Valley Wins First Regional Title
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
WEST LAFAYETTE - After Tippecanoe Valley's boys basketball team's Class 3A regional championship game at West Lafayette Wednesday night, 6-foot-5 Viking senior center Craig Kuhn said the injury to his right knee that kept him out for the first half of the season was in the back of his mind.
If he was truly thinking about it, the only way the few West Lafayette fans in attendance could tell was by his bulky, black brace.
Kuhn scored seven of Valley's 16 fourth-quarter points as the Vikings topped the Red Devils 47-43 for their first regional title in school history.
"I knew I could do it all year," said Kuhn of his performance. "The guys saw me open and I hit some layups. I wish I could have hit some free throws, but we won. He's (coach Bill Patrick) told me all year to get involved. I realized it was do or die. If I didn't do good, I could've been done forever."
The Vikings improve to 19-5 on the season and will play Pendleton Heights (16-7), which upset second-ranked Maconaquah 74-64, at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Frankfort Semistate. Fort Wayne Concordia (17-5) will clash with Class 3A No. 1 Andrean (22-2) in Saturday's first semifinal game.
West Lafayette, which is currently on spring break, finishes its season with an 18-6 record.
The Vikings started the game as if they would run the host Red Devils off the floor, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead and allowing their opponents three field goals in the first quarter.
"The kids really played hard," said Valley coach Bill Patrick. "The key was our defense. We played man-to-man on the first posession and went to the zone on the second posession. Then, we went man to man after every timeout and at the end of every quarter."
The Vikings' stifling defense held the Red Devils to 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) in the first half.
Six-foot-3 Lafayette senior Andrew Ford, who came into last night's game averaging 18.8 points per contest, was held to three points in the first half.
"It's a pretty good zone," said Patrick. "We were moving well and not allowing them to get inside. We covered their shooters. We were concerned with 30 (Ford) and 24 (senior Matt McNulty). We had a good idea where they would be, a pretty good scouting report."
Valley went to the locker room at halftime with a 17-13 lead, shooting 8 of 20 (40 percent) from the field.
Viking senior Brandon Eaton led all scorers with 13 points. Junior Cody New and freshman Trey Eaton added 10 points each. Kuhn and senior guard Noah Silveus added seven and five points, respectively, while junior guard Anthony Domenico rounded out the Viking scoring attack with a two-point field goal.
Ford led the Red Devils in the scoring column with 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe. Seniors Danny Freeman and Eric Ness added nine points each, all on three-pointers. Senior Etugo Nwokah scored six points in the loss, all in the second half.
A Trey Eaton field goal at the 4:13 mark of the third quarter pushed Valley's lead to five, 25-20.
A three-pointer by Freeman 58 seconds later cut Valley's lead to two. New pushed the Vikings' lead back to four with a field goal at the 2:51 mark, but a Ness three-pointer brought the Red Devils within one, 27-26.
Baskets by Trey Eaton and Ford in the final 1:30 of the third quarter canceled themselves out, and Valley went into the final frame with a 29-28 lead.
Nwokah connected on a field goal attempt with 7:42 remaining in the game, giving Lafayette its first and only lead of the game at 30-29.
The lead lasted 10 seconds, as New responded with a field goal and free throw, and the Vikings forged ahead 32-20 and never trailed again.
"The kids acted really well and played pretty relaxed," said Patrick.
"At halftime I told them to go out and play hard in the second half and good things would happen."
With the score 34-33, Kuhn rebounded his own miss and put it back in for two, giving Valley a three-point lead. A basket by Kuhn with 1:54 left in the final frame stretched the Viking lead to six. And his final basket of the fourth quarter gave Valley an eight-point lead, 42-34, that sent Viking fans into a frenzy.
"Craig played in the fourth quarter like I knew he was capable of all year," said Patrick. "He's getting better every game and playing like he can."
The Red Devils never got any closer than four points in the final minute and a half, and the Vikings had their first regional championship in history.
