts Argos Tuesday evening.

Tanner Andrews of Tippecanoe Valley makes a move past John Swanson of Warsaw Wednesday night.