SOUTH WHITLEY - Tippecanoe Valley head coach Gregg Sciarra talked this week about how his seniors were going to have to step up their performances if the Vikings were to finally get a win.

The Valley seniors may have done more than Sciarra could have hoped for as the Vikings knocked off Three Rivers Conference foe Whitko 62-59 Friday. It was the first time Valley had beaten the Wildcats on their home floor.

Senior Eric Love, the lone returning starter for Valley, finally got some open looks.

After scoring just five points in back-to-back games, Love scored 23 points and canned four three-pointers for the Vikings.

Another senior, JayDee Parker, played a pivotal role inside, scoring 11 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.

Yet another senior, Maurice Looman, came off the bench to provide a spark with nine points, six rebounds, and two blocked shots.

"The seniors came through," Sciarra said. "JayDee played extremely well. He crashed the boards well. One of our goals as a team was to get Love more shots and that's the first time he has. At times, (Looman) did a decent job inside just by being there. Sometimes that does force some things."

However, it wasn't all rosy for Valley as the Vikings trailed by eight points when Bo Mullins hit a jumper to give Whitko a 52-44 lead with less than seven minutes to play.

It didn't get much better for Valley soon after that as a Josh Gonzalez jumper gave Whitko a 56-49 advantage with 3:27 to play.

Then Love caught fire.

He knocked down his third three-pointer of the game, then Eaton scored on a layup to make the score 58-54. Love made his final three-pointer of the game with 1:03 left to cut the lead to 58-57.

Still trailing 59-58, Valley finally took the lead with just 22 seconds to play when JayDee Parker made a layup. Love closed the scoring with two seconds to play with a pair of free throws, and Michael Waybright's desperation three-pointer hit off the rim as time expired.

"When we play good team basketball, we at least have a chance of winning," Sciarra said. "Before we were all anxious to get in the scoring column or we had different goals. At times, when we needed a smart play we got one. Throughout the game we were saying 'dumb, dumb, dumb.' But when the time came at the end, they came through."

Whitko was led by Kevin Miller, who scored 18 points and had four steals. Josh Gonzalez added a solid all-around game with 16 points, four assists, four rebounds, and two steals.

But, the Wildcats were hurt by the lack of offensive punch from Jeremiah Laws. One of Whitko's top scorers, Laws had just three points as he tried to play through foul trouble all game.

Valley (1-3, 1-1) will be at Wawasee on Friday. Whitko (1-4, 1-1) will host Plymouth tonight. [[In-content Ad]]