Warsaw’s Jared Bloom lets fly with his game winning jumper over Joey Ganyard of Northridge Friday night. Bloom scored 25 points in a 43-41 NLC home win for the Tigers.

WARSAW – It was a good thing for the Warsaw boys basketball team that Jared Bloom was great Friday night.

Bloom, in what was termed a “must-win” game by Tiger coach Doug Ogle, was as good as the U.S. Postal Service as he delivered a key conference win for his squad.

The senior standout saved his best for last as he drained a game-winning jumper with just under four seconds left to play to lift the Tigers to a thrilling 43-41 Northern Lakes Conference win over Northridge.

Bloom, a 6-0 guard, was brilliant all game long for the hosts. The Tigers’ top scorer canned a game-high 25 points, including his clutch jumper over the outstretched hand of Raider Joey Ganyard for the final points.

Bloom’s heroics, which lifted the Tigers to 2-0 in league play, saved the day after the Raiders had rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final quarter to tie the game at 41-41 on  a driving basket by Sam Ahonen with 21 seconds to play.

The Raiders, who fall to 3-7 with their fifth straight loss, still had one final chance after Bloom’s shot after calling a timeout with 3.7 seconds to play. A running 3-pointer by Nate Ritchie caromed off the backboard and rim at the final horn as the Tigers held on.

“We wanted him (Jared) to take it,” said Warsaw coach Doug Ogle of the final shot. “He was tremendous tonight. He played well throughout the game to put us in that position at the end. I’m happy for Jared. It’s special to hit a game winning shot like that, especially in an NLC game. He’s worked hard. I was impressed with how he played tonight and the variety of ways he scored. I thought Northridge did a good job guarding him.”

First-year Northridge coach Ronnie Thomas also thought his team did a good job guarding Bloom, who finished 12-of-21 from the field.

“He hit a tough shot at the end and Joey even got a finger tip on it,” said Thomas of the game winner. “He was very good tonight. He got in a groove and his penetration killed us. But, a lot of his shots were contested. Playing man-to-man is what we do and it’s a staple of our identity as a team. Tonight it was who was going to step up for us and stop him. They just made one more shot than us tonight.”

Warsaw built a seemingly safe 36-24 lead early in the fourth quarter. Ritchie led the Raider rally as a 13-2 run pulled Northridge within 38-37 with 3:42 to play on a trey by Ritchie.  Bloom then made the play of the night up to that point by making a beautiful pass to Taylor Cone for a layup to make it 40-37 with 2:55 left. Ritchie cut it to 40-39 with a driving hoop with 45 seconds to play before Rashaan Jackson hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Tigers to make it 41-39 with 32 seconds left.

Jason Ferguson of Warsaw goes in for a lay-up Friday night during a home win over Northridge.

“I’m happy we won because we had to have this game,” Ogle said. “But our ball handling was abysmal.  We couldn’t handle their traps late in the game. Their defense was good, but we rushed, were not strong with the ball and handled it half hazardly.”

“I was impressed with Northridge’s competitive spirit. They did not quit. They had different guys make plays.”

Ogle saw his team win despite committing 21 turnovers and attempting just three free throws, an unheard of number for a home game or any Warsaw game for that matter. The Tigers did have a huge advantage on the glass by out rebounding the Raiders by more than a 2-to-1 margin at 31-12.

“I feel good about the rebounding and that’s where we won this game,” said Ogle. “We knew that was going to be big tonight. But, the turnovers are a red flag and I’m pretty chagrined about only three free throws. I would have liked to shoot a few more tonight. I’m pretty sure in my entire career here (27 years total, including the last 11 as the head coach) that we’ve never shot that few in a game.”

Bloom, who was averaging 18 points-per-game, scored Warsaw’s first nine of the contest Friday night. The game was tied at 11-11 after the first period before the Tigers took a 24-16 halftime lead as Bloom had 15 points. Warsaw led 32-21 after the third period before Ritchie led the Raiders back in the final period. The 6-7 junior, who was averaging 20.6 points-per-game, scored 10 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter.

“We picked up the pressure law and sped them up and it worked for us,” said Thomas of the fourth-quarter comeback by his team. “We’ve been in these situations before and we just had to chip away. Guys started hitting shots which was good to see and Nate was hitting shots and when he does that things go well for us.”

Jordan Stookey had six points for Warsaw and Taylor Cone led the rebounding effort with eight caroms for the Tigers.

Warsaw, which has won three in a row and five of its last six games, improves to 6-4 overall. The Tigers, who won 62-56 at Northridge last year,  are now 4-1 at home on the season.

Northridge, which is now 0-5 in games away from Middlebury, drops to 3-7 overall and 0-2 in league play. The Raiders have also lost their last four versus the Tigers.

Warsaw, NorthWood and Concord are now all 2-0 in the NLC. NorthWood whipped Wawasee 83-43 and undefeated Concord topped Goshen 54-30 in league play Friday night.

Warsaw won the junior varsity contest 48-40 Friday night. Jonny Hollar and Jake Mangas each scored 10 points, Cameron Hoskins nine and Tim Swanson eight to lead the Tigers. Brock Downey netted 11 points and Kurtis Hochstetler nine for Northridge.

Warsaw (6-4) plays at Fort Wayne Snider tonight (Saturday). Northridge (3-7) hosts NorthWood Friday.

Jordan Stookey of Warsaw drives in versus Northridge Friday night.