Whitko Duo Shines In Win Over Valley
December 16, 2017 at 7:44 a.m.
Whitko Duo Shines In Win Over Valley
By Mark [email protected]
Rookie guard Brett Sickafoose went 5 of 5 from the field in the first half, scoring 17 points, and River West exploded for 31 points and 10 rebounds to lead Whitko to a 65-46 Three Rivers Conference win over visiting Tippecanoe Valley Friday night.
Sickafoose had 10 points and West two before Valley got on the scoreboard. The Wildcat duo accounted for all 31 of Whitko’s first-half points, as the Wildcats built a lead that maxed out at 17 points late in the half and was 13 at intermission.
Valley did make things interesting in the third quarter, hitting five treys in as many minutes to cut the Viking deficit to seven. Whitko closed out the period on a 7-0 run, and Valley got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
“It was good to see us respond when they got close. Good teams do that,” Whitko coach Eli Henson said. “But we come out flat in the third quarter a lot and allow teams to get right back into it. We get away from what was working in the first half, and start doing things that we shouldn’t necessarily be doing.
“But from a coaching standpoint, to have your team respond when a team comes back against you, that’s good to see.”
It took the Wildcats 18 minutes to have someone other than Sickafoose or West score; junior Spencer Sroufe hit a pair of free throws two minutes into the third quarter.
But West had 17 points after the break, often kicking the ball out when triple-teamed, then getting the ball back and scoring. He also had a four-point play in the second quarter.
“That was River’s best game of the year. That’s what I see every day in practice. That’s River. That’s how good he is,” Henson said. “Last year he was just a shooter, and he wasn’t asked to do much more.
“But here’s the thing; teams will take him away from the three-point line, but he can put the ball on the floor, he can post up and finish around the rim and he’s automatic from the free throw line. He’s becoming a better player every game.”
Sickafoose stepped up primarily because his coach asked him to.
“Brett is shooting 40-something percent from three, so I told him ‘you need to start cranking it up, we need you to score.’ So he came out in the first half and started just firing away,” Henson said.
“(Valley) did a good job of taking him away in the second half, but he didn’t force anything. He did a good job of getting the ball where it needed to go, and that’s huge to have a freshman come out and have a 17-point half.
“The best thing about it is I get to watch that for four years.”
First-year Valley coach Chad Patrick said his team has established a pattern it needs to break to be successful as the season wears on.
“We’ve dug too deep a hole three times this year,” he said. “We worked against the zone in practice (Thursday) night, because we knew they were going to play it, and everything we worked on we just kinda forgot. We didn’t move and we weren’t aggressive.
“After making the adjustment at halftime, they went man, and we have a lot of sets we can run against man. But we went back to standing and dribbling. We’re very aggressive on defense, almost too aggressive sometimes when we lose a guy who’s shooting well, but on offense we’re not. And we’ve got to get that mix.”
Valley’s comeback effort was led by Cam Parker, who hit three treys in the third-quarter rally and finished with nine points. Parkur Dalrymple and Alex Morrison shared team-high honors with 11 points, and Morrison paced the Vikings with eight rebounds.
“We’re getting more and more pieces of the puzzle every night,” Patrick said. “Jace Potter (four points, four rebounds) played well again tonight, and Alex Morrison played well again tonight.
“So we’re gettin’ there. It’s just frustrating to keep getting in those big holes, and we’re probably not a good enough scoring team to come back from that very often, unless we’re just hitting everything.”
Whitko improved to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The Wildcats will travel to Kendallville to take on East Noble Monday night. The Vikings (1-5, 0-2 TRC) play a non-conference game at Culver Community Tuesday.
WHITKO 65
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 46
TV 6 12 17 11 – 46
W 12 19 18 16 – 65
Valley – Tanner Trippiedi 3-13 0-0 9, Dakota Parker 0-2 0-0 0, Wes Melanson 0-1 0-0 0, Jalen Shepherd 1-1 0-0 2, Parkur Dalrymple 4-12 0-0 11, Alex Morrison 4-10 3-4 11, Cam Parker 3-6 0-0 9, Jace Potter 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 17-49 3-4 46.
Whitko – Brett Sickafoose 6-7 3-3 17, Clayton Ebbinghouse 0-0 0-0 0, Shad Ebbinghouse 1-2 0-0 3, Drake Lewis 0-0 2-2 2, Micah Cokl 0-1 0-0 0, Cade Bechtold 0-2 0-0 0, Luis Stanley 0-0 0-0 0, River West 11-19 4-4 31, Brian Collins 3-6 2-2 8, Spencer Sroufe 1-5 2-5 4, Thad Glidden 0-0 0-0 0, Devin Blaine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-42 13-16 65.
Three-pointers – Valley 9 (Trippiedi 3, Dalrymple 3, C. Parker 3), Whitko 8 (West 5, Sickafoose 2, S. Ebbinghouse); Rebounds – Valley 20 (Morrison 8), Whitko 28 (West 10); Turnovers – Valley 16, Whitko 17; Fouls – Valley 15, Whitko 14; Fouled out – Morrison; Records: Valley 1-5 (0-2 TRC); Whitko 4-3 (1-1 TRC)
JV – Tippecanoe Valley 53, Whitko 38
Valley – Quentin Aldridge 15, Jaydin Conley 14, Dwight Conley 7, Bryce Fisher 5, Braxton Tolson 4, Domingo Santiago 4, Colton McCane 2, Zach Landis 2
Whitko – Cameron Sapp 10, Micah Cokl 7, Clayton Ebbinghouse 6, Drake Lewis 5, Devin Blaine 4, Luis Stanley 3, Kylar Bryant 2, Austyn McDaniel 1
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Rookie guard Brett Sickafoose went 5 of 5 from the field in the first half, scoring 17 points, and River West exploded for 31 points and 10 rebounds to lead Whitko to a 65-46 Three Rivers Conference win over visiting Tippecanoe Valley Friday night.
