Warriors Avenge Loss, End Valley's Season
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NAPPANEE - With a packed house of 3,600-plus in "The Pit" at NorthWood High School, it was Hoosier Hysteria personified as Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee locked horns for the second time this season in the second game of the 3A regional Saturday.
While the Vikings got the best of their Kosciusko County foes in both teams' regular season finale, the Warriors ended Valley's tourney run with a 73-63 win.
Despite a career-best performance by senior John Gibson, the Vikings couldn't overcome turnovers and foul trouble.
Both teams slogged through a 32-minute contest where 51 fouls were called and 29 turnovers were committed.
It was the Vikings who took advantage of the tight officiating in the early going. Gibson was 9 of 10 from the line in the first half as the senior guard took advantage of mismatches with Wawasee's Andrew Mock and a hobbled Kory Lantz, who was playing with a severe knee injury suffered in last week's sectional final.
The Vikings went to the charity stripe 15 times in the first half but were unable to regain control of the game due to 12 first half turnovers.
Valley committed 25 turnovers in the first meeting and finished Saturday with 17.
Unlike the first contest between the two teams, the Vikings were ineffective from beyond the three-point arc. Valley attempted just two shorts from three-point land and missed on both.
For the Warriors, it was 6-foot-3 center Ryan Kauchak who carried Wawasee.
Kauchak bodied up 6-6 Shane Drudge and used an effective array of post moves to pile up 10 first half points and five rebounds.
Kauchak picked up the slack for fellow seniors Lantz and Austin Kaiser. While Lantz was battling a physical ailment, Kaiser was battling shooting woes.
The 6-0 guard has struggled in both games against the Vikings. Kaiser finished the first half 3 of 11 from the field. Kaiser didn't attempt a shot from the field in the second half but did go to the foul line 14 times in the fourth quarter and connected on all attempts
Before Kaiser's barrage of free throws, Valley drew to within two points at 51-49 with 5:14 left in the game.
Wawasee led by as many as nine points while overcoming an early five-point deficit.
From that point, however, Valley became hamstrung by foul trouble and went cold from the field.
The Vikings went nearly three minutes without a field goal and by the time senior Shane Denny connected on a layup with less than two minutes left in the contest, the Vikings were down seven at 60-53 and frustration set in.
Things became chippy when, after Denny's basket, he became entangled with Lantz and the two had some heated words before an official broke things up.
Valley did make things interesting in the late going with some aggressive play and untimely fouls by the Warriors.
David Lash connected on an old-fashioned three-point play and then went to the foul line again after drawing contact. Lash connected on all three attempts from the stripe and scored five quick points with the clock stopped.
Kaiser then unwisely fouled reserve Bryce Kelley on a three-point attempt with less than a minute left to make the count 65-61 in favor of Wawasee.
Kaiser made up for his mistake with his foul shooting as he and Mock got isolation at the top of the key and on two consecutive occasions drove to the hoop and drew fouls.
While Kaiser is the Warriors leading scorer at 19.4 points, he struggled against the Vikings. He shot a combined 6 of 27 from the field against Valley in two games.
For Valley and head coach Bill Patrick, it was Gibson who kept the Vikings in the game.
Gibson finished with a game-high 28 points to go along with eight rebounds.
The departing guard knew he had to step up big on a big stage. While Gibson was clutch, he didn't feel nerves factored into the outcome.
"I know everyone was nervous. This is the biggest crowd we've ever played in front of. I think we got settled down pretty early. We just couldn't get into a rhythm," said Gibson.
The Vikings showed a surprising lack of rhythm from the foul line. One week removed from hitting 22 of 23 free throws against Peru in the sectional final, Valley was a less sharp 22 of 29 from the line.
"We missed some free throws that were big free throws," said Patrick.
But the legendary coach refused to place any blame on those calling fouls.
"There's no point in complaining about the officiating," said Patrick.
