Valley Shuts Down Peru Star In Second Half
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
AKRON - Box scores are like the cliff notes of sports. They don't tell the whole story.
Take Tuesday night's boys basketball tilt between Peru and host Tippecanoe Valley, a game in which the Vikings overcame a five-point halftime deficit to upend Peru 63-54.
While Shane Drudge and Bryce Kelley led the way in scoring for Valley with 23 and 19, respectively, it may have been sophomore Chad Hoffer who won the game for the Vikings.
Hoffer finished with nine points, four rebounds and three steals, but it was his suffocating defense on Peru's Cameron Wooten that lifted the Vikings.
Wooten scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the first half.
Valley head coach Bill Patrick made a switch at halftime and started Hoffer in the second half for the explicit reason of being Wooten's shadow.
"He did a great job for us," said Patrick of Hoffer. "He was the difference with his defense on (Cameron) Wooten. And he also got a couple of baskets for us."
Hoffer scored six points in the third quarter including a baseline jumper that sparked an 11-4 Viking run that gave Valley a 45-41 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Hoffer also provided a shot of momentum as he stole the ball from Peru at half court and streaked in for a layup to end the third quarter.
In a loosely officiated game, things boiled over on two separate occasions. Patrick was whistled for a technical foul after walking out to center court in the first half while Peru head coach and former Valley assistant Eric Thompson was given a technical after charging on the court towards a referee on a perceived missed call.
Despite the physical nature of the contest, which favored Peru, Valley was able to get to the free throw line 26 times compared to Peru's 11.
The Vikings struggled from the charity stripe though as they made just 15 to finish 58 percent from the line.
"This is one of the best free throw shooting teams I've ever had in practice," said Patrick. "The problem is we don't count them in practice. Maybe we've put too much focus on it."
Senior David Lash exemplified Valley's free throw woes. Lash, who shoots more than 70 percent from the line, finished 0-5 on the night. Lash ended his evening with eight points on 4-of-9 shooting to go along with six rebounds.
The Vikings received an unexpected scoring surge from Kelley, who came off the bench in Valley's last game against John Glenn after some early season struggles. Kelley seemed to respond as he finished with 19 points on three triples and 10 free throws.
Kelley's clutch free throw shooting late bumped up the Vikings' paltry average and kept Peru from climbing back into the contest.
"He played well tonight," said Patrick. "He was mentally tough out there and played hard. It's good to see him bounce back like that."
Peru jumped out to an early lead as the Tigers hit five first-half threes. Wooten was hitting from everywhere in the gym and was aided by Chris Maynard. Maynard finished with 18 on the night.
Patrick challenged his team to tighten the clamps on defense in the second half.
"We challenged them to hold (Peru) to 20 points in the second half," said Patrick. "And besides the late basket they scored with our bench in, the guys who played most of the second half held them to 19."
Shane Drudge led the Vikings in scoring with 23 points on 11-of-23 shooting. Drudge, a 6-foot-6 forward that can play like a guard, was able to combine his shooting ability with his low-post potential. Drudge also nearly racked up a double-double as he pulled down nine rebounds.
The Vikings, 4-2 on the season, open up Three Rivers Conference play Friday when they travel to Whitko to take on the Wildcats and first-year head coach Rob Irwin. Like Thompson, Irwin is a former Patrick assistant.
T. VALLEY 63, PERU 54
Peru 17 16 8 13 - 54
Valley 13 15 17 18 - 63
Peru FG FT R S Pts.
*Comeford 2-5 1-2 1 0 3
*Smith 3-7 0-0 1 0 7
*Wooten 6-9 5-6 11 0 20
*Maynard 7-11 2-2 4 2 18
*Staller 0-4 0-0 3 1 0
Saine 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Briscoe 2-2 0-0 2 0 4
Hudson 1-4 0-1 0 0 2
Totals 21-43 8-11 22 3 54
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Kindig 0-2 2-3 2 0 2
*Kelley 3-9 10-12 2 2 19
*Drudge 11-23 0-2 9 0 23
*Parker 0-1 0-0 2 1 0
*Lash 4-9 0-5 6 2 8
Tillman 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Hoffer 4-7 1-2 3 4 9
Nelson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Salyer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Neeley 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Totals 22-51 15-26 25 9 63
Three-point goals - Peru 5-12 (Wooten 3-4, Maynard 2-4), T. Valley 4-10 (Kelley 3-5, Drudge 1-4). Turnovers - Peru 15, T. Valley 8. Fouls - Peru 24, T. Valley 12. Fouled out - Comeford, Maynard.
