PERU - For Whitko coach Fred Fields, it's the most wonderful time of the year. Fields knows sectional action well, as his numerous sectional titles at Huntington North as the girls coach can attest to. Fields helped the Wildcats to their first sectional win in two years with a 65-55 Tuesday win over Tippecanoe Valley in the opening round of the Peru Boys Basketball 3A Sectional.

"The last four games, we've gotten off to quick starts, but we haven't been able to sustain it," Fields said in reference to his team's 14-3 run to start the game. "Probably the highlight of the night was when (Valley) made two mini-runs and one full-fledged run and got it back to within two points. And we didn't crack."

The Vikings did seemingly make run after run in the second half and made the last push to cut into a 12-point deficit with 6:43 to play in the game. Eric Love made a couple of three-pointers, and Jarvis Shepherd scored on a layup with 3:56 to play to cut the lead to two points at 49-47.

Bo Mullins answered with a jumper, Jeremiah Laws scored on a layup, and Kevin Miller scored on another shot in the paint as Whitko moved to eight points ahead. The Vikings never really threatened again.

So what was the difference between the Whitko team that played in the regular season and the one that was 28 of 48 (58 percent) from the floor Tuesday?

It may have been finally buying into what Fields has told his players to do night after night in practice. For instance, there's an old rule that says two passes out of a trap. When a defense traps you, pass once to get away from the trap and pass the second time to find the man that's left open from the double-teaming trap.

"These seniors had never heard of that concept before," Fields said. "Even though we drill it and drill it and drill it, they still don't always do it. Tonight, we were making two passes out of a trap, and we were getting a very high percentage shot."

Another problem for Whitko has been confidence in each other. When the Wildcats passed the ball in the regular season, the odds of it making it back to them without a turnover were slim, according to Fields. That changed Tuesday.

"Our ballhandling has not been good enough for the ball to ever make a reversal and then come back to them," Fields said. "They have no confidence in getting the ball back after they give it up until the last four weeks."

Whitko jumped out to the 14-3 lead to open the game despite the fact that Fields sat Laws for the first 10 minutes of the game for disciplinary reasons, in large part for a technical foul he received in the final game of the regular season.

In the opening period, Miller scored eight points, and Josh Gonzalez added six as the Wildcats led 16-7 after eight minutes.

In the second quarter, Whitko extended the lead to double digits and led 28-15 with 1:15 to play in the opening half. However, Brandon Eaton made a free throw, JayDee Parker scored on a layup, and Love nailed a three-pointer with 20 seconds left in the quarter to cut the lead to nine points at the half 30-21.

Valley made its first run of the second half by scoring three points to open the third period, but Whitko went on a 7-2 run to take a 37-26 advantage.

The Vikings came storming back again on an Eaton jumper and three-pointer to make the score 37-31, and the teams traded baskets for the rest of the period. Whitko led 41-35 going to the fourth.

Laws sandwiched a Chad Schipper layup around a pair of jumpers to start the fourth quarter to get a 47-35 lead before the Vikings' final run of the game to get to within two points.

"Everybody that played for us tonight feels good about themselves, because they all made a contribution to the game," Fields said. "John Wendel probably played a total of four minutes, but he was huge for us defensively."

Schipper led five double-digit scorers with 15 points for Whitko, 13 in the second half. Miller scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Mullins and Gonzalez each added 11 points. Laws was the fifth double-digit scorer with 10 points for the Wildcats.

"The funny thing is, Schipper's kind of an iron man," Fields said. "He can play the entire game if you need him to, and we don't see that much of a let-off in his performance. All season long, he said, 'Coach, you'll never see me sick.' Sure enough, last night he was sicker than a dog in practice. But he did a nice job."

For Valley, this loss means the ending of a few high school careers. Love, Parker and Maurice Looman were the Vikings' three seniors.

"We've had real good play out of a lot of kids," Valley head coach Gregg Sciarra said. "JayDee Parker has been real good for us. Eric Love's had some good nights for us, and Maurice has had some good nights. It's been a good experience for him coming over from the Netherlands. Those three seniors have done a lot for us."

Valley ends the season with a record of 6-15. That equals the 1982-83 team as the worst season in school history. Whitko (5-16) will play Peru on Friday in the second game at approximately 7:30 p.m. Peru defeated Carroll (Allen) in the second game Tuesday 79-78. [[In-content Ad]]