SYRACUSE - If this is the way it will be for every game of the Jerry Davis-era at Wawasee, the Warrior fans are in for an interesting ride.

In one of those wild and crazy, action-packed games that keep coaches up until all hours of the morning afterward, Davis' Warriors got past Fairfield 63-54 in overtime Tuesday in the opening games for both teams.

"That is great for our players, it is great for our fans, but it keeps me up at night," Davis said. "I think with our schedule and with the way we play, if we are going to have a chance, they are going to have to be like this. This is fun, this is Indiana basketball."

It was hard to tell what kind of game it would be with both teams coming in with inexperienced teams and each squad having only two veterans back from last year. Despite the usual first-game errors and mistakes, this one had the makings of a barnburner from the start.

Fairfield led 49-46 when the Warriors worked the ball around and finally got the ball into the hands of Jay Haugh, who nailed the 3-pointer from the top of the key as time ran out to tie the score and send the game into overtime.

It was redemption of sorts for Haugh, who had earlier taken an ill-advised and ugly trey in the fourth quarter and felt Davis' wrath later on the bench.

"The earlier three was when we were having trouble scoring offensively, and we come down after one pass and throw it up without trying to work it inside," Davis said. "The one he hit to send it into overtime, you are racing against the clock, he was the second option, we executed what we drew up, and he knocked it in."

In the overtime session, Ryan Mikel broke a 53-53 tie with a 3-pointer, and the Warriors pulled away by hitting their free throws.

Mikel led the Warriors with 24 points.

"I thought Mikel shot the ball well in the second half," Davis said. "Mikel hit some shots tonight, but a lot of them were ill advised in our frame and our scope of how we will play. He has got to do a better job of understanding that."

Mikel's contributions didn't stop with just scoring. His work on the defensive end, especially on Fairfield's big gun, Jayme Matthews, was a big factor in even giving Wawasee a chance to win the game.

Matthews, who averaged 18.7 points a game last year, came up with only 13 points on 5 of 16 shooting from the field. It was so frustrating for Matthews that he didn't even attempt a shot in the fourth quarter and took only two in overtime.

"He took every shot contested," Davis said of Matthews. "He was tired. If we can make the good players tired then they will fall short at their game. We will hopefully have a chance to win. Ryan has exceptional athletic ability, and he will be able to guard people at a guard position and a small forward position."

It appeared as though in the third quarter that the Warriors would run away and hide from the Falcons. Wawasee took a 25-17 halftime advantage and stretched it to 31-19 when Brody Stipp hit a jumper.

But Matthews got hot, and Wawasee went cold.

Matthews had 8 points, including two 3-pointers, as Fairfield went on a 13-0 run and took a 32-31 lead.

"We had a little lull there in the third quarter where we let them get back into the game," Davis said. "That is a tribute to their kids, they just kept plugging away."

Fairfield kept the momentum going into the fourth quarter and opened up a 47-42 lead with just over a minute left to go in the game. The Warriors closed the gap to 47-46 on a rebound layup by Jordan Bender and a steal and layup by Mikel.

But it looked bad for the Warriors when Mikel was called for an intentional foul on a breakaway layup attempt by Greg Myers with 35 seconds left. Myers missed both free throw attempts and Michael Camacho's two free throws gave Fairfield a 49-46 lead with 30 seconds left.

Wawasee worked the ball around as Fairfield, way under the seven-foul limit for a bonus free throw situation, continually fouled the Warriors to stop a 3-point attempt. But the Warriors found a way to get a shot and Haugh nailed the tying shot.

"I thought our kids just stayed focused, which is something we did not do in the jamboree," Davis said. "We tried to make some strides in our practice preparation. We knew we weren't as bad as we played in the jamboree."

Stipp added 16 points and 9 rebounds, while Haugh and Jared Mahnensmith each added 10 points.

Wawasee (1-0) is at Mishawaka Saturday.

WAWASEE 63, FAIRFIELD 54 (OT)

Fairfield 9 8 15 17 5 - 54

Wawasee 9 16 8 16 14 - 63

Fairfield

Name FG FT A S R Pts.

Camacho 3-6 2-2 0 0 2 11

Osterday 4-8 0-0 2 3 6 8

Matthews 5-16 0-2 3 3 7 13

Barhydt 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 0

Myers 5-7 1-3 1 0 3 11

J.Patterson 1-2 1-2 0 0 2 3

Fisher 4-10 0-1 6 2 4 8

Hendrix 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 22-51 4-10 13 9 24 54

Wawasee

Name FG FT A S R Pts.

Mikel 10-18 0-0 1 5 3 24

Haugh 3-12 3-4 5 3 2 10

Mahnensmith 3-7 3-4 3 3 4 10

Fisher 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Speicher 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Frantz 0-3 0-0 0 0 1 0

Brown 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Nethaway 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Bender 1-1 1-2 2 2 5 3

Stipp 6-9 4-4 0 0 9 16

Totals 23-51 11-14 11 13 25 63

Three-point shooting - Fairfield 6-18 (Matthews 3-9, Camacho 3-3, Osterday 0-3, Fisher 0-3), Wawasee 6-21 (Mikel 4-9, Haugh 1-5, Mahnensmith 1-4, Speicher 0-1, Frantz 0-2). Fouled out - Camacho, Haugh. Personal fouls - Fairfield 17, Wawasee 15.

JV: Wawasee 40, Fairfield 33

Fairfield - Corbie Garber 10, Robert Graber 2, Todd Green 7, Dan Patterson 12

Wawasee - Narron Graves 9, Chad Wortinger 6, Blake Knisley 2, Josh Zolman 2, Justin Shilling 12, Rustin Mikel 2, Chris Lambert 6, Brad Brown 1 [[In-content Ad]]