Ditsch Is Drained Against Valley
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
PLYMOUTH - Tippecanoe Valley's boys basketball team entered its Tuesday Plymouth Sectional game against Mishawaka Marian wanting to take out 6-foot-4 broad-shouldered senior center Jason Ditsch.
The Vikings did, and Marian coach Keith Kurowski can tell you when.
"From the opening tip," he said.
Ditsch, who entered averaging 16 points per game on 57 percent shooting, scored eight as Valley (16-5) beat Marian (15-6) 59-46. The win sets up a Valley/Plymouth (16-5) matchup in the first game of Friday's sectional. Plymouth advanced by beating Rochester (13-8) 58-54. Valley coach Bill Patrick and Plymouth coach Jack Edison have more than 850 combined wins.
Ditsch hit just 2 of 6 shots from the field. If he didn't melt under Valley's defense, he and the other Knights may have melted under the 85-degree heat in a sweltering gym that served a dual role as a sauna.
"Ditsch is probably the best inside player we've faced all year, as far as low post moves," Patrick said. "We wanted try to double down on Ditsch. (Carson) Oren can score, and (Tom) Walz is a good three-point shooter. Whoever was guarding those two would sag down and help on Ditsch.
"We were gonna let (Joel) Dosmann and (Joseph) Kloska shoot. We kind of kept Ditsch out."
Said Marian coach Keith Kurowski: "I told our guys before the game we needed other to step up and help Jason out. No one ever did."
Marian ended its season by losing three of its last four.
"We overachieved," Kurowski said. "We lost five starters but won 15 games. I'm not so sure we didn't peak at the wrong time. We lost three of our last four to end our year. I think our focus wandered after we beat Penn."
Offensively, Valley senior forward Brandon Eaton scored 14, eight below his season average. But junior guard Cody New hit 10 of 16 shots and scored 24, seven above his season average. Freshman reserve Trey Eaton added eight points, and senior guard Noah Silveus scored seven.
If the Vikings ever needed a public relations man for any reason, they might consider Kurowski, who heaped praise on Valley.
Kurowski on Valley's defense: "Tippecanoe Valley is probably the best defensive team we've gone up against all year," he said. "They play an aggressive, man-to-man, in-your-face defense. They play great help defense."
Marian hit just 14 of 37 field goals (38 percent), and no Knight scored in double figures. Oren and Walz each scored nine to lead Marian.
Kurowski on Eaton and New: "They had the best player on the floor in Eaton, and they had the best shooter on the floor in New," he said. "We haven't run up against that potent of a combination all year."
Finally, Kurowski on Valley in general: "We threw everything we had at them. I would not be surprised to see them playing Saturday. I think they are the best team in the tournament in terms of personnel."
The final score had Valley winning by 16, but as late as the 5:15 mark in the fourth, Valley held a 40-38 lead. Eaton then hit the basket that helped Valley pull away, a three-pointer at the 4:34 mark to make it 43-38.
In the final four minutes, Valley outscored Marian 19-8 to inflate the point difference in the final score.
"The final score is not indicative of this game," Kurowski said. "We ran out of gas."
New scored 16 of his 24 in the second half, a half that saw the Vikings outscore Marian 38-28. Valley led 21-18 in a low-scoring first half.
"Once we started pushing the ball up the court in the second half, we did better," Patrick said. "The first half, we walked the ball up, which is the way Mishawaka wanted us to play.
"I thought we could hurt them with some clear outs, and we did. Cody scored some baskets for us that way."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 59 MISHAWAKA MARIAN 46
T. Valley (16-5) 10 11 17 21 - 59
M. Marian (15-6) 10 8 13 15 - 46
T. Valley FG FT A S R Pts.
New (G) 10-16 3-5 3 0 9 24
B. Eaton (F) 4-8 3-4 2 1 3 14
Silveus (G) 3-4 0-0 1 3 2 7
Domenico (G) 0-3 2-3 5 1 5 2
Kuhn (C) 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0
T. Eaton 2-2 4-4 1 0 3 8
Ross 1-2 1-3 0 1 2 3
Snyder 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1
Shafer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Martin 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Yarian 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Harmon 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 20-38 14-22 12 6 25 59
M. Marian FG FT A S R Pts.
Ditsch (C) 2-6 4-8 1 1 4 8
Dosmann (G) 3-7 0-0 1 1 3 7
Oren (F) 2-5 5-8 0 0 5 9
Walz (G) 2-8 3-3 0 0 1 9
Simons (F) 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0
Lattanner 2-5 0-0 0 0 0 6
Kloska 2-3 1-3 1 2 2 5
Bonadies 1-2 0-0 1 2 2 2
Berzai 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Chalko 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Blum 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Totals 14-37 13-22 4 6 20 46
Three-point goals - T. Valley 5-7 (B. Eaton 3-4, New 1-2, Silveus 1-1), M. Marian 5-17 (Walz 2-7, Lattaner 2-5, Dosmann 1-2, Ditsch 0-1, Oren 0-1, Berzai 0-1). Turnovers -ÊT. Valley 12, M. Marian 13. Total fouls - T. Valley 18, M. Marian 19. Fouled out -ÊOren. Officials -ÊMark McCammon (South Bend), Doug Cook (Jimtown).
Other sectional game score: Plymouth 58, Rochester 54
Plymouth (16-5) -ÊJohn Pettibone 26, Jeff Stetler 11, Brent Houin 10, Ben Snyder 6, Kevin Stuckmeyer 5.