In a West Lafayette gym that holds 1,900, an estimated 75 percent of it was filled with yellow-shirt-wearing Viking fans.
"All those yellow shirts made the difference," said Patrick.
"We play five players, and they're (fans) our sixth man. We drove two hours, but the fans balanced that (Lafayette's home court advantage) out."
Triton Upsets Marquette To Earn Place In Kokomo Semistate
By Jen Gibson, Times Union Sports Writer 
Triton's Jim Read tosses a jump shot up in Triton's 41-34 regional win Wednesday. Photo by Marlin Sechrist
BOURBON -ÊThe Triton boys basketball team showed how dangerous it can be when it controls the tempo of a game and plays its own style Wednesday night when it hosted the Class A regional and defeated Michigan City Marquette 41-34.
Although Triton ended the game with a seven-point win, that difference was not indicative of how close the game actually was.
Through the first three quarters of play, the Trojans and the Blazers were never more than six points apart. In fact, for most of the game, the lead stood at one or two points.
Free throws at the end of the contest allowed Triton to earn the seven-point upset.
Triton's Brian Klingerman started the game with a bang as he netted a fall-away jumper for the first basket of the game. Through the first quarter, Klingerman was the Trojan go-to guy as he hit 4 of 5 baskets to help lead Triton to a 10-4 advantage after the first quarter.
Of course, in a game as important as the regional, Marquette was not going down without a fight. The Blazers quickly clawed out of the hole they dug for themselves in the first quarter after Scott Fogus hit three free throws and a three-pointer to tie the score at 10 with 6:43 left in the first half.
Marquette and Triton see-sawed back and forth for the next six minutes, trading leads four times before Marquette's Justin Frever tied the score at 16.
With 2:52 left in the frame, Marquette was slapped with a technical foul after Michael Bergerson failed to check into the game before hitting the court. Brandon Zeider hit 1 of 2 free throws on the technical, and on the ensuing possession, Klingerman got the job done for the Trojans with a basket to turn the tech into a three-point play.
Triton went up as much as 21-16 with 2:13 left in the half, but the Blazers staged an 8-2 run in the final moments of the quarter to take a 24-23 lead at the end of the half.
Defense was the key in the second half as Triton and Marquette combined for just 28 points.
Marquette outscored Triton in the third frame 8-7 to increase its lead to two, 32-30.
However, Zeider put Triton back in the driver's seat when he hit a three-pointer to give Triton its first lead of the second half.
The the Trojan defense got fired up. They allowed Marquette to score just two points in the final stanza and held the Blazers to 1-of-10 shooting in the frame.
"We really stepped up the defense in the second half," said Triton coach Joe Bennett. "The whole week, well Monday and Tuesday is all we had, we said that defense would make the difference. Well, defense made the difference, alright."
After Jake Burnett hit both ends of a double-bonus with 6.7 ticks left on the clock, Triton ended the game with a 41-34 victory.
"They made a run at us in the second quarter," said Bennett. "But we didn't fold. We wanted to run the game at our tempo, and we did. That put us in a position to win. We had some good plays down the stretch that helped in the end.
"My hat's off to Michigan City Marquette. They are a good team. They played hard, but they just didn't get some of their shots to go in."
Zeider led the Trojans with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He was 4 of 6 from the charity stripe and pulled down 11 rebounds to complete the double-double.
"Brandon really did a good job," said Bennett. "Especially later in the game. He's our go-to guy. It's nice to have a guy to count on for things like that."
Klingerman added 10 points in the win after shooting 5 of 9 from the field.
"Brian did a great job tonight," said Bennett. "He hit some shots, and it was good to see him step up."
Fogus was the lone Marquette player in double figures, finishing the game with 12 points.
