Vikings Rally, Ground Falcons
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
Down 16 points to Fairfield at halftime, and looking lifeless in the process, Valley chipped away at the deficit and took its first lead of the game with 1:25 remaining. The Vikings then pulled away for a 55-49 win in the 3A NorthWood Sectional semifinal.
The first 16 minutes left Viking head coach Bill Patrick with a sense of deja vu; on Dec. 29 Fairfield led Valley 20-6 at halftime. Friday night it was 28-12 at intermission, after scoring only two points in the second quarter.
“Well, we doubled our first-half points from the last time,” Patrick said.
The comeback began when Valley came out of the locker room and went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to nine. Senior guard Brandon Webster hit two shots, one with a foot on the three-point arc, the other a trey, and junior Alec Craig hit a jumper from the left side in between.
After a Falcon timeout, Fairfield senior Brock Goeglein hit one of his five threes on the night, four coming after halftime that held off the Vikings until the final minutes.
Valley kept chipping away, even after Fairfield rebuilt its lead to double-digits.
“We had to convince the kids at halftime; we were down 16 and I told them we could get it cut to eight by the end of the third quarter. We’d have to chip away,” Patrick said.
“We got it to eight, but they took it back to 12, and then by the end of the quarter we cut it back to 10.”
The Viking defense, while not terrible in the first half according to Patrick, stepped up in the second 16 minutes, providing a spark on the other end.
“It helped when we started making a few baskets, too,” Patrick said. “We shot terrible that first half; part of that is because we were standing flat-footed, or shooting on the way down. We just didn’t have our legs under our shots.”
Senior Neil Clampitt keyed the winning rally in the fourth period, scoring all 16 of his points over the final eight minutes.
The Vikings finally got the lead when junior Jarod Duzenbery scored down low and was fouled on a shot that bounced three times on the rim before dropping. He scored eight of his 10 points after the break. Craig had 13 of his 17 after halftime, and Brandon Webster had seven of his 10 after intermission.
Another key to the comeback was Valley’s ability to play defense without fouling and sending Fairfield to the free throw line. The Vikings were whistled for only 11 fouls all night, and had only two before they took the lead. The situation allowed Valley to take chances on defense, and not allow kick-out passes for Falcon three-point shots.
There were a couple of hiccups down the stretch; Shandon Miller scored and was fouled on an alley-oop pass with 28 seconds remaining that cut the Valley lead to two, but he missed the free throw.
“Obviously the fact that we didn’t commit any fouls in the second half helped us,” Patrick said. “It allowed us to milk the clock and make them take it out of bounds. But it backfired once or twice; we went to sleep on that lob. But we were more aggressive and we were able to turn our defense into offense.”
Patrick was at a loss for Valley’s slow start. Fairfield scored the first four points of the game and dominated the second period. The Falcons looked like they benefitted from an opening-round bye.
“I don’t think it was the jitters; I thought we acted like we were tired. I don’t know why. We went over to the other gym and shot for a while, and we didn’t supervise them every single minute. They said they weren’t doing anything but shooting,” Patrick said.
“When we were in the locker room at halftime, we had some kids that had sort of given up, really. It took a little bit of getting them fired up and a little chewin’ on them, I suppose, which is something we don’t normally do. We got on ‘em pretty good at halftime; they weren’t playing hard and needed to go out in the second half and give some more effort. It was almost like we were dead and didn’t have any life.
“So I think maybe we should have recorded what we said at halftime.”
Now 12-12 on the season, Valley’s reward for the semifinal win is a date with host NorthWood, the top-ranked team in Class 3A, in the sectional championship game at 7 p.m. today. The Panthers dispatched Lakeland 62-39 in Friday’s first game.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 55,
FAIRFIELD 49
F 14 14 11 10 – 49
TV 10 2 17 26 – 55
Fairfield – Wes Coble 0-1 0-0 0, Brady Willard 2-4 1-2 5, Luke Stephens 5-9 2-2 15, Cordell Hofer 1-4 2-2 4, Jake Oberlin 0-0 0-0 0, Brock Goeglein 6-9 0-0 17, Sam Brown 3-4 0-1 6, Shandon Miller 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 18-34 5-7 49.
Valley – Brandon Webster 4-11 0-0 10, Trevor Neeley 1-1 0-0 2, Keith Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Craig 6-11 4-5 17, Gavin Bussard 0-5 0-0 0, Neil Clampitt 5-13 3-3 16, Jarod Duzenbery 4-6 2-3 10, Bryce Webster 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 9-11 55.
Three-pointers – Fairfield 8 (Goeglein 5, Stephens 3), Valley 6 (Clampitt 3, Bran. Webster 2, Craig); Rebounds – Fairfield 23 (Stephens 5, Miller 5), Valley 22 (Clampitt 6); Turnovers – Fairfield 12, Valley 3; Fouls – Fairfield 14. Valley 11; Fouled out – none; Records: Fairfield 13-10, Valley 12-12[[In-content Ad]]
Down 16 points to Fairfield at halftime, and looking lifeless in the process, Valley chipped away at the deficit and took its first lead of the game with 1:25 remaining. The Vikings then pulled away for a 55-49 win in the 3A NorthWood Sectional semifinal.