He did, however, admit that a phantom over-and-back call in the fourth quarter with his team down one did shift the game's complexion.
"The over-and-back was a bad call. The two officials disagreed on the call. One called it over and back and the other didn't. So who knows? You get the basketball back and you don't know what happens. That was just a wrong call but I'm sure you can go back and pick out calls on both sides," said Patrick.
The Vikings end the season with a 22-2 record, their sixth straight Three Rivers Conference championship and their first sectional crown since 2000.
Gibson, Denny and Michael Domenico graduate from this year's team.
WAWASEE 73, NO. 5 T. VALLEY 63
Wawasee 12 19 15 27 - 73
T. Valley 13 16 14 20 - 63
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
*Mock 3-3 2-3 0 2 8
*Kaiser 3-11 14-14 2 0 21
*Gerber 3-6 3-3 5 0 9
*Conrad 1-2 2-2 0 0 5
*Kauchak 5-9 6-7 9 0 16
Lantz 2-5 3-5 0 0 8
Leach 2-3 2-2 5 0 6
Totals 19-39 32-36 21 2 73
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Denny 3-4 1-4 4 1 7
*Gibson 8-17 11-12 8 0 28
*Domenico 1-3 0-0 1 1 2
*Lash 3-5 5-5 4 1 11
*Drudge 1-7 0-0 7 0 2
Kelley 1-5 3-3 0 0 5
Kindig 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Reed 3-4 2-5 2 1 8
Neeley 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 20-46 22-29 26 4 63
Three-point goals - Wawasee 3-13 (Kaiser 1-6, Conrad 1-2, Lantz 1-4, Gerber 0-1), T. Valley 1-8 (Gibson 1-2, Domenico 0-1, Drudge 0-1, Kelley 0-3, Neeley 0-1) . Turnovers - Wawasee 9, T. Valley 17. Team Fouls - Wawasee 23, T. Valley 28. Fouled out - Denny (T. Valley), Lash (T. Valley), Gibson (T. Valley), Domenico (T. Valley). [[In-content Ad]]
NAPPANEE - With a packed house of 3,600-plus in "The Pit" at NorthWood High School, it was Hoosier Hysteria personified as Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee locked horns for the second time this season in the second game of the 3A regional Saturday.
While the Vikings got the best of their Kosciusko County foes in both teams' regular season finale, the Warriors ended Valley's tourney run with a 73-63 win.
Despite a career-best performance by senior John Gibson, the Vikings couldn't overcome turnovers and foul trouble.
Both teams slogged through a 32-minute contest where 51 fouls were called and 29 turnovers were committed.
It was the Vikings who took advantage of the tight officiating in the early going. Gibson was 9 of 10 from the line in the first half as the senior guard took advantage of mismatches with Wawasee's Andrew Mock and a hobbled Kory Lantz, who was playing with a severe knee injury suffered in last week's sectional final.
The Vikings went to the charity stripe 15 times in the first half but were unable to regain control of the game due to 12 first half turnovers.
Valley committed 25 turnovers in the first meeting and finished Saturday with 17.
Unlike the first contest between the two teams, the Vikings were ineffective from beyond the three-point arc. Valley attempted just two shorts from three-point land and missed on both.
For the Warriors, it was 6-foot-3 center Ryan Kauchak who carried Wawasee.
Kauchak bodied up 6-6 Shane Drudge and used an effective array of post moves to pile up 10 first half points and five rebounds.
Kauchak picked up the slack for fellow seniors Lantz and Austin Kaiser. While Lantz was battling a physical ailment, Kaiser was battling shooting woes.
The 6-0 guard has struggled in both games against the Vikings. Kaiser finished the first half 3 of 11 from the field. Kaiser didn't attempt a shot from the field in the second half but did go to the foul line 14 times in the fourth quarter and connected on all attempts
Before Kaiser's barrage of free throws, Valley drew to within two points at 51-49 with 5:14 left in the game.
Wawasee led by as many as nine points while overcoming an early five-point deficit.
