Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WABASH - Tippecanoe Valley is fast becoming a hard team to describe.
The Vikings are neither very good nor very bad, although their play in certain moments of games certainly touches both ends of the spectrum.
Friday night at Southwood, the bright spots late in the game were just not enough to overcome three quarters of sub-par play and mediocrity as Tippecanoe Valley fell 66-62.
The loss dropped the Vikings to 2-6 (1-2 Three Rivers Conference) on the season, the worst start after eight games in Tippecanoe Valley's 24-year existence.
"I don't know what to say," Valley head coach Gregg Sciarra, in his seventh season as head coach, said. "It took basically one quarter - one hard quarter - and we got back in the game."
Valley trailed 51-34 entering the fourth quarter, but staged a furious rally to cut the deficit to two with 10 seconds left in the game. The Vikings didn't allow Southwood a point in the quarter the first five minutes and held the hosts to just one field goal in the stanza.
Tippecanoe Valley's Maurice Looman put Valley within striking distance midway through the frame, scoring two of his nine fourth-quarter points to pull the visitors within 51-43.
Leading 57-48 with under three minutes to play, Tippecanoe Valley's Jarvis Shepherd was whistled for a personal foul, and after the play, a technical foul. The free throws on both fouls and another foul on the ensuing Southwood possession gave the Knights another double-digit advantage at 60-48, but the Vikings still had some fire.
Eric Love, just 1 of 7 from the field early in the fourth quarter, buried three treys from long range to pull Tippecanoe Valley within 60-51, 62-56 and 64-59, the last bomb coming with just 25 seconds to play. Southwood's D.J. Marshall then missed two free throws, and the Vikings still had a chance.
Valley got another three-point look, but it was from an unlikely source - the 6-foot-9 Looman, an exchange student who saw little action in the first three quarters. Looman banked home #a 22-footer with 10 seconds to play, making the score 64-62.
On the Southwood inbounds play, the Knights' Paul Wright was surrounded by Tippecanoe Valley and had nowhere to go but out of bounds, where he appeared to be falling. A critical call - a foul on Valley's JayDee Parker with four seconds left in the game - sent Wright to the line where he sealed the Southwood win with a pair of free throws for the 66-62 final.
The foul on Parker only highlighted what appeared to be a distinct advantage in the foul department for Southwood - Valley was whistled for 26 infractions compared to host Southwood's six.
"Any time you're down 17 and lose by four, that's a plus, I guess," Sciarra said. "If we would have started a little bit sooner and not made so many mistakes, we could possibly get a victory. It's still positive."
The Vikings' second-quarter effort probably hurt them the most.
Valley hung with the hot-shooting Knights in the first frame, trailing only 21-17. The Vikings were down 31-26 after Parker connected on a nice bucket with 2:44 to play in the first half, but all Valley systems shut down after that.
Southwood closed out the half with an 8-0 run and led 39-26 at the break, then maintained the big lead until Tippecanoe Valley's late surge.
Eaton, playing with an illness, led Valley with 19 points. Love added 12, Looman nine, and Scott Cooksey and Parker each scored eight points.
The Vikings travel to No. 8 (Class A) Argos tonight.
Argos is one of seven of the remaining 12 Valley opponents that got votes in the latest AP poll and and is one of five that is ranked in the top-10 of one of the classes. Valley still has to play No. 1 Plymouth (3A), No. 4 Manchester (2A), No. 5 Caston (A) and No. 10 Bremen (2A).
