Slow Start Finshes Valley's Season
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
The Vikings made just one of their first 17 shots and found themselves down 17-2 early in the second quarter. Valley cut the Panther lead to five, 32-27, with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter but saw its season end with a 19-5 record.
"We were playing a little bit scared for some reason," said Tippecanoe Valley coach Bill Patrick. "NorthWood is a good team. We got down 17-2 but we came back. After that I thought we played pretty well. In the second half we made a run, we just dug too big of a hole to start the game."
NorthWood, which defeated Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 70-63 in overtime in Saturday's second semifinal game, improved to 19-5 on the season and will play Northern Lakes Conference rival Plymouth at 3 p.m. in Saturday's Warsaw Semistate. A Class 2A semistate featuring Northwestern (23-2) and Fairfield (19-7) will tip off at 1 p.m.
Despite the slow start offensively, the Vikings were still within striking distance, trailing 26-16 at halftime and 37-29 after three quarters.
Valley, however, never cut NorthWood's lead to fewer than eight points in the fourth quarter and the Panthers were clutch from the free throw line in securing the first regional championship in school history.
For the game, NorthWood converted 22 of 24 free throw opportunities. The Panthers were 18 of 19 at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter alone.
"They're a good free throw shooting team," Patrick said of NorthWood. "(Skyler Titus) is a nice player. (Zach) Troyer and Titus are pretty good players. They're a good team. They handle the ball well. They hit their free throws. This is a tough place to play, a really tough place to play."
The Panthers, who hosted the sectional and regional, are 12-1 on their home floor this season. Their lone loss in The Pit was a 61-58 setback to Penn Feb. 20.
NorthWood has won six games in a row and 10 of its last 11.
Titus, a 6-foot-2 sophomore led NorthWood with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He scored eight points in the first quarter, while Valley scored just two points as a team in the opening stanza.
Troyer added 17 points and six rebounds, while Dustin Bussard scored nine points and Aaron McDowell chipped in with seven points.
McDowell replaced Kelly Adams in the starting lineup for Saturday's regional championship because Adams injured his ankle in NorthWood's physical semifinal game with Bishop Luers.
For Valley, senior Kevin Kindig and junior Chad Hoffer scored 13 points each, while junior Steven Tillman scored 10 points and senior Adam Nelson finished with nine points.
The Vikings outscored NorthWood 36-33 in the second half.
Take away the first quarter and the first few minutes of the second quarter and Valley had a chance to win its first regional championship since 2000.
"We just dug too big of a hole," said Patrick. "You can't get down 15 points early to a good team like NorthWood. They handle the ball so well and pass so well. We didn't shoot well and we didn't rebound well. NorthWood's defense had us taking shots we didn't want."
Patrick said he told his team at halftime they very well could have been down 20 or 30 points.
The Vikings were just 6 of 25 from the field in the first half but trailed by just 10 points at the intermission.
A field goal from Tillman with 2:06 to play in the third quarter cut the Panther lead to 32-27. Tillman was fouled on the play but didn't convert the free throw attempt and Titus scored an old-fashioned three-pointer 15 seconds later to bump the lead back to eight points.
The Vikings never got any closer than eight points the rest of the game.
Valley finished the game 18 of 50 (36 percent) from the field, 8 of 24 from three-point range, and 8 of 11 from the free throw line.
NorthWood was 19 of 39 (48.7 percent) from the field, 1 of 8 from three-point range, and converted 22 of 24 free throws.
Valley will return the majority of its lineup, including two starters, next season.
The Vikings lose three seniors, Jerrod Parker, Nelson and Kindig. All three were starters in Saturday's regional championship game.
"Those three kids did a lot this year," Patrick said of his seniors. "We won conference, won a sectional championship and were in the final eight. Those are pretty good accomplishments. The kids worked hard all year. Those are three great kids and they gave all they had in practice and in games. You couldn't ask for better kids to coach."
Saturday's regional championship game featured a coaching matchup of Patrick and NorthWood's Dan Gunn.
The two veterans have 69 years of varsity coaching experience and 1,096 wins between them.
Though both were at different schools, Patrick and Gunn squared off in the 1991 semistate in South Bend for a right to play in the single class final four.
Patrick's Whitko Wildcats trailed Gunn's Marion Giants by 18 points and came back to win.