From that point, however, Valley became hamstrung by foul trouble and went cold from the field.
The Vikings went nearly three minutes without a field goal and by the time senior Shane Denny connected on a layup with less than two minutes left in the contest, the Vikings were down seven at 60-53 and frustration set in.
Things became chippy when, after Denny's basket, he became entangled with Lantz and the two had some heated words before an official broke things up.
Valley did make things interesting in the late going with some aggressive play and untimely fouls by the Warriors.
David Lash connected on an old-fashioned three-point play and then went to the foul line again after drawing contact. Lash connected on all three attempts from the stripe and scored five quick points with the clock stopped.
Kaiser then unwisely fouled reserve Bryce Kelley on a three-point attempt with less than a minute left to make the count 65-61 in favor of Wawasee.
Kaiser made up for his mistake with his foul shooting as he and Mock got isolation at the top of the key and on two consecutive occasions drove to the hoop and drew fouls.
While Kaiser is the Warriors leading scorer at 19.4 points, he struggled against the Vikings. He shot a combined 6 of 27 from the field against Valley in two games.
For Valley and head coach Bill Patrick, it was Gibson who kept the Vikings in the game.
Gibson finished with a game-high 28 points to go along with eight rebounds.
The departing guard knew he had to step up big on a big stage. While Gibson was clutch, he didn't feel nerves factored into the outcome.
"I know everyone was nervous. This is the biggest crowd we've ever played in front of. I think we got settled down pretty early. We just couldn't get into a rhythm," said Gibson.
The Vikings showed a surprising lack of rhythm from the foul line. One week removed from hitting 22 of 23 free throws against Peru in the sectional final, Valley was a less sharp 22 of 29 from the line.
"We missed some free throws that were big free throws," said Patrick.
But the legendary coach refused to place any blame on those calling fouls.
"There's no point in complaining about the officiating," said Patrick.
He did, however, admit that a phantom over-and-back call in the fourth quarter with his team down one did shift the game's complexion.
"The over-and-back was a bad call. The two officials disagreed on the call. One called it over and back and the other didn't. So who knows? You get the basketball back and you don't know what happens. That was just a wrong call but I'm sure you can go back and pick out calls on both sides," said Patrick.
The Vikings end the season with a 22-2 record, their sixth straight Three Rivers Conference championship and their first sectional crown since 2000.
Gibson, Denny and Michael Domenico graduate from this year's team.
WAWASEE 73, NO. 5 T. VALLEY 63
Wawasee 12 19 15 27 - 73
T. Valley 13 16 14 20 - 63
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
*Mock 3-3 2-3 0 2 8
*Kaiser 3-11 14-14 2 0 21
*Gerber 3-6 3-3 5 0 9
*Conrad 1-2 2-2 0 0 5
*Kauchak 5-9 6-7 9 0 16
Lantz 2-5 3-5 0 0 8
Leach 2-3 2-2 5 0 6
Totals 19-39 32-36 21 2 73
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Denny 3-4 1-4 4 1 7
*Gibson 8-17 11-12 8 0 28
*Domenico 1-3 0-0 1 1 2
*Lash 3-5 5-5 4 1 11
*Drudge 1-7 0-0 7 0 2
Kelley 1-5 3-3 0 0 5
Kindig 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Reed 3-4 2-5 2 1 8
Neeley 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 20-46 22-29 26 4 63
Three-point goals - Wawasee 3-13 (Kaiser 1-6, Conrad 1-2, Lantz 1-4, Gerber 0-1), T. Valley 1-8 (Gibson 1-2, Domenico 0-1, Drudge 0-1, Kelley 0-3, Neeley 0-1) . Turnovers - Wawasee 9, T. Valley 17. Team Fouls - Wawasee 23, T. Valley 28. Fouled out - Denny (T. Valley), Lash (T. Valley), Gibson (T. Valley), Domenico (T. Valley). [[In-content Ad]]