MENTONE - A few weeks back, when the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal was breaking, White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry strode to the podium and started one press conference by saying, "Welcome to the theater of the absurd."

The theater and all its absurdity - from fans with umbrellas to a professional wrestler on hand to watch - hit Tippecanoe Valley's gym Friday night, as the Vikings hammered John Glenn early and often en route to a 78-60 win.

When Valley's offense is right, it can dominate a game. And it was right in the first half against Glenn. The Vikings had 6-foot-4 forward JayDee Parker and 6-9 center Maurice Looman scoring inside and three-point demon Eric Love scoring outside.

The inside/outside combination toasted Glenn. Love finished with 27 points, while Parker added 20 points and nine rebounds. Looman had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

The night kicked off when the Dutch national anthem blared through the loudspeakers ... at an Indiana high school basketball game? Before the traditional "Star-Spangled Banner" was played, Viking players had the Dutch national anthem played in honor of Looman, a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands. Coincidence or not, the Dutchman dunked in a game for the first time this season. He is the first Viking to do so this year.

Parker and the ever-improving Looman scored inside the first quarter to help open up the outside for Love in the second quarter. Parker tallied 10 points in the quarter, while Looman added four points and four rebounds. Valley jumped ahead 16-8 in the first quarter on the strength of its inside game.

Let's go to the umbrellas. Several students in the Valley cheer block toted umbrellas to the game. Turns out they were for senior sharpshooter Love. Whenever he hit a three-pointer, they opened their umbrellas inside the building, bad luck be damned.

And it was pouring on this night. Seven times the fans opened their umbrellas, as Love finished the night a scorching 7 of 12 behind the three-point arc. In the second and third quarters, he went 7 for 7.

He went 4 for 4 and scored 12 in the second quarter, a quarter that saw the Vikings blast John Glenn 20-3 to take a commanding 36-11 halftime lead. Parker and Looman set screens that sprang Love open, allowed him to get good looks, square his feet and fire away.

Brandon Eaton, a 6-4 sophomore forward, turned into the 6-4 sophomore point guard when starting point guard Noah Silveus sprained his ankle less than three minutes into the game. Eaton found the open Love and assisted on all four three-pointers in the second quarter. Eaton finished the game with eight points, nine assists and three rebounds.

Valley hit 14 of 26 field goals in the first half.

"We had a good first half," Valley coach Gregg Sciarra said. "We've really played pretty well offensively the last three games. We're just playing a lot better offensively, period.

"We set a lot of good screens, and we got the ball in our shooter's hands at the right time. We limited them to one shot on their end. We really scrapped that first half and made them throw the ball everywhere. They were scrambling."

John Glenn coach #Gordon Mosson, who spent much of the first half standing with his arms crossed with a dour look on his face, had this to offer when the game ended: "I don't want to be rude, but I don't have any comment. Valley gets all the credit in the world. We came out flat, and they took it to us. We wanted to be aggressive. Everything we talked about went out the window."

Maybe, but Mosson rallied his troops for the second half, as the Falcons outscored Valley 49-42. A big reason why the Falcons scored 49 was their offensive rebounding -Êthey grabbed 11 offensive boards in the second half alone.

Problem was, 36-11 was one major crater, one that couldn't be climbed out of.

Valley, which snapped a four-game losing streak, ends the regular season 6-14. John Glenn drops to 7-12.

The game had the Dutch national anthem and umbrellas. You want more absurdity? This game had it. Before the junior varsity game, Valley public address man Wayne Landis barked: "We have a blue Ford, license number ... your car's on fire."

That's only the beginning. The junior varsity game featured a referee running up and down the court for six minutes in the second quarter with his belt undone.

Then there was the big man with long, blond hair and black goatee talking with Sciarra before the varsity game started. This man eventually left to sit in the bleachers to watch the game. When it ended, kid after kid flocked to him. He is professional wrestler Rip Rogers. He's also Sciarra's brother.

Turns out he came with the white-haired man dressed in warmups who stopped to talk with Sciarra long after the scoreboard read 78-60. "Pretty good game," the father said to his son. [[In-content Ad]]