Valley Vikings Oust Oak Hill 82-69
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
MENTONE - When Bill Patrick took the head coaching job at Valley he brought with him 478 wins.
Members of the media as well as fans alike immediately began speculating how soon the ex- Whitko coach could turn Valley, a 6-15 first-round sectional loser last year, into a winning program and then pick up his 500th career victory.
After Friday night's 82-69 home win over Three Rivers Conference rival Oak Hill, Patrick needs just nine victories to reach the elusive plateau. The win improved Valley's season record to 13-6 and 5-2 in the conference. Oak Hill fell to 8-10 and 4-3.
"A lot of people thought it would take three years," said Patrick as he signed his name to a plastic basketball for a young fan. "We're thinking we can get it this year. Nine more is all we need."
And nine is the number of games the Vikings could win the remainder of this season, provided they play three games in the sectionals and went on to win the 3A state championship. The advent of the tournament of champions, an extra tournament where the champions in the four respective classes face off, would allow Patrick to have 502 career victories after his first season in Mentone.
"It's awewsome," said Valley senior Jarvis Shepherd of playing for Patrick. "He's probably the best coach you could play for. His record explains it all."
Shepherd led all scorers in Friday night's win with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line. Josh Cumberland and Brandon Eaton tallied 20 and 17 points respectively. Cumberland added 10 rebounds, including seven in the first quarter, to record a double-double. Logan Shively led Oak Hill with 18 points, and Tyler Planck added 14.
Shepherd and Eaton got things rolling in the first quarter, combining for 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Vikings connected on 18 of 29 (62.1 percent) attempts in the first half en route to a 49-33 halftime advantage and 30 of 52 (57.7 percent) for the game.
"We let up a little in the third and fourth quarter," said Patrick. "Overall we shot the ball well and got the ball inside."
Valley took the ball inside, forcing the Eagles to fall victim to 19 fouls. The Vikings took advantage of that by making good on 17 of 20 (85 percent) free-throw tosses.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the third quarter, with Valley missing 8 of 13 field goal attempts. Oak Hill connected on only 5 of 12 shots, but two of them were Shively three-pointers, and the Eagles outscored Valley 12-11 in the frame to cut the deficit to 60-45 heading into the final frame.
Patrick had said earlier in the week Oak Hill was capable of scoring. They came in averaging nearly 70 points per contest.
"I knew we had to score," said Patrick. "There was a couple of stretches where we didn't get back on defense and we had letdowns. Our goal was 12 or less turnovers. We did a pretty good job of keeping it near 12 or less and we outrebounded them. That was their weakness. I knew they could score, but they couldn't stop us."
For the game, Valley committed 13 turnovers, while the Eagles, whose defense came in giving up an average of nearly 70 points per game, turned the ball over 16 times.
Oak Hill cut the Vikings' advantage to 10 numerous times in the final frame, outscoring them 24-22 in the quarter, but it was too little too late as Valley made good on 7 of 8 charity tosses in the final frame.
Valley (13-6) will be at Glenn on Friday with the junior varsity contest tipping off at 6:30 p.m.
"We'll be a little bit better prepared for Glenn," said Patrick.
"We had some problems on the road at Triton and Manchester. We'll take care of that next week. We want to finish with a good game going into the sectionals.
"I think we can compete with Peru and Concordia in our sectional. I do think it's one of the toughest sectionals in the state."
VALLEY 82, OAK HILL 69
Valley 26 23 11 22 - 82
Oak Hill 20 13 12 24 -Ê69
Valley FG FT S R Pts.
Shepherd (G) 7-12 7-7 5 4 23
Eaton (G) 6-11 5-7 0 1 17
Prater (F) 0-3 1-2 0 2 1
Kuhn 2-4 0-0 1 4 4
Silveus 1-2 2-2 1 2 5
Snyder 3-5 0-0 0 1 6
Cumberland (F) 9-12 2-2 0 10 20
Weber (F) 2-5 0-0 0 0 6
Shafer 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Domenico 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
New 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 30-52 17-20 7 27 82
Oak Hill FG FT S R Pts.
Wert (G) 3-8 2-2 2 2 9
Shively 6-10 1-1 0 2 18
Skinner 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Lobsinger (F) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Strange 2-3 0-0 1 3 4
Walden 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Henderson (G) 2-7 0-0 1 3 4
Summers 2-2 0-0 0 2 4
Planck (C) 6-13 2-3 0 6 14
Hall 2-3 0-0 0 0 4
Warnock (F) 4-8 0-1 1 4 8
Arrendale 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 29-58 5-7 5 25 69
Three-pointers - Valley 5 (Shepherd 2, Weber 2, Silveus), Oak Hill 6 (Shively 5, Wert). Turnovers - Valley 13, Oak Hill 16. Fouls - Valley 13, Oak Hill 19.
