Stori Bright gets physical and draws a blocking foul from Kegan Showalter of Fairfield. Bright hit both free throws following the foul. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

BENTON – If your opponent gets hot from behind the arc, it could end up being a long night no matter the time or place. Trying to stop a team with a hot hand is like trying to stop a freight train roaring down the tracks.

On Tuesday night Fairfield welcomed in Wawasee for the 2013-14 season opener and left Wawasee stunned. A scoring outburst in the second quarter gave the Falcons lift-off for what would be a 78-57 victory.

First-year Warrior head coach Steve Wiktorowski had his boys ready to play, and the Warriors came out strong. Wawasee scored the first five points of the game but ended up on the wrong end of a 22-17 deficit following the first quarter. But it was the second quarter that did the Warriors in. The Falcons started lighting up the scoreboard from just about everywhere on the court, but most notable from behind the arc. Fairfield hit five threes in the second frame, seven in the first half and nine for the game. John Stack, a senior, came off the bench to sink four three-pointers for the Falcons, three of which came in the second quarter. Stack finished with 14 on the night.

The home team went an 18-2 run, fueled by Warrior turnovers, to start the second quarter and took a 43-25 lead into the locker room. When pointing out mistakes that his team made on Tuesday night, Wiktorowski focused a lot on the underwhelming second quarter.

“I thought for three quarters we played them evenly,” began Wiktorowski. “Honestly, we fell apart in that second quarter and we knew that.”

But in sports its about how a team responds and though the team still came home with a loss, Wiktorowski was impressed with how the team adjusted in the second half.

“I thought the kids played much better in the second half,” Wiktorowski stated. “We could’ve really fallen apart but we came in at half, regrouped, made a few adjustments and played a lot better. We drew up a new press offense and the kids did a nice job with it. I thought we were tougher defensively and were much more sound with the ball.”

One reason for the Warriors smoother play in the last two quarters was the ply of Aaron Voirol. The junior was mentioned by his coach for adding a boost by helping to calm the offense down. Voirol finished with nine points.

Another player that surely grabbed the attention of everyone in attendance was Wawasee’s Stori Bright. The junior was seemingly everywhere on the court, diving for loose balls, driving for points and going up for rebounds. His hustle was more than noticeable and gave Wawasee a much needed spark at times. Bright finished with 11 points. Alex Clark led all Warriors with 18 points.

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Joe Line of Fairfield hit 13 free-throws to help him tally 27 points on the night, good enough to lead all scorers on Troy Beachy’s squad.

“We’ve got good shooters,” Beachy said with a smile. “If they know that they are open and take a shot, we are okay with that. We were taking good shots, I told them if their feet were set and they were open to take it. It was a good effort tonight and a great way to get started.”

The Falcons (1-0) will look to keep their hot hands going next Friday (12/6) at Prairie Heights while Wawasee (0-1) will be looking for a better start on Saturday night as the Warriors will host Angola. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.

In the junior varsity game Fairfield beat Wawasee 34-27. Sophomore Stephon Miller led Wawasee with eight points.