Sickafoose had 10 points and West two before Valley got on the scoreboard. The Wildcat duo accounted for all 31 of Whitko’s first-half points, as the Wildcats built a lead that maxed out at 17 points late in the half and was 13 at intermission.
Valley did make things interesting in the third quarter, hitting five treys in as many minutes to cut the Viking deficit to seven. Whitko closed out the period on a 7-0 run, and Valley got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
“It was good to see us respond when they got close. Good teams do that,” Whitko coach Eli Henson said. “But we come out flat in the third quarter a lot and allow teams to get right back into it. We get away from what was working in the first half, and start doing things that we shouldn’t necessarily be doing.
“But from a coaching standpoint, to have your team respond when a team comes back against you, that’s good to see.”
It took the Wildcats 18 minutes to have someone other than Sickafoose or West score; junior Spencer Sroufe hit a pair of free throws two minutes into the third quarter.
But West had 17 points after the break, often kicking the ball out when triple-teamed, then getting the ball back and scoring. He also had a four-point play in the second quarter.
“That was River’s best game of the year. That’s what I see every day in practice. That’s River. That’s how good he is,” Henson said. “Last year he was just a shooter, and he wasn’t asked to do much more.
“But here’s the thing; teams will take him away from the three-point line, but he can put the ball on the floor, he can post up and finish around the rim and he’s automatic from the free throw line. He’s becoming a better player every game.”
Sickafoose stepped up primarily because his coach asked him to.
“Brett is shooting 40-something percent from three, so I told him ‘you need to start cranking it up, we need you to score.’ So he came out in the first half and started just firing away,” Henson said.
“(Valley) did a good job of taking him away in the second half, but he didn’t force anything. He did a good job of getting the ball where it needed to go, and that’s huge to have a freshman come out and have a 17-point half.
“The best thing about it is I get to watch that for four years.”
First-year Valley coach Chad Patrick said his team has established a pattern it needs to break to be successful as the season wears on.
“We’ve dug too deep a hole three times this year,” he said. “We worked against the zone in practice (Thursday) night, because we knew they were going to play it, and everything we worked on we just kinda forgot. We didn’t move and we weren’t aggressive.
“After making the adjustment at halftime, they went man, and we have a lot of sets we can run against man. But we went back to standing and dribbling. We’re very aggressive on defense, almost too aggressive sometimes when we lose a guy who’s shooting well, but on offense we’re not. And we’ve got to get that mix.”
Valley’s comeback effort was led by Cam Parker, who hit three treys in the third-quarter rally and finished with nine points. Parkur Dalrymple and Alex Morrison shared team-high honors with 11 points, and Morrison paced the Vikings with eight rebounds.
“We’re getting more and more pieces of the puzzle every night,” Patrick said. “Jace Potter (four points, four rebounds) played well again tonight, and Alex Morrison played well again tonight.
“So we’re gettin’ there. It’s just frustrating to keep getting in those big holes, and we’re probably not a good enough scoring team to come back from that very often, unless we’re just hitting everything.”
Whitko improved to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The Wildcats will travel to Kendallville to take on East Noble Monday night. The Vikings (1-5, 0-2 TRC) play a non-conference game at Culver Community Tuesday.
WHITKO 65
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 46
TV 6 12 17 11 – 46
W 12 19 18 16 – 65
Valley – Tanner Trippiedi 3-13 0-0 9, Dakota Parker 0-2 0-0 0, Wes Melanson 0-1 0-0 0, Jalen Shepherd 1-1 0-0 2, Parkur Dalrymple 4-12 0-0 11, Alex Morrison 4-10 3-4 11, Cam Parker 3-6 0-0 9, Jace Potter 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 17-49 3-4 46.
Whitko – Brett Sickafoose 6-7 3-3 17, Clayton Ebbinghouse 0-0 0-0 0, Shad Ebbinghouse 1-2 0-0 3, Drake Lewis 0-0 2-2 2, Micah Cokl 0-1 0-0 0, Cade Bechtold 0-2 0-0 0, Luis Stanley 0-0 0-0 0, River West 11-19 4-4 31, Brian Collins 3-6 2-2 8, Spencer Sroufe 1-5 2-5 4, Thad Glidden 0-0 0-0 0, Devin Blaine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-42 13-16 65.
Three-pointers – Valley 9 (Trippiedi 3, Dalrymple 3, C. Parker 3), Whitko 8 (West 5, Sickafoose 2, S. Ebbinghouse); Rebounds – Valley 20 (Morrison 8), Whitko 28 (West 10); Turnovers – Valley 16, Whitko 17; Fouls – Valley 15, Whitko 14; Fouled out – Morrison; Records: Valley 1-5 (0-2 TRC); Whitko 4-3 (1-1 TRC)
JV – Tippecanoe Valley 53, Whitko 38
Valley – Quentin Aldridge 15, Jaydin Conley 14, Dwight Conley 7, Bryce Fisher 5, Braxton Tolson 4, Domingo Santiago 4, Colton McCane 2, Zach Landis 2
Whitko – Cameron Sapp 10, Micah Cokl 7, Clayton Ebbinghouse 6, Drake Lewis 5, Devin Blaine 4, Luis Stanley 3, Kylar Bryant 2, Austyn McDaniel 1
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