Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PLYMOUTH - Tippecanoe Valley seems to be making a habit out of scaring the best teams in the state. The problem the Vikings have now is maintaining those streaks of good basketball and turning them into wins.
Valley held red-hot, No. 2-ranked Plymouth in check for three quarters Tuesday in the opening round of the Plymouth Holiday Tournament, but couldn't find the necessary offense in the fourth quarter in losing 53-33.
One week ago, the Vikings came from 20 points down to pull within four in the fourth quarter against current No. 1 (3A) Peru before losing. Last night, Tippecanoe Valley whittled a 13-point Pilgrim lead down to six going into the last stanza before succumbing. Plymouth outscored TV 16-2 in the final eight minutes, turning a 37-31 advantage into the lopsided defeat.
"The kids need to get to the point where they believe in themselves a bit more," Tippecanoe Valley head coach Bill Patrick said. "We can play against Peru, we can play with the best teams.
"You can't win when you score six in the second quarter and two in the last quarter, you can't win many games doing that."
The loss dropped the upstart Vikings, off to their best start since 1991, to 4-3 overall. Valley will play in the consolation game of the tournament tonight at 6:30. Plymouth improved to 7-0 and will play Rochester (3-4) for the championship.
The contest featured coaches with a combined 876 wins, and marked the second time Valley's Patrick (482 wins) battled against Plymouth's Jack Edison (394 wins). Edison beat Patrick's Whitko team in 1974.
The Vikings showed they can play with the state's elite in the first and third quarters, outscoring Plymouth 25-21. Looking at Valley's output in the second and fourth quarters, though, indicates that there's room for improvement. Plymouth outscored the Vikes 32-8 in the even stanzas.
Valley started off solid early, taking its first lead of the game at 7-5 when junior guard Noah Silveus, hampered by a taped ankle, scored his only bucket of the night. The Vikings took a 13-12 lead into the second quarter on the strength of a Jarvis Shepherd deuce.
Valley built its biggest lead of the night - three - at 15-12 off two Shepherd free throws with 7:35 left in the first half, but Plymouth responded with an 8-0 run to take the advantage back at 20-15. Valley shot just 1 of 4 from the field in the second quarter and trailed 28-19 at the half.
"We missed some easy shots tonight; we didn't get many shots," Patrick said. "Their defense is exceptional. They switch on everything when they're out there."
The Plymouth lead grew to as many as 13 midway through the third period, but Valley buckets by Eric Prater, Shepherd and a three-pointer from the corner by Jon Weber got the Vikings back in the game entering the fourth, 37-31.
The cold shooting returned to haunt Tippecanoe Valley in the fourth stanza, however, as the visitors hit just 1-11 from the floor. Plymouth hit big free throws down the stretch and the Vikings didn't score until just 18 seconds remained on the clock, leading to the 53-33 final.
Patrick was pleased with his defense of the Pilgrims overall.
"I thought we played good defense," Patrick said. "We held them to 53 points (Plymouth came in averaging 71.6). This is the first man-to-man we've played in two or three games. We spent so much time working on our defense that maybe we didn't spend enough time offensively."
Shepherd led Valley 10 points, while Eaton was held to nine but picked up six rebounds.
No. 2 PLYMOUTH 53
VALLEY 33
Valley (4-3) 13 6 12 2 - 33
Plymouth (7-0) 12 16 9 16 - 53
Valley FG FT A S R Pts
Shepherd (G) 3-7 3-5 2 1 1 10
Eaton (F) 4-12 0-0 1 2 6 9
Kuhn (C) 2-4 0-0 0 4 5 4
Prater (F) 2-6 0-0 0 1 3 4
Weber 1-3 0-0 0 1 3 4
Silveus (G) 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 2
Cumberland 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1
Domenico 0-1 0-0 2 1 2 0
Totals 13-36 4-7 6 9 20 33
Plymouth FG FT A S R Pts
Grindle (C) 6-8 6-10 1 2 9 18
Schrader (G) 5-15 0-0 1 2 2 14
Chaney (G) 4-7 1-1 1 0 0 10
Pettibone 1-3 2-2 0 0 0 4
Isenbarger 1-3 0-0 2 2 4 3
Thompson (G) 1-4 0-0 1 1 2 2
Halon (F) 0-0 2-2 0 0 5 2
Stuckmeyer 0-1 0-0 0 1 2 0
Haeck 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0
Totals 18-42 11-15 6 8 26 53
Three-point goals: Tippecanoe Valley 3-10 (Weber 1-2, Shepherd 1-3, Eaton 1-4, Silveus 0-1), Plymouth 6-19 (Schrader 4-12, Chaney 1-2, Isenbarger 1-2, Pettibone 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Stuckmeyer 0-1). Officials: Terry Magnusen, Tony Bierschbach.
