AKRON - Folks have been talking about Friday night's Whitko-Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball game for quite some time. The scuttlebutt of local coffee shops always seemed to wind back to the famous Bill-Patrick-coaching-against-his-old-school and Alex-Frantz-transferred-from-Whitko-to-Valley-and-back-to-Whitko tales.

No matter which side folks were cheering for, it was touted as the game to see. And in the end, it really was.

When all was said and done, Valley picked up a 49-46 win over Whitko in a back-and-forth Three Rivers Conference battle that went down to the wire.

The Wildcats struck first as John Woods hit a basket and a free throw to make the score 3-0. The teams traded baskets from that point on, with neither squad going up by more than four points at any time in the first frame.

However, the scoring did not come from the usual sources.

Tippeccanoe Valley's Stuart Jackson, Cory Vanlaningham and Casey Wise scored all 10 of the Vikings' first quarter points.

Whitko saw Woods, Brad Walpole and Jeremy Coble combine for 11 points in the first frame.

While most people thought the game would be highlighted by a battle between Valley's Trey Eaton and Whitko's Frantz, the two team leaders were unusually quiet in the first half.

In fact, Eaton missed his first seven shots and Frantz started the game 0 for 5. But in the end, Eaton broke out of his slump and netted 23 points to lead all scorers. Frantz finished the game with seven points.

"Trey struggled a bit early in the game," said Tippecanoe Valley coach Bill Patrick. "He hurt his knee Tuesday and didn't practice Wednesday. He was shooting off the wrong foot, but he made some adjustments and played better in the second half."

Whitko took an 11-10 lead into the second quarter, but Wise scored the first basket of the second frame to put Valley up 12-11.

Then Coble and Frantz combined for two straight baskets to give the Wildcats a lead they held until the last minute of the quarter.

At the 2:26 mark in the second, Whitko was up 19-14. A free throw by Shane Denny cut the lead to 19-15, and then Eaton found his groove.

With 1:54 left in the first half, Eaton hit two free throws for his first two points of the game. Less than a minute later, he hit another basket to tie the score at 19-all and that's where the score remained until the end of the half.

Valley came out with a vengeance in the second half.

Jackson hit the first basket of the second half, but Woods answered with a basket and free throw of his own to put Whitko up 22-21.

However, Eaton caught fire in the third quarter. At the 5:27 mark, Eaton hit a basket that gave Valley a 23-22 lead. Then he hit another bucket with 4:42 left to put Valley up 25-22 .

The TRC rivals traded baskets through the rest of the third frame, but Valley kept hold of the lead until the 52.4 mark. Then Derrick Day nailed a three-point basket to tie the score at 34-all. Eaton answered with a basket of his own, but Day came right back and hit another huge three with just 2.7 ticks left on the clock to put the Wildcats up 37-36 going into the final quarter of play.

Viking freshman Shane Drudge netted the first basket of the fourth frame, but Woods answered with yet another basket to restore Whitko's lead.

Enter playmaker Eaton. The Valley senior hit a three-pointer to put Valley up 41-39.

After a basket by Frantz that tied the score again, Eaton hit another long-range shot to make the score 44-41 with 4:51 left to play.

Coble answered with another trey to tie the score a 44-all with 4:14 on the fourth-quarter clock.

That's where the score remained until the 1:17 mark when Woods hit a basket to give Whitko a two-point lead.

Enter Eaton. After hitting the game-tying basket, he hit a free throw to restore Valley's lead with 40.9 seconds left.

At the 12.1 second mark, Whitko was called for a 5-second violation and Valley got the ball back.

Eaton was fouled and hit both ends of the one-and-bonus to give Valley the 49-46 advantage.

With 9.5 seconds left, Frantz tossed up a three-pointer that bounced off the rim and into Eaton's hands, ending the game with a 49-46 Valley win.

Coble led the Wildcats with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He hit 4 of 6 three-pointers. Woods added 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds for Whitko.

"It's tough to beat someone when they are shooting those threes like that," said Patrick. "Whitko has some very good players. This was a good, fun basketball game. This is the way a game should be played - in front of a good crowd."

The victory moves Valley's record to 7-0 overall and 1-0 in the TRC. Whitko falls to 3-2 on the season and 0-1 in the TRC.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY 49, WHITKO 46

Whitko 11 8 18 9 - 46

T. Valley 10 9 17 13 - 49

Whitko FG FT R S Pts.

Walter (g) 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Coble (g) 5-9 1-2 2 2 15

Walpole (g) 3-6 0-0 6 0 7

Frantz (f) 3-16 0-0 5 0 6

Woods (f) 5-8 2-4 7 1 12

Day 2-3 0-0 2 0 6

Hobbs 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Shepherd 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 18-42 3-6 23 3 46

T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.

Eaton (f) 8-18 5-5 11 0 23

Wise (f) 2-4 0-0 1 0 4

Parker (G) 0-0 0-0 3 0 0

Vanlaningham (G) 2-4 0-0 1 0 4

Jackson (C) 4-7 0-0 4 1 8

Drudge 4-5 1-1 4 1 9

Gibson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Denny 0-0 1-3 1 0 1

Cody 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 17-35 20-23 22 6 59

Three-point goals - Whitko 7-16 (Coble 4-6, Walpole 1-4, Frantz 0-3, Day 2-3), Valley 2-12 (Eaton 2-10, Vanlaningham 0-1, Wise 0-1). Fouls - Whitko 13, Valley 13. Fouled out - None.

JV -ÊTippecanoe Valley 43, Whitko 30

Valley scoring -ÊShane Denny 1, Michael Domenico 5, David Lash 9, Ryan Baker 2, Eric Whetstone 7, Josh Murphy 8.

Whitko scoring - Brad Smith 5, Aaron Wendel 2, Corey Spangle 5, Mike Estep 2, Nate Alspaugh 4, Dan Rupley 10, Noah Shepherd 2 [[In-content Ad]]