Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON -ÊTippecanoe Valley freshman Shane Drudge has been battling illness for the past couple weeks. He missed school on Monday and went to the doctor to get a shot to help him get over the sickness.
By the end of Tuesday night's 70-58 win over Bremen, Drudge looked more than healthy, scoring 16 points and throwing down two dunks to help the Vikings pick up the victory.
"We've been on him all year to put one down," said Valley coach Bill Patrick. "He can jump and he's got good hands. He had a chance to dunk one earlier and lost the ball, and I think that made him mad. So that made him even more determined to come back and dunk one."
But before Drudge got his opportunity to impress spectators with his rim rocker, the Vikings utilized a staunch defense and smooth-running offense to wear down the Bremen squad.
Viking junior guard Jeff Parker opened the game with a basket for the Vikings at the 7:32 mark, but Bremen's Matt Cunningham tied the score just 15 seconds later.
Senior sparkplug Casey Wise gave Valley a 4-2 lead with a basket at the 6:45 mark, but that lead was short-lived.
Cunningham hit a basket, converted the three-point play with a free throw, and then hit another basket to put Bremen up 7-4.
The Lions were up by a 9-6 score when Cory Vanlaningham nailed a three-point basket to tie things up at 9-all. Drudge and Trey Eaton followed that basket with buckets of their own, and before long Valley was up 15-9.
By the end of the first frame, the Vikings held a 23-15 lead.
Drudge opened the second quarter with a pair of free throws that gave Valley its first double digit lead, 25-15.
But Bremen came storming back. In the final 5:23 of the second quarter, Bremen outscored Valley 11-4 to cut the Viking lead to three, 29-26, at the half.
"We had an 11-point lead early in the second quarter," said Patrick. "We let up and let them back in it."
Eaton opened the second half with a basket, but Cunningham answered with one of his own. Then Wise netted a basket and hit a free throw to convert the three-point play and start an 11-4 Viking run that culminated with a John Gibson basket to extend Valley's lead to 10, 42-32.
By the end of the third frame, Valley owned a 48-36 lead.
Bremen made a run midway through the fourth frame, cutting the lead to nine at the 5:39 mark. But that was as close as the Vikings allowed the Lions to get.
At the 5:24 mark, Eaton netted a three-pointer to put Valley's lead back in double figures, 56-44.
At the two-minute mark, Drudge broke away for the first of his crowd-igniting dunks. After a Lion basket, Drudge dunked the ball again at the 1:42 mark to keep the fans fired up.
By the end of the game, Valley held a 12-point lead and picked up the 70-58 win.
Eaton led all scorers with 31 points, while Drudge added 16. Casey Wise threw in seven points in the Viking win.
"With the exception of the second quarter, I thought we played well," said Patrick. "We had good ball movement, and used good shot selection. We played pretty well in the third and fourth quarters."
Bremen saw three scorers finish in double figures: Cunningham with 18, Alex Bryant with 16, and Kyle Neeley with 14.
The victory moves Valley's record to 17-1 on the season. The Vikings hit the road for a game at Triton Friday night.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 70, BREMEN 70
Bremen 15 11 10 22 - 58
Valley 23 6 19 22 - 70
Bremen FG FT R S Pts.
Gramm 0-2 0-0 3 0 0
KyNeeley 6-14 0-0 2 0 14
Bryant 6-9 1-4 1 0 16
Yoder 1-3 0-0 1 1 3
Cngham 8-15 2-2 7 0 18
Leeper 1-4 2-2 2 0 4
Hchstlr 1-2 0-1 2 1 2
Beron 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Hueni 0-1 2-2 0 0 2
Ke Neeley 0-0 1-2 1 0 1
Polson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 23-50 8-13 22 2 58
Valley FG FT R S Pts.
Eaton 10-16 9-11 7 1 31
Wise 3-6 1-1 5 1 7
Parker 1-2 2-2 0 1 4
Vnlnghm 1-5 0-0 2 1 3
Cody 2-4 0-0 1 0 5
Drudge 6-10 4-4 3 1 16
Gibson 1-2 0-1 3 0 2
Denny 1-2 0-0 5 0 2
Murphy 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Whetstone 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Lash 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 25-47 16-19 26 5 70
Three-point goals -ÊBremen 4-19 (Neeley 2-7, Bryant 1-3, Yoder 1-3, Cunningham 0-1, Leeper 0-3, Hochstetler 0-1, Hueni 0-1), Valley 4-11 (Eaton 2-5, Vanlaningham 1-4, Cody 1-1, Gibson 0-1). Fouls -ÊBremen 13, Valley 16. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - Bremen bench.