JV - Oak Hill 65, Valley 36 [[In-content Ad]]
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MENTONE - When Bill Patrick took the head coaching job at Valley he brought with him 478 wins.
Members of the media as well as fans alike immediately began speculating how soon the ex- Whitko coach could turn Valley, a 6-15 first-round sectional loser last year, into a winning program and then pick up his 500th career victory.
After Friday night's 82-69 home win over Three Rivers Conference rival Oak Hill, Patrick needs just nine victories to reach the elusive plateau. The win improved Valley's season record to 13-6 and 5-2 in the conference. Oak Hill fell to 8-10 and 4-3.
"A lot of people thought it would take three years," said Patrick as he signed his name to a plastic basketball for a young fan. "We're thinking we can get it this year. Nine more is all we need."
And nine is the number of games the Vikings could win the remainder of this season, provided they play three games in the sectionals and went on to win the 3A state championship. The advent of the tournament of champions, an extra tournament where the champions in the four respective classes face off, would allow Patrick to have 502 career victories after his first season in Mentone.
"It's awewsome," said Valley senior Jarvis Shepherd of playing for Patrick. "He's probably the best coach you could play for. His record explains it all."
Shepherd led all scorers in Friday night's win with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line. Josh Cumberland and Brandon Eaton tallied 20 and 17 points respectively. Cumberland added 10 rebounds, including seven in the first quarter, to record a double-double. Logan Shively led Oak Hill with 18 points, and Tyler Planck added 14.
Shepherd and Eaton got things rolling in the first quarter, combining for 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Vikings connected on 18 of 29 (62.1 percent) attempts in the first half en route to a 49-33 halftime advantage and 30 of 52 (57.7 percent) for the game.
"We let up a little in the third and fourth quarter," said Patrick. "Overall we shot the ball well and got the ball inside."
Valley took the ball inside, forcing the Eagles to fall victim to 19 fouls. The Vikings took advantage of that by making good on 17 of 20 (85 percent) free-throw tosses.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the third quarter, with Valley missing 8 of 13 field goal attempts. Oak Hill connected on only 5 of 12 shots, but two of them were Shively three-pointers, and the Eagles outscored Valley 12-11 in the frame to cut the deficit to 60-45 heading into the final frame.
Patrick had said earlier in the week Oak Hill was capable of scoring. They came in averaging nearly 70 points per contest.
"I knew we had to score," said Patrick. "There was a couple of stretches where we didn't get back on defense and we had letdowns. Our goal was 12 or less turnovers. We did a pretty good job of keeping it near 12 or less and we outrebounded them. That was their weakness. I knew they could score, but they couldn't stop us."
For the game, Valley committed 13 turnovers, while the Eagles, whose defense came in giving up an average of nearly 70 points per game, turned the ball over 16 times.
Oak Hill cut the Vikings' advantage to 10 numerous times in the final frame, outscoring them 24-22 in the quarter, but it was too little too late as Valley made good on 7 of 8 charity tosses in the final frame.
Valley (13-6) will be at Glenn on Friday with the junior varsity contest tipping off at 6:30 p.m.
"We'll be a little bit better prepared for Glenn," said Patrick.
"We had some problems on the road at Triton and Manchester. We'll take care of that next week. We want to finish with a good game going into the sectionals.
"I think we can compete with Peru and Concordia in our sectional. I do think it's one of the toughest sectionals in the state."
VALLEY 82, OAK HILL 69
Valley 26 23 11 22 - 82
Oak Hill 20 13 12 24 -Ê69
Valley FG FT S R Pts.
Shepherd (G) 7-12 7-7 5 4 23
Eaton (G) 6-11 5-7 0 1 17
Prater (F) 0-3 1-2 0 2 1
Kuhn 2-4 0-0 1 4 4
Silveus 1-2 2-2 1 2 5
Snyder 3-5 0-0 0 1 6
Cumberland (F) 9-12 2-2 0 10 20
Weber (F) 2-5 0-0 0 0 6
Shafer 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Domenico 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
New 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 30-52 17-20 7 27 82
Oak Hill FG FT S R Pts.
Wert (G) 3-8 2-2 2 2 9
Shively 6-10 1-1 0 2 18
Skinner 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Lobsinger (F) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Strange 2-3 0-0 1 3 4
Walden 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Henderson (G) 2-7 0-0 1 3 4
Summers 2-2 0-0 0 2 4
Planck (C) 6-13 2-3 0 6 14
Hall 2-3 0-0 0 0 4
Warnock (F) 4-8 0-1 1 4 8
Arrendale 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 29-58 5-7 5 25 69
Three-pointers - Valley 5 (Shepherd 2, Weber 2, Silveus), Oak Hill 6 (Shively 5, Wert). Turnovers - Valley 13, Oak Hill 16. Fouls - Valley 13, Oak Hill 19.
JV - Oak Hill 65, Valley 36 [[In-content Ad]]