AKRON – Though he only scored four points in Wednesday night's season-opener against county rival Warsaw, Tippecanoe Valley senior Ben Shriver certainly made them count. In a thrilling high school boys basketball game that featured a little bit of everything, including technical fouls on Hall of Fame Valley coach Bill Patrick and Warsaw junior Rashaan Jackson, a rebound and bucket by Shriver just before the final buzzer led the host Vikings to a 54-52 win. “I was in the right place at the right time,” said Shriver, whose other two points came from the free throw line with 44 seconds remaining in the game. “Honestly, we work on rebounding drills a lot in practice. It's definitely a cool experience to win a game like that.” With the win, Valley snapped a six-game losing streak to the Tigers. Warsaw holds a 29-6 advantage in the all-time series. Valley's girls team beat Warsaw 57-50 last week, making this the first time the Vikings and Lady Vikings have beat their county rivals in the same year. “Every kid who plays basketball should watch that play," said Patrick, who is now tied with Bill Stearman for fourth on Indiana's all-time wins list with 714. “Most kids would have just stood and watched, but Ben hustled to get the rebound and make that basket. That was a hustle play.” Shriver's two free throws gave Valley a 50-46 lead. The Tigers responded with a three-pointer from junior Peyton Long, cutting the Vikings' lead to one with 28 seconds left. A pair of charity tosses from senior Robby Groom pushed Valley's lead back to three, 52-49, with 17 seconds remaining. Warsaw again responded with a trey, this time from senior Nate Pearl with seven ticks on the clock. After a timeout, Valley inbounded the ball with five seconds left, needing to go the length of the court to avoid overtime. Senior Tanner Andrews took the inbound pass and sprinted up the court and down the lane for a layup. As Andrews' attempt bounced off the rim, Shriver was there for the put-back, giving Valley's students reason to rush the court and celebrate. “That was a heck of a hustle play by Shriver, and just bad defense on our part,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. “It was an exciting game. Valley's interior offense was better than our interior defense. Whether it was Andrews or (Logan) Britton. They were able to get the ball inside and score.” After scoring 33 points in the first 24 minutes of action, the Vikings scored 21 in the final eight minutes, something Ogle wasn’t happy about. Groom led Valley with 16 points, while junior Chainey Zolman scored 14 and Andrews and Britton finished with 10 points each. While Ogle said after the loss he felt like Valley played better than his Tigers, it was Warsaw that got off to a quick start and led for the beter part of three and a half quarters. Warsaw led 13-4 after one quarter of play, 25-21 at halftime and 37-33 at the end of three quarters. The Vikings scored the first points of the game on a three-pointer from Groom, but didn't hold another lead until a rebound and bucket by Britton gave them a 42-41 lead with 3:30 remaining. “We should have been up by more than four at halftime,” said Ogle. “We had too many squandered opportunities. I thought Valley played better than us. They were more solid. “We were courageous in hitting those threes by Peyton and Nate, that was a positive,” added Ogle. “Jordan (Stookey) did a good job offensively, that was a positive. Nate's play was also a positive.” Stookey, Warsaw's most-experienced player at the varsity level, led the Tigers with a game-high 24 points. He scored 18 of Warsaw's 24 points during the second and third quarters. Pearl finished with 13 points, while Long and Jackson scored six points each and junior Jake Mangas scored two points. “It's a starting point,” said Ogle. “I hope our improvement from Game 1 to Game 2 is going to be significant.” The Tigers travel to Columbia City Saturday, as they tri to avoid their first 0-2 start since 1987. The Eagles opened the season Wednesday with an 18-point win over county rival Whitko. Valley is in action again Tuesday when it travels to Argos. “We played better in the second half,” said Patrick. “We took bad shots in the first half and we were only down four at halftime. This is a game I thought we should have won easier. We have more experience and talent than Warsaw does right now. They played well. I thought Stookey play well. He's a good player. I thought he played under control and didn't force anything.”
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 54, WARSAW 52 W 13 12 12 15 – 52 TV 4 17 12 21 – 54 Warsaw – Paul Marandet 0 1-2 1, Darren Walcott 0 0-0 0, Peyton Long 2 0-0 6, Cameron Hoskins 0 0-0 0, Nate Pearl 3 4-5 13, Tim Swanson 0 0-0 0, Jake Mangas 1 0-0 2, Moses Marandet 0 0-0 0, Jordan Stookey 11 1-1 24, Rashaan Jackson 3 0-0 6. Totals 26 6-8 52 Valley – Robby Groom 3 7-9 16, Gavin Bussard 0 0-0 0, Jarred Littlejohn 0 0-0 0, Logan Britton 4 2-2 10, Tanner Andrews 4 2-6 10, Chainey Zolman 4 3-3 14. Totals 16 16-22 54 Three-pointers – Warsaw 6 (Pearl 3, Long 2, Stookey), Valley 6 (Groom 3, Zolman 3); Fouls – Warsaw 23, Valley 12; Fouled out – P. Marandet, Mangas Records: Warsaw 0-1, Valley 1-0 JV – Warsaw 43, Valley 18 Warsaw – Lucas Cone 12, Luke Wilson 8, Tyler Packard 6, Jeremy David 5, Kyle Mangas 4, Ben Linky 4, Xavier Lynch 2, Matt Anthoy 2