Triton, now 16-8, will face No. 1 Blue River Valley (21-2) in the semistate Saturday in Kokomo. Marquette ends the season 18-6. [[In-content Ad]]
WEST LAFAYETTE - After Tippecanoe Valley's boys basketball team's Class 3A regional championship game at West Lafayette Wednesday night, 6-foot-5 Viking senior center Craig Kuhn said the injury to his right knee that kept him out for the first half of the season was in the back of his mind.
If he was truly thinking about it, the only way the few West Lafayette fans in attendance could tell was by his bulky, black brace.
Kuhn scored seven of Valley's 16 fourth-quarter points as the Vikings topped the Red Devils 47-43 for their first regional title in school history.
"I knew I could do it all year," said Kuhn of his performance. "The guys saw me open and I hit some layups. I wish I could have hit some free throws, but we won. He's (coach Bill Patrick) told me all year to get involved. I realized it was do or die. If I didn't do good, I could've been done forever."
The Vikings improve to 19-5 on the season and will play Pendleton Heights (16-7), which upset second-ranked Maconaquah 74-64, at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Frankfort Semistate. Fort Wayne Concordia (17-5) will clash with Class 3A No. 1 Andrean (22-2) in Saturday's first semifinal game.
West Lafayette, which is currently on spring break, finishes its season with an 18-6 record.
The Vikings started the game as if they would run the host Red Devils off the floor, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead and allowing their opponents three field goals in the first quarter.
"The kids really played hard," said Valley coach Bill Patrick. "The key was our defense. We played man-to-man on the first posession and went to the zone on the second posession. Then, we went man to man after every timeout and at the end of every quarter."
The Vikings' stifling defense held the Red Devils to 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) in the first half.
Six-foot-3 Lafayette senior Andrew Ford, who came into last night's game averaging 18.8 points per contest, was held to three points in the first half.
"It's a pretty good zone," said Patrick. "We were moving well and not allowing them to get inside. We covered their shooters. We were concerned with 30 (Ford) and 24 (senior Matt McNulty). We had a good idea where they would be, a pretty good scouting report."
Valley went to the locker room at halftime with a 17-13 lead, shooting 8 of 20 (40 percent) from the field.
Viking senior Brandon Eaton led all scorers with 13 points. Junior Cody New and freshman Trey Eaton added 10 points each. Kuhn and senior guard Noah Silveus added seven and five points, respectively, while junior guard Anthony Domenico rounded out the Viking scoring attack with a two-point field goal.
Ford led the Red Devils in the scoring column with 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe. Seniors Danny Freeman and Eric Ness added nine points each, all on three-pointers. Senior Etugo Nwokah scored six points in the loss, all in the second half.
A Trey Eaton field goal at the 4:13 mark of the third quarter pushed Valley's lead to five, 25-20.
A three-pointer by Freeman 58 seconds later cut Valley's lead to two. New pushed the Vikings' lead back to four with a field goal at the 2:51 mark, but a Ness three-pointer brought the Red Devils within one, 27-26.
Baskets by Trey Eaton and Ford in the final 1:30 of the third quarter canceled themselves out, and Valley went into the final frame with a 29-28 lead.
Nwokah connected on a field goal attempt with 7:42 remaining in the game, giving Lafayette its first and only lead of the game at 30-29.
The lead lasted 10 seconds, as New responded with a field goal and free throw, and the Vikings forged ahead 32-20 and never trailed again.
"The kids acted really well and played pretty relaxed," said Patrick.
"At halftime I told them to go out and play hard in the second half and good things would happen."
With the score 34-33, Kuhn rebounded his own miss and put it back in for two, giving Valley a three-point lead. A basket by Kuhn with 1:54 left in the final frame stretched the Viking lead to six. And his final basket of the fourth quarter gave Valley an eight-point lead, 42-34, that sent Viking fans into a frenzy.
"Craig played in the fourth quarter like I knew he was capable of all year," said Patrick. "He's getting better every game and playing like he can."
The Red Devils never got any closer than four points in the final minute and a half, and the Vikings had their first regional championship in history.