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The Vikings made just one of their first 17 shots and found themselves down 17-2 early in the second quarter. Valley cut the Panther lead to five, 32-27, with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter but saw its season end with a 19-5 record.
"We were playing a little bit scared for some reason," said Tippecanoe Valley coach Bill Patrick. "NorthWood is a good team. We got down 17-2 but we came back. After that I thought we played pretty well. In the second half we made a run, we just dug too big of a hole to start the game."
NorthWood, which defeated Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 70-63 in overtime in Saturday's second semifinal game, improved to 19-5 on the season and will play Northern Lakes Conference rival Plymouth at 3 p.m. in Saturday's Warsaw Semistate. A Class 2A semistate featuring Northwestern (23-2) and Fairfield (19-7) will tip off at 1 p.m.
Despite the slow start offensively, the Vikings were still within striking distance, trailing 26-16 at halftime and 37-29 after three quarters.
Valley, however, never cut NorthWood's lead to fewer than eight points in the fourth quarter and the Panthers were clutch from the free throw line in securing the first regional championship in school history.
For the game, NorthWood converted 22 of 24 free throw opportunities. The Panthers were 18 of 19 at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter alone.
"They're a good free throw shooting team," Patrick said of NorthWood. "(Skyler Titus) is a nice player. (Zach) Troyer and Titus are pretty good players. They're a good team. They handle the ball well. They hit their free throws. This is a tough place to play, a really tough place to play."
The Panthers, who hosted the sectional and regional, are 12-1 on their home floor this season. Their lone loss in The Pit was a 61-58 setback to Penn Feb. 20.
NorthWood has won six games in a row and 10 of its last 11.
Titus, a 6-foot-2 sophomore led NorthWood with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He scored eight points in the first quarter, while Valley scored just two points as a team in the opening stanza.
Troyer added 17 points and six rebounds, while Dustin Bussard scored nine points and Aaron McDowell chipped in with seven points.
McDowell replaced Kelly Adams in the starting lineup for Saturday's regional championship because Adams injured his ankle in NorthWood's physical semifinal game with Bishop Luers.
For Valley, senior Kevin Kindig and junior Chad Hoffer scored 13 points each, while junior Steven Tillman scored 10 points and senior Adam Nelson finished with nine points.
The Vikings outscored NorthWood 36-33 in the second half.
Take away the first quarter and the first few minutes of the second quarter and Valley had a chance to win its first regional championship since 2000.
"We just dug too big of a hole," said Patrick. "You can't get down 15 points early to a good team like NorthWood. They handle the ball so well and pass so well. We didn't shoot well and we didn't rebound well. NorthWood's defense had us taking shots we didn't want."
Patrick said he told his team at halftime they very well could have been down 20 or 30 points.
The Vikings were just 6 of 25 from the field in the first half but trailed by just 10 points at the intermission.
A field goal from Tillman with 2:06 to play in the third quarter cut the Panther lead to 32-27. Tillman was fouled on the play but didn't convert the free throw attempt and Titus scored an old-fashioned three-pointer 15 seconds later to bump the lead back to eight points.
The Vikings never got any closer than eight points the rest of the game.
Valley finished the game 18 of 50 (36 percent) from the field, 8 of 24 from three-point range, and 8 of 11 from the free throw line.
NorthWood was 19 of 39 (48.7 percent) from the field, 1 of 8 from three-point range, and converted 22 of 24 free throws.
Valley will return the majority of its lineup, including two starters, next season.
The Vikings lose three seniors, Jerrod Parker, Nelson and Kindig. All three were starters in Saturday's regional championship game.
"Those three kids did a lot this year," Patrick said of his seniors. "We won conference, won a sectional championship and were in the final eight. Those are pretty good accomplishments. The kids worked hard all year. Those are three great kids and they gave all they had in practice and in games. You couldn't ask for better kids to coach."
Saturday's regional championship game featured a coaching matchup of Patrick and NorthWood's Dan Gunn.
The two veterans have 69 years of varsity coaching experience and 1,096 wins between them.
Though both were at different schools, Patrick and Gunn squared off in the 1991 semistate in South Bend for a right to play in the single class final four.
Patrick's Whitko Wildcats trailed Gunn's Marion Giants by 18 points and came back to win.
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