MENTONE - In Bill Patrick's postgame interview, Tippecanoe Valley assistant athletic director Scott Bibler offered Patrick a well deserved soda. Patrick jokingly answered, "Do you have anything without caffeine?"

This coming after Patrick coached Valley to a 41-39 come-from-behind victory, the first victory of the season for Patrick as new head coach at Valley and his 479th overall. The victory also gave the Vikings revenge from their 64-40 loss to the Eagles a year ago.

In all reality Patrick was quite calm considering what had just taken place.

The Vikings didn't start the game in typical Bill Patrick fashion as they turned the ball over eight times, and the Eagles didn't commit a turnover in the first eight minutes of the game. What they did do is outscore the Vikings 16-7 in the frame led by 6-foot-5 center Jason Elkins.

"We made a lot of turnovers and bad passes early," said Patrick. "They played good defense and we weren't making hard cuts or ready to play. Elkins is a big strong kid and they got him the ball well."

The Vikings opened up the second quarter with a bang when Jarvis Shepherd sunk a three-pointer to draw Valley within six at 16-10. Valley's defense came ready to play in the second stanza, not allowing Columbia City on the board for the first 2-1/2 minutes until Justin Waterson's three-pointer stretched the Eagles' lead to 19-10.

"In the second quarter we made some defensive adjustments," said Patrick. "Jarvis (Shepherd) shot the ball well and shot free throws well. They left him open on the wing and he did a nice job penetrating when we went to a 1-4 offense."

Shepherd scored 10 points in the second frame as the Vikings outscored their Whitley County opponents 14-8 to draw within three at the intermission.

Elkins got two quick third quarter points on a lay-up to put the Eagles out in front 26-21, but Valley's Brandon Eaton came right back with a three-pointer to make the count 26-24.

The short barrage of three-pointers continued as Mike Schumaker hit one of his three long distance shots to give Columbia City a five point lead at 29-24. Shortly thereafter Elkins got two more of his team leading 15 points, connecting on an eight-footer that pushed the lead to 31-24.

Valley then held the Eagles scoreless for the next four minutes as they went on a 14-0 quarter ending run, capped off by Shepherd's buzzer beating three-pointer.

Schumaker opened the fourth quarter with another three of his own to pull the Eagles within four. After an Eagle field goal and Valley being cited for a five second violation trying to inbound the ball, Schumaker hit yet another three-pointer. And what was once a 38-31 lead for the Vikings had turned into a 39-38 deficit.

"We totally got out of the offense in the fourth quarter with our shot selection," said Patrick. "We had a seven point lead and everyone wanted to go one on one. We made a big mistake when we were up 38-31 and celebrated. We forgot how we got that lead and the kids need to realize it's not over until the clock is on zero."

The Eagles held onto their 39-38 advantage until the overhead scoreboard had ticked down to 25 seconds, and Columbia City was charged with and over and back call.

"I thought before that they missed a travelling call," said Patrick. "We were in pretty good position with only two fouls and I think they only had four or five, so we put pressure on the ball and had nothing to lose."

With a handful of his teammates shouting "How bad do you want it?" Eaton answered with a with a seven-footer that put the Vikings on top for good at 40-39. He added a free throw with seven-tenths of a second remaining and the Eagles' desperation shot went awry giving Valley their first win of the season.

"It's a big win," said Patrick. "It weighs a ton. The kids needed to win, the longer you go the pressure builds up and we got rid of that pressure tonight."

Valley (1-1) will travel to North Miami tonight to compete in their first conference matchup under Patrick.

"They beat Valley (68-55) here last year," said Patrick. "Hanson and Edwards play real well for them. They're a tight ball club, they play hard, and it's a tough place to play."

Do you have anything without caffeine?

Valley 41 Columbia City 39

Valley 7 14 17 3-41

Columbia City 16 8 7 8-39

Valley FG FT A S R Pts.

Shepherd (G) 5-8 3-3 1 1 5 16

Eaton (F) 5-9 1-2 0 2 5 13

Prater (F) 2-8 0-0 1 1 7 4

Snyder (F) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Shafer (G) 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Silveus 3-5 0-1 0 2 5 6

Kuhn 1-2 0-0 0 0 1 2

Domenico 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Cumberland 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Weber 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

New 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 16-33 4-6 2 6 23 41

Columbia City FG FT A S R Pts.

Elkins (C) 7-11 1-2 0 1 7 15

Schumaker (G) 3-7 0-0 0 0 0 9

Waterson (G) 2-11 0-0 1 0 2 5

Schmitt (G) 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 2

Heuer (F) 1-3 0-0 0 1 2 2

Fuller 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 2

Boylan 1-3 0-0 0 0 5 2

Hilligoss 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Niec 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Jones 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0

Hoppe 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Totals - 16-40 1-2 2 4 21 39

Three-point goals - Valley 5 (Shepherd 3, Eaton 2); Columbia City 4 (Schumaker 3, Waterson)

Total fouls - Valley 10, Columbia City 13. Fouled out - Heuer (Columbia City)

Referees - Marvin Davis, Jack Urbin

JV: Columbia City 35, Valley 34

Columbia City scoring - Shively 18, Pettigrew 5, Roth 4, Smity 4, Wymer 3, King 2

Valley scoring - Cumberland 8, Harmon 8, Domenico 7, Martin 6, Ross 4, Parker 1 [[In-content Ad]]