Rochester (13-8) -ÊNick Bowers 16, Deric Beck 14, Landon Barts 10, Bill Newton 6, Nick Patterson 3, William Swank 3, Shane Reasoner 2. [[In-content Ad]]
PLYMOUTH - Tippecanoe Valley's boys basketball team entered its Tuesday Plymouth Sectional game against Mishawaka Marian wanting to take out 6-foot-4 broad-shouldered senior center Jason Ditsch.
The Vikings did, and Marian coach Keith Kurowski can tell you when.
"From the opening tip," he said.
Ditsch, who entered averaging 16 points per game on 57 percent shooting, scored eight as Valley (16-5) beat Marian (15-6) 59-46. The win sets up a Valley/Plymouth (16-5) matchup in the first game of Friday's sectional. Plymouth advanced by beating Rochester (13-8) 58-54. Valley coach Bill Patrick and Plymouth coach Jack Edison have more than 850 combined wins.
Ditsch hit just 2 of 6 shots from the field. If he didn't melt under Valley's defense, he and the other Knights may have melted under the 85-degree heat in a sweltering gym that served a dual role as a sauna.
"Ditsch is probably the best inside player we've faced all year, as far as low post moves," Patrick said. "We wanted try to double down on Ditsch. (Carson) Oren can score, and (Tom) Walz is a good three-point shooter. Whoever was guarding those two would sag down and help on Ditsch.
"We were gonna let (Joel) Dosmann and (Joseph) Kloska shoot. We kind of kept Ditsch out."
Said Marian coach Keith Kurowski: "I told our guys before the game we needed other to step up and help Jason out. No one ever did."
Marian ended its season by losing three of its last four.
"We overachieved," Kurowski said. "We lost five starters but won 15 games. I'm not so sure we didn't peak at the wrong time. We lost three of our last four to end our year. I think our focus wandered after we beat Penn."
Offensively, Valley senior forward Brandon Eaton scored 14, eight below his season average. But junior guard Cody New hit 10 of 16 shots and scored 24, seven above his season average. Freshman reserve Trey Eaton added eight points, and senior guard Noah Silveus scored seven.
If the Vikings ever needed a public relations man for any reason, they might consider Kurowski, who heaped praise on Valley.
Kurowski on Valley's defense: "Tippecanoe Valley is probably the best defensive team we've gone up against all year," he said. "They play an aggressive, man-to-man, in-your-face defense. They play great help defense."
Marian hit just 14 of 37 field goals (38 percent), and no Knight scored in double figures. Oren and Walz each scored nine to lead Marian.
Kurowski on Eaton and New: "They had the best player on the floor in Eaton, and they had the best shooter on the floor in New," he said. "We haven't run up against that potent of a combination all year."
Finally, Kurowski on Valley in general: "We threw everything we had at them. I would not be surprised to see them playing Saturday. I think they are the best team in the tournament in terms of personnel."
The final score had Valley winning by 16, but as late as the 5:15 mark in the fourth, Valley held a 40-38 lead. Eaton then hit the basket that helped Valley pull away, a three-pointer at the 4:34 mark to make it 43-38.
In the final four minutes, Valley outscored Marian 19-8 to inflate the point difference in the final score.
"The final score is not indicative of this game," Kurowski said. "We ran out of gas."
New scored 16 of his 24 in the second half, a half that saw the Vikings outscore Marian 38-28. Valley led 21-18 in a low-scoring first half.
"Once we started pushing the ball up the court in the second half, we did better," Patrick said. "The first half, we walked the ball up, which is the way Mishawaka wanted us to play.
"I thought we could hurt them with some clear outs, and we did. Cody scored some baskets for us that way."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 59 MISHAWAKA MARIAN 46
T. Valley (16-5) 10 11 17 21 - 59
M. Marian (15-6) 10 8 13 15 - 46
T. Valley FG FT A S R Pts.
New (G) 10-16 3-5 3 0 9 24
B. Eaton (F) 4-8 3-4 2 1 3 14
Silveus (G) 3-4 0-0 1 3 2 7
Domenico (G) 0-3 2-3 5 1 5 2
Kuhn (C) 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0
T. Eaton 2-2 4-4 1 0 3 8
Ross 1-2 1-3 0 1 2 3
Snyder 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1
Shafer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Martin 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Yarian 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Harmon 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 20-38 14-22 12 6 25 59
M. Marian FG FT A S R Pts.
Ditsch (C) 2-6 4-8 1 1 4 8
Dosmann (G) 3-7 0-0 1 1 3 7
Oren (F) 2-5 5-8 0 0 5 9
Walz (G) 2-8 3-3 0 0 1 9
Simons (F) 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0
Lattanner 2-5 0-0 0 0 0 6
Kloska 2-3 1-3 1 2 2 5
Bonadies 1-2 0-0 1 2 2 2
Berzai 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Chalko 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Blum 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Totals 14-37 13-22 4 6 20 46
Three-point goals - T. Valley 5-7 (B. Eaton 3-4, New 1-2, Silveus 1-1), M. Marian 5-17 (Walz 2-7, Lattaner 2-5, Dosmann 1-2, Ditsch 0-1, Oren 0-1, Berzai 0-1). Turnovers -ÊT. Valley 12, M. Marian 13. Total fouls - T. Valley 18, M. Marian 19. Fouled out -ÊOren. Officials -ÊMark McCammon (South Bend), Doug Cook (Jimtown).
Other sectional game score: Plymouth 58, Rochester 54
Plymouth (16-5) -ÊJohn Pettibone 26, Jeff Stetler 11, Brent Houin 10, Ben Snyder 6, Kevin Stuckmeyer 5.
Rochester (13-8) -ÊNick Bowers 16, Deric Beck 14, Landon Barts 10, Bill Newton 6, Nick Patterson 3, William Swank 3, Shane Reasoner 2. [[In-content Ad]]