In a West Lafayette gym that holds 1,900, an estimated 75 percent of it was filled with yellow-shirt-wearing Viking fans.
"All those yellow shirts made the difference," said Patrick.
"We play five players, and they're (fans) our sixth man. We drove two hours, but the fans balanced that (Lafayette's home court advantage) out."
Triton Upsets Marquette To Earn Place In Kokomo Semistate
By Jen Gibson, Times Union Sports Writer
Triton's Jim Read tosses a jump shot up in Triton's 41-34 regional win Wednesday. Photo by Marlin Sechrist
BOURBON -ÊThe Triton boys basketball team showed how dangerous it can be when it controls the tempo of a game and plays its own style Wednesday night when it hosted the Class A regional and defeated Michigan City Marquette 41-34.
Although Triton ended the game with a seven-point win, that difference was not indicative of how close the game actually was.
Through the first three quarters of play, the Trojans and the Blazers were never more than six points apart. In fact, for most of the game, the lead stood at one or two points.
Free throws at the end of the contest allowed Triton to earn the seven-point upset.
Triton's Brian Klingerman started the game with a bang as he netted a fall-away jumper for the first basket of the game. Through the first quarter, Klingerman was the Trojan go-to guy as he hit 4 of 5 baskets to help lead Triton to a 10-4 advantage after the first quarter.
Of course, in a game as important as the regional, Marquette was not going down without a fight. The Blazers quickly clawed out of the hole they dug for themselves in the first quarter after Scott Fogus hit three free throws and a three-pointer to tie the score at 10 with 6:43 left in the first half.
Marquette and Triton see-sawed back and forth for the next six minutes, trading leads four times before Marquette's Justin Frever tied the score at 16.
With 2:52 left in the frame, Marquette was slapped with a technical foul after Michael Bergerson failed to check into the game before hitting the court. Brandon Zeider hit 1 of 2 free throws on the technical, and on the ensuing possession, Klingerman got the job done for the Trojans with a basket to turn the tech into a three-point play.
Triton went up as much as 21-16 with 2:13 left in the half, but the Blazers staged an 8-2 run in the final moments of the quarter to take a 24-23 lead at the end of the half.
Defense was the key in the second half as Triton and Marquette combined for just 28 points.
Marquette outscored Triton in the third frame 8-7 to increase its lead to two, 32-30.
However, Zeider put Triton back in the driver's seat when he hit a three-pointer to give Triton its first lead of the second half.
The the Trojan defense got fired up. They allowed Marquette to score just two points in the final stanza and held the Blazers to 1-of-10 shooting in the frame.
"We really stepped up the defense in the second half," said Triton coach Joe Bennett. "The whole week, well Monday and Tuesday is all we had, we said that defense would make the difference. Well, defense made the difference, alright."
After Jake Burnett hit both ends of a double-bonus with 6.7 ticks left on the clock, Triton ended the game with a 41-34 victory.
"They made a run at us in the second quarter," said Bennett. "But we didn't fold. We wanted to run the game at our tempo, and we did. That put us in a position to win. We had some good plays down the stretch that helped in the end.
"My hat's off to Michigan City Marquette. They are a good team. They played hard, but they just didn't get some of their shots to go in."
Zeider led the Trojans with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He was 4 of 6 from the charity stripe and pulled down 11 rebounds to complete the double-double.
"Brandon really did a good job," said Bennett. "Especially later in the game. He's our go-to guy. It's nice to have a guy to count on for things like that."
Klingerman added 10 points in the win after shooting 5 of 9 from the field.
"Brian did a great job tonight," said Bennett. "He hit some shots, and it was good to see him step up."
Fogus was the lone Marquette player in double figures, finishing the game with 12 points.
Triton, now 16-8, will face No. 1 Blue River Valley (21-2) in the semistate Saturday in Kokomo. Marquette ends the season 18-6. [[In-content Ad]]