Vikings Help Patrick Win His 'Big Game'
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
MENTONE - It was quite possibly the most anticipated showdown of the high school basketball season.
Coach Bill Patrick and his Tippecanoe Valley Vikings faced off against the Whitko Wildcats, Patrick's team for 24 years.
"It was obviously a big game," said Patrick. "And obviously I wanted to win for several reasons."
Patrick got his wish Friday when his Vikings defeated the Whitko Wildcats 66-51.
The first quarter of the game could have been called the Jarvis Shepherd vs. Joe Grant show.
Shepherd nailed Valley's first eight points and scored 10 of the 19 first-quarter Viking points, and Grant scored six of Whitko's 12 first-quarter points.
By the end of the first frame, Valley held a 19-12 lead.
Whitko held Valley scoreless for the first three minutes of the second quarter before the Vikings went on a six-point run to bring the score to 25-18 in Valley's favor.
With 3:07 left in the half, Grant hit two free throws to bring Whitko within five points, 25-20. After a Craig Kuhn basket for Valley and two Ben Mohr free throws for Whitko, the five-point difference remained intact.
The Vikings scored seven points in the final 1:20 to give them a 39-26 lead at the half.
At the half, the two players who had monopolized the first quarter had continued their dominance through the second quarter.
Shepherd had scored 20 points, grabbed three steals, and pulled down two rebounds for the Vikings while Joe Grant nailed 14 points, and nabbed four rebounds and two steals for the Wildcats in the first half .
"Shepherd did a great job in the first half," said Patrick. "He had a pretty good game out there."
"Grant did a good job inside," said Whitko coach Fred Fields."We figured that in the first half they may have scored six points on half-court sets. Everything else was garbage shots. We scored 16 points off the half-court sets, so we did that fairly well."
At the start of the second half, the Vikings held their 13-point lead until just over three minutes had ticked off the clock. With 4:58 left in the third frame, Noah Silveus scored his only basket of the night to give Valley a 43-28 lead.
After Brandon Eaton added his only point of the game on a shot from the charity stripe, the Vikings had increased their lead to 16 points with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Whitko suffered a blow late in the third quarter, when starter Shane Henderson left the floor with a bleeding forehead.
During an official timeout to wipe blood off the floor, Tipecanoe Valley's athletic trainer Louis Desenberg summoned Dr. Patrick Silveus from the crowd to check the injury. Henderson left the game and did not return after getting three stitches to close his wound.
Shortly after play resumed, Whitko's Michael Waybright sank a three-point goal to make the score 48-34 in Valley's favor.
Then Shepherd and Mohr scored dueling three-pointers to make the score 52-37 going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth frame stayed at 52-37 for two minutes until Waybright threw an ally-oop pass to Mohr break the scoreless streak.
Whitko fired up and scored seven unanswered points to cut Valley's lead to eight when Joe Grant fouled out with 4:14 remaining in the game.
With 1:13 left to play, Eric Prater stepped to the charity stripe to attempt a one-and-bonus. Prated hit the first free throw but missed the second.
Jeff Martin pulled down the rebound, moved the ball down the court and attempted a lay-up. After missing the shot, Martin grabbed his own rebound and attempted and missed the shot again.
After Valley grabbed the rebound, Josh Gonzalez used his last foul to stop the clock with just with 31.6 ticks on the board.
Valley missed the free throw opportunity and Whitko regained control of the ball only to have it stolen again.
With just 9.1 seconds left in the game, Ben Ryan was called for his fifth foul, a technical, after slapping the backboard on a fastbreak.
Jon Weber hit both shots on the technical and brought Valley to the final 66-51 victory.
"Bill did a nice job out there," said Fields. "We got what we deserved. In fact, we should have gotten beaten by more.
"We learned something out here tonight."
Patrick, still glowing from the emotion of the victory, had more positive comments about his team.
"This was a good effort tonight," said Patrick. "Everybody played hard, and they played with enthusiasm."
T. Valley 66
Whitko 51
Valley 19 20 13 14 - 66
Whitko 12 14 11 14 - 51
Valley FG FT S R Pts.
Prater (F) 2-4 6-7 3 7 10
Eaton (F) 0-7 1-2 0 2 1
Silveus (G) 1-5 0-0 2 2 2
Shepherd (G) 10-13 3-5 5 2 26
Snyder (F) 5-9 3-4 2 1 13
Kuhn 2-2 0-0 0 1 4
J. Cumberland 3-3 2-3 2 0 8
Weber 0-1 2-2 0 0 2
Domenico 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Shafer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Whitko FG FT S R Pts.
Mohr (G) 5-13 2-2 1 0 14
Henderson (F) 1-5 0-0 1 1 2
Gonzalez (G) 1-5 0-0 1 1 2
Ryan (F) 3-6 2-2 1 3 8
Grant (C) 7-10 2-2 2 7 16
Martin 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
Waybright 3-5 0-0 0 0 9
J. Wendel 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Three-point goals -ÊValley 3-4 (Shepherd 3-3, Eaton 0-1), Whitko 5-14 (Mohr 2-5, Henderson 0-3, Gonzalez 0-1, Ryan 0-2, Waybright 3-3). Rebounds - Valley 15 (Prater 7), Whitko 12 (Grant 7). Steals - Valley12 (Shepherd 5, Prater 3), Whitko 6 (Grant 2). Fouls - Valley 13, Whitko 21. Fouled out - Gonzalez, Grant, Ryan. Technical foul -ÊWhitko (Ryan).
