Love Paces Valley Past North Miami
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
DENVER - Tippecanoe Valley fans just had to love what they saw Saturday night at North Miami.
Love, as in Eric Love, that is.
Love, a junior, cashed 8 of 10 three-point shots and 10 of 13 attempts overall en route to a season and career high 32 points.
With the help of Love's hot hand, Tippecanoe Valley broke open its biggest win of the young season in an 81-59 drilling of North Miami.
The 81 points ties a record high for points in the six-year Gregg Sciarra era.
Tippecanoe Valley led just 29-26 with two minutes left in the first half, as North Miami managed to keep pace with the veteran Vikes.
Valley, with senior scorers Jeffrey Brown and Nick Stutzman struggling from the field, needed a boost from another source to go into halftime on a strong note. The Vikings got it thanks to some beyond the arc-shooting.
Fourteen points later, 11 of which came from Love, the Vikings took a 43-26 advantage into the intermission. Valley nailed four three-pointers in that 2-minute stretch - three from Love and a buzzer-beater by junior Andy Young - and were decidedly in control at halftime.
North Miami didn't pull any closer than 14 points the rest of the night.
The Vikings were 11 of 18 from three-point land on the evening, led by Love's 8 of 10. Brown, although he scored just 12 after a 26-point performance in a losing effort to Columbia City the night before, pulled down 12 rebounds and handed out five assists. Stutzman scored nine.
Senior Darren Parker dished out 8 assists, and Valley got good efforts off the bench from Young (5 points, 4 rebounds), Lenfestey (7 points).
Sciarra was pleased with his team's win.
"Eric (Love) is a good spot-up shooter," he said. "The kids did a nice job locating him, and he did a nice job finishing it off. Brown did a good job rebounding,
"Darren (Parker) ran the floor well, and Andy (Young) came off the bench and played real well. We have enough weapons offensively, and a lot of teams will try to focus on just one, say Brown or Stutzman or the inside game. You don't really know what's going to open up in any one particular game."
It was a close battle the first two periods, as the Warriors hung around with Valley until the late TV run in the second quarter. The Vikings led 22-14 at the end of one and 43-26 at haftime.
Tippecanoe Valley continued to roll early in the third stanza, jumping out 48-26 when Scott Cooksey scored two with 5:33 on the clock.
His bucket capped a 19-0 run that began late in the second quarter and took more than five minutes. North Miami finally found the hoop in the remainder of the frame and TV led 56-40 entering the fourth stanza.
The Vikings took their biggest lead of the game - 23 points - on a Bryan Lenfestey trifecta with 1:48 on the clock and later on a JayDee Parker free throw. Junior Aaron Hart closed out the Valley scoring with a free throw with seven seconds to play to account for the 81-59 final.
Tippecanoe Valley broke a two-game skid of close losses, a fact that made Sciarra happy.
"It was good to see the kids come back and play hard," Sciarra said. It was our first time this year playing back-to-back, and the kids battled pretty well in there."
The Vikings are 2-2 overall and 1-0 in Three Rivers Conference play. North Miami dropped to 1-3 and 0-1. [[In-content Ad]]
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DENVER - Tippecanoe Valley fans just had to love what they saw Saturday night at North Miami.
Love, as in Eric Love, that is.
Love, a junior, cashed 8 of 10 three-point shots and 10 of 13 attempts overall en route to a season and career high 32 points.
With the help of Love's hot hand, Tippecanoe Valley broke open its biggest win of the young season in an 81-59 drilling of North Miami.
The 81 points ties a record high for points in the six-year Gregg Sciarra era.
Tippecanoe Valley led just 29-26 with two minutes left in the first half, as North Miami managed to keep pace with the veteran Vikes.
Valley, with senior scorers Jeffrey Brown and Nick Stutzman struggling from the field, needed a boost from another source to go into halftime on a strong note. The Vikings got it thanks to some beyond the arc-shooting.
Fourteen points later, 11 of which came from Love, the Vikings took a 43-26 advantage into the intermission. Valley nailed four three-pointers in that 2-minute stretch - three from Love and a buzzer-beater by junior Andy Young - and were decidedly in control at halftime.
North Miami didn't pull any closer than 14 points the rest of the night.
The Vikings were 11 of 18 from three-point land on the evening, led by Love's 8 of 10. Brown, although he scored just 12 after a 26-point performance in a losing effort to Columbia City the night before, pulled down 12 rebounds and handed out five assists. Stutzman scored nine.
Senior Darren Parker dished out 8 assists, and Valley got good efforts off the bench from Young (5 points, 4 rebounds), Lenfestey (7 points).
Sciarra was pleased with his team's win.
"Eric (Love) is a good spot-up shooter," he said. "The kids did a nice job locating him, and he did a nice job finishing it off. Brown did a good job rebounding,
"Darren (Parker) ran the floor well, and Andy (Young) came off the bench and played real well. We have enough weapons offensively, and a lot of teams will try to focus on just one, say Brown or Stutzman or the inside game. You don't really know what's going to open up in any one particular game."
It was a close battle the first two periods, as the Warriors hung around with Valley until the late TV run in the second quarter. The Vikings led 22-14 at the end of one and 43-26 at haftime.
Tippecanoe Valley continued to roll early in the third stanza, jumping out 48-26 when Scott Cooksey scored two with 5:33 on the clock.
His bucket capped a 19-0 run that began late in the second quarter and took more than five minutes. North Miami finally found the hoop in the remainder of the frame and TV led 56-40 entering the fourth stanza.
The Vikings took their biggest lead of the game - 23 points - on a Bryan Lenfestey trifecta with 1:48 on the clock and later on a JayDee Parker free throw. Junior Aaron Hart closed out the Valley scoring with a free throw with seven seconds to play to account for the 81-59 final.
Tippecanoe Valley broke a two-game skid of close losses, a fact that made Sciarra happy.
"It was good to see the kids come back and play hard," Sciarra said. It was our first time this year playing back-to-back, and the kids battled pretty well in there."
The Vikings are 2-2 overall and 1-0 in Three Rivers Conference play. North Miami dropped to 1-3 and 0-1. [[In-content Ad]]