NORTH MANCHESTER – Tippecanoe Valley senior Nick Kindig had his shot falling, leaving Manchester without one. Making 9 of his first 11 field goal attempts, Kindig finished Friday night’s 63-44 win at Manchester with a game-high 30 points, helping Valley improve to 12-2 overall and 5-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. “The last game we played, he didn’t shoot well in the first half, but he shot well tonight,” Valley coach Bill Patrick said of Kindig, who finished the night hitting 9 of 13 shots from the field. “The kids did a pretty good job of getting him the ball. “That’s the sign of a team that knows a guy is shooting well, so they get him the ball,” he added. “He’s certainly capable of having these nights every night.” Kindig’s first of four three-pointers on the night ignited a 14-0 run, in which he scored 11 of the points, giving the Vikings a 16-3 lead with 2:10 left in the first quarter. “He’s quite a player – very confident and rightfully so,” Manchester coach Eric Thompson said. “Tippecanoe Valley is well coached and their guys know their roles. They do what they need to do and they exploited any holes we had.” Kindig also had three rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot in the win, but he wasn’t the only one filling out the stat sheet. Junior Tanner Andrews posted 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot, giving the Vikings a tough one-two combination. “Tanner just plays hard and does a lot of things well,” Patrick said of the 6-foot-3 forward. “He rebounds well and he can score.” With the win, Valley is in a prime position to win its first outright TRC title since the 2007-08 campaign, having shared it last year with Northfield. Northfield is currently 4-1 in the conference, but with that one loss being to Valley, all the Vikings need to do is defeat Wabash (1-4 TRC) Friday and North Miami (0-5 TRC) on Feb. 7 to go undefeated in the conference. For Manchester, a conference crown isn’t in the cards, as its latest loss left the Squires at 3-9 overall and 2-3 in the conference. Despite their struggles this season, the Squires have played a lot of young players. “That’s a young Manchester team and they’re getting better every game,” Patrick said. While junior Clayton Petrie was leading Manchester with 13 points, freshman Derek Flack may have been the most impressive, posting 11 points and nine rebounds. After playing in the junior varsity game, Flack sat out the first quarter of the varsity contest, but busted out for six points and five boards in the second quarter of the varsity game. Along with Flack, freshmen Chase Fierstos, Braydon Sewell and Micah McDaniel all saw time on the court, giving Manchester hope for the future. “Tippecanoe Valley was right in this spot four or five years ago,” Thompson said, citing the Vikings’ 4-17 season in 2008-09. “Hopefully we can have the same turnaround. At one point, we had two freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors on the floor, and we were competing – at least on one end of the floor. “We’re getting better each week,” he added. Prior to their conference game against Wabash, the Vikings host Maconaquah Tuesday, while Manchester is right back in action tonight, hosting Tri-Central.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 63, MANCHESTER 44 TV 18 15 19 11 – 63 M 6 12 17 9 – 44 Valley – Robby Groom 0-2 0-0 0, Tanner Andrews 5-9 5-6 15, Jacob Ritchey 0-2 2-2 2, Nick Kindig 9-13 8-9 30, Logan Britton 2-3 0-1 4, Alex Thacker 0-2 0-0 0, Jarred Littlejohn 0-1 0-0 0, Chainey Zolman 2-4 1-2 6, Aaron Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0, Derrick Cunningham 0-2 0-0 0, Ben Shriver 3-6 0-0 6, Chandler O’Connor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-44 16-20 63. Manchester – Chase Fierstos 0-3 0-1 0, Claudel Dickantone 2-4 2-2 7, Phoenix Goad 0-0 0-0 0, Clayton Petrie 4-10 4-7 13, Neil Underwood 1-3 0-0 3, Braydon Sewell 0-1 0-0 0, Branden Scott 0-2 1-4 1, Micah McDaniel 1-3 1-2 4, Cameron Brandenburg 1-2 0-0 2, Lucas Schilling 1-6 2-4 4, Rainer Borgmann 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Flack 2-7 7-8 11. Totals 12-41 17-28 44. Three-point goals – Valley 5-11 (Kindig 4, Zolman), Manchester 3-7 (Dickantone, McDaniel, Petrie); Team Fouls – Valley 21, Manchester 14; Turnovers – Valley 15, Manchester 13; Rebounds – Valley 34 (Andrews 7), Manchester 27 (Flack 9); Assists – Valley 12 (Andrews 3, Kindig 3), Manchester 5 (Fierstos 2); Steals – Valley 6 (Andrews 3), Manchester 6; Blocks – Valley 4, Manchester 0; Records: Valley 12-2 (5-0 TRC), Manchester 3-9 (2-3 TRC) JV – Manchester 46, Valley 33 Manchester – McDaniel 12, Brandenburg 10, Dalton Day 6, Sewell 4, Flack 4, Borgmann 4, Rylie Rickert 2, Austin Brewer 2, Keelan Norwood 2 Valley – Gavin Bussard 11, Hoffman 6, Trevor Neeley 5, Brandon Webster 4, O’Connor 4, Littlejohn 3