The first 16 minutes left Viking head coach Bill Patrick with a sense of deja vu; on Dec. 29 Fairfield led Valley 20-6 at halftime. Friday night it was 28-12 at intermission, after scoring only two points in the second quarter.
“Well, we doubled our first-half points from the last time,” Patrick said.
The comeback began when Valley came out of the locker room and went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to nine. Senior guard Brandon Webster hit two shots, one with a foot on the three-point arc, the other a trey, and junior Alec Craig hit a jumper from the left side in between.
After a Falcon timeout, Fairfield senior Brock Goeglein hit one of his five threes on the night, four coming after halftime that held off the Vikings until the final minutes.
Valley kept chipping away, even after Fairfield rebuilt its lead to double-digits.
“We had to convince the kids at halftime; we were down 16 and I told them we could get it cut to eight by the end of the third quarter. We’d have to chip away,” Patrick said.
“We got it to eight, but they took it back to 12, and then by the end of the quarter we cut it back to 10.”
The Viking defense, while not terrible in the first half according to Patrick, stepped up in the second 16 minutes, providing a spark on the other end.
“It helped when we started making a few baskets, too,” Patrick said. “We shot terrible that first half; part of that is because we were standing flat-footed, or shooting on the way down. We just didn’t have our legs under our shots.”
Senior Neil Clampitt keyed the winning rally in the fourth period, scoring all 16 of his points over the final eight minutes.
The Vikings finally got the lead when junior Jarod Duzenbery scored down low and was fouled on a shot that bounced three times on the rim before dropping. He scored eight of his 10 points after the break. Craig had 13 of his 17 after halftime, and Brandon Webster had seven of his 10 after intermission.
Another key to the comeback was Valley’s ability to play defense without fouling and sending Fairfield to the free throw line. The Vikings were whistled for only 11 fouls all night, and had only two before they took the lead. The situation allowed Valley to take chances on defense, and not allow kick-out passes for Falcon three-point shots.
There were a couple of hiccups down the stretch; Shandon Miller scored and was fouled on an alley-oop pass with 28 seconds remaining that cut the Valley lead to two, but he missed the free throw.
“Obviously the fact that we didn’t commit any fouls in the second half helped us,” Patrick said. “It allowed us to milk the clock and make them take it out of bounds. But it backfired once or twice; we went to sleep on that lob. But we were more aggressive and we were able to turn our defense into offense.”
Patrick was at a loss for Valley’s slow start. Fairfield scored the first four points of the game and dominated the second period. The Falcons looked like they benefitted from an opening-round bye.
“I don’t think it was the jitters; I thought we acted like we were tired. I don’t know why. We went over to the other gym and shot for a while, and we didn’t supervise them every single minute. They said they weren’t doing anything but shooting,” Patrick said.
“When we were in the locker room at halftime, we had some kids that had sort of given up, really. It took a little bit of getting them fired up and a little chewin’ on them, I suppose, which is something we don’t normally do. We got on ‘em pretty good at halftime; they weren’t playing hard and needed to go out in the second half and give some more effort. It was almost like we were dead and didn’t have any life.
“So I think maybe we should have recorded what we said at halftime.”
Now 12-12 on the season, Valley’s reward for the semifinal win is a date with host NorthWood, the top-ranked team in Class 3A, in the sectional championship game at 7 p.m. today. The Panthers dispatched Lakeland 62-39 in Friday’s first game.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 55,
FAIRFIELD 49
F 14 14 11 10 – 49
TV 10 2 17 26 – 55
Fairfield – Wes Coble 0-1 0-0 0, Brady Willard 2-4 1-2 5, Luke Stephens 5-9 2-2 15, Cordell Hofer 1-4 2-2 4, Jake Oberlin 0-0 0-0 0, Brock Goeglein 6-9 0-0 17, Sam Brown 3-4 0-1 6, Shandon Miller 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 18-34 5-7 49.
Valley – Brandon Webster 4-11 0-0 10, Trevor Neeley 1-1 0-0 2, Keith Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Craig 6-11 4-5 17, Gavin Bussard 0-5 0-0 0, Neil Clampitt 5-13 3-3 16, Jarod Duzenbery 4-6 2-3 10, Bryce Webster 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 9-11 55.
Three-pointers – Fairfield 8 (Goeglein 5, Stephens 3), Valley 6 (Clampitt 3, Bran. Webster 2, Craig); Rebounds – Fairfield 23 (Stephens 5, Miller 5), Valley 22 (Clampitt 6); Turnovers – Fairfield 12, Valley 3; Fouls – Fairfield 14. Valley 11; Fouled out – none; Records: Fairfield 13-10, Valley 12-12[[In-content Ad]]
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