JV - Tippecanoe Valley 46, Peru 44 [[In-content Ad]]
AKRON - Box scores are like the cliff notes of sports. They don't tell the whole story.
Take Tuesday night's boys basketball tilt between Peru and host Tippecanoe Valley, a game in which the Vikings overcame a five-point halftime deficit to upend Peru 63-54.
While Shane Drudge and Bryce Kelley led the way in scoring for Valley with 23 and 19, respectively, it may have been sophomore Chad Hoffer who won the game for the Vikings.
Hoffer finished with nine points, four rebounds and three steals, but it was his suffocating defense on Peru's Cameron Wooten that lifted the Vikings.
Wooten scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the first half.
Valley head coach Bill Patrick made a switch at halftime and started Hoffer in the second half for the explicit reason of being Wooten's shadow.
"He did a great job for us," said Patrick of Hoffer. "He was the difference with his defense on (Cameron) Wooten. And he also got a couple of baskets for us."
Hoffer scored six points in the third quarter including a baseline jumper that sparked an 11-4 Viking run that gave Valley a 45-41 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Hoffer also provided a shot of momentum as he stole the ball from Peru at half court and streaked in for a layup to end the third quarter.
In a loosely officiated game, things boiled over on two separate occasions. Patrick was whistled for a technical foul after walking out to center court in the first half while Peru head coach and former Valley assistant Eric Thompson was given a technical after charging on the court towards a referee on a perceived missed call.
Despite the physical nature of the contest, which favored Peru, Valley was able to get to the free throw line 26 times compared to Peru's 11.
The Vikings struggled from the charity stripe though as they made just 15 to finish 58 percent from the line.
"This is one of the best free throw shooting teams I've ever had in practice," said Patrick. "The problem is we don't count them in practice. Maybe we've put too much focus on it."
Senior David Lash exemplified Valley's free throw woes. Lash, who shoots more than 70 percent from the line, finished 0-5 on the night. Lash ended his evening with eight points on 4-of-9 shooting to go along with six rebounds.
The Vikings received an unexpected scoring surge from Kelley, who came off the bench in Valley's last game against John Glenn after some early season struggles. Kelley seemed to respond as he finished with 19 points on three triples and 10 free throws.
Kelley's clutch free throw shooting late bumped up the Vikings' paltry average and kept Peru from climbing back into the contest.
"He played well tonight," said Patrick. "He was mentally tough out there and played hard. It's good to see him bounce back like that."
Peru jumped out to an early lead as the Tigers hit five first-half threes. Wooten was hitting from everywhere in the gym and was aided by Chris Maynard. Maynard finished with 18 on the night.
Patrick challenged his team to tighten the clamps on defense in the second half.
"We challenged them to hold (Peru) to 20 points in the second half," said Patrick. "And besides the late basket they scored with our bench in, the guys who played most of the second half held them to 19."
Shane Drudge led the Vikings in scoring with 23 points on 11-of-23 shooting. Drudge, a 6-foot-6 forward that can play like a guard, was able to combine his shooting ability with his low-post potential. Drudge also nearly racked up a double-double as he pulled down nine rebounds.
The Vikings, 4-2 on the season, open up Three Rivers Conference play Friday when they travel to Whitko to take on the Wildcats and first-year head coach Rob Irwin. Like Thompson, Irwin is a former Patrick assistant.
T. VALLEY 63, PERU 54
Peru 17 16 8 13 - 54
Valley 13 15 17 18 - 63
Peru FG FT R S Pts.
*Comeford 2-5 1-2 1 0 3
*Smith 3-7 0-0 1 0 7
*Wooten 6-9 5-6 11 0 20
*Maynard 7-11 2-2 4 2 18
*Staller 0-4 0-0 3 1 0
Saine 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Briscoe 2-2 0-0 2 0 4
Hudson 1-4 0-1 0 0 2
Totals 21-43 8-11 22 3 54
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Kindig 0-2 2-3 2 0 2
*Kelley 3-9 10-12 2 2 19
*Drudge 11-23 0-2 9 0 23
*Parker 0-1 0-0 2 1 0
*Lash 4-9 0-5 6 2 8
Tillman 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Hoffer 4-7 1-2 3 4 9
Nelson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Salyer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Neeley 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Totals 22-51 15-26 25 9 63
Three-point goals - Peru 5-12 (Wooten 3-4, Maynard 2-4), T. Valley 4-10 (Kelley 3-5, Drudge 1-4). Turnovers - Peru 15, T. Valley 8. Fouls - Peru 24, T. Valley 12. Fouled out - Comeford, Maynard.
JV - Tippecanoe Valley 46, Peru 44 [[In-content Ad]]