Officials -ÊGreg Sheets, Ron Stevens
JV Score - Valley 61, Whitko 44 [[In-content Ad]]
MENTONE - It was quite possibly the most anticipated showdown of the high school basketball season.
Coach Bill Patrick and his Tippecanoe Valley Vikings faced off against the Whitko Wildcats, Patrick's team for 24 years.
"It was obviously a big game," said Patrick. "And obviously I wanted to win for several reasons."
Patrick got his wish Friday when his Vikings defeated the Whitko Wildcats 66-51.
The first quarter of the game could have been called the Jarvis Shepherd vs. Joe Grant show.
Shepherd nailed Valley's first eight points and scored 10 of the 19 first-quarter Viking points, and Grant scored six of Whitko's 12 first-quarter points.
By the end of the first frame, Valley held a 19-12 lead.
Whitko held Valley scoreless for the first three minutes of the second quarter before the Vikings went on a six-point run to bring the score to 25-18 in Valley's favor.
With 3:07 left in the half, Grant hit two free throws to bring Whitko within five points, 25-20. After a Craig Kuhn basket for Valley and two Ben Mohr free throws for Whitko, the five-point difference remained intact.
The Vikings scored seven points in the final 1:20 to give them a 39-26 lead at the half.
At the half, the two players who had monopolized the first quarter had continued their dominance through the second quarter.
Shepherd had scored 20 points, grabbed three steals, and pulled down two rebounds for the Vikings while Joe Grant nailed 14 points, and nabbed four rebounds and two steals for the Wildcats in the first half .
"Shepherd did a great job in the first half," said Patrick. "He had a pretty good game out there."
"Grant did a good job inside," said Whitko coach Fred Fields."We figured that in the first half they may have scored six points on half-court sets. Everything else was garbage shots. We scored 16 points off the half-court sets, so we did that fairly well."
At the start of the second half, the Vikings held their 13-point lead until just over three minutes had ticked off the clock. With 4:58 left in the third frame, Noah Silveus scored his only basket of the night to give Valley a 43-28 lead.
After Brandon Eaton added his only point of the game on a shot from the charity stripe, the Vikings had increased their lead to 16 points with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Whitko suffered a blow late in the third quarter, when starter Shane Henderson left the floor with a bleeding forehead.
During an official timeout to wipe blood off the floor, Tipecanoe Valley's athletic trainer Louis Desenberg summoned Dr. Patrick Silveus from the crowd to check the injury. Henderson left the game and did not return after getting three stitches to close his wound.
Shortly after play resumed, Whitko's Michael Waybright sank a three-point goal to make the score 48-34 in Valley's favor.
Then Shepherd and Mohr scored dueling three-pointers to make the score 52-37 going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth frame stayed at 52-37 for two minutes until Waybright threw an ally-oop pass to Mohr break the scoreless streak.
Whitko fired up and scored seven unanswered points to cut Valley's lead to eight when Joe Grant fouled out with 4:14 remaining in the game.
With 1:13 left to play, Eric Prater stepped to the charity stripe to attempt a one-and-bonus. Prated hit the first free throw but missed the second.
Jeff Martin pulled down the rebound, moved the ball down the court and attempted a lay-up. After missing the shot, Martin grabbed his own rebound and attempted and missed the shot again.
After Valley grabbed the rebound, Josh Gonzalez used his last foul to stop the clock with just with 31.6 ticks on the board.
Valley missed the free throw opportunity and Whitko regained control of the ball only to have it stolen again.
With just 9.1 seconds left in the game, Ben Ryan was called for his fifth foul, a technical, after slapping the backboard on a fastbreak.
Jon Weber hit both shots on the technical and brought Valley to the final 66-51 victory.
"Bill did a nice job out there," said Fields. "We got what we deserved. In fact, we should have gotten beaten by more.
"We learned something out here tonight."
Patrick, still glowing from the emotion of the victory, had more positive comments about his team.
"This was a good effort tonight," said Patrick. "Everybody played hard, and they played with enthusiasm."
T. Valley 66
Whitko 51
Valley 19 20 13 14 - 66
Whitko 12 14 11 14 - 51
Valley FG FT S R Pts.
Prater (F) 2-4 6-7 3 7 10
Eaton (F) 0-7 1-2 0 2 1
Silveus (G) 1-5 0-0 2 2 2
Shepherd (G) 10-13 3-5 5 2 26
Snyder (F) 5-9 3-4 2 1 13
Kuhn 2-2 0-0 0 1 4
J. Cumberland 3-3 2-3 2 0 8
Weber 0-1 2-2 0 0 2
Domenico 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Shafer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Whitko FG FT S R Pts.
Mohr (G) 5-13 2-2 1 0 14
Henderson (F) 1-5 0-0 1 1 2
Gonzalez (G) 1-5 0-0 1 1 2
Ryan (F) 3-6 2-2 1 3 8
Grant (C) 7-10 2-2 2 7 16
Martin 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
Waybright 3-5 0-0 0 0 9
J. Wendel 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Three-point goals -ÊValley 3-4 (Shepherd 3-3, Eaton 0-1), Whitko 5-14 (Mohr 2-5, Henderson 0-3, Gonzalez 0-1, Ryan 0-2, Waybright 3-3). Rebounds - Valley 15 (Prater 7), Whitko 12 (Grant 7). Steals - Valley12 (Shepherd 5, Prater 3), Whitko 6 (Grant 2). Fouls - Valley 13, Whitko 21. Fouled out - Gonzalez, Grant, Ryan. Technical foul -ÊWhitko (Ryan).
Officials -ÊGreg Sheets, Ron Stevens
JV Score - Valley 61, Whitko 44 [[In-content Ad]]