Patrick Reaches Milestone, Valley Crushes Northfield
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Anthony Gadson-agadson@timesuniononline.com
WABASH — In his 1,000th career game, Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball coach Bill Patrick didn’t have to work too hard. With his Vikings connecting on 32 of 38 field goal attempts, as well as 3 of 3 at the free throw line, Valley (7-2, 2-0 TRC) cruised to a 71-49 Three Rivers Conference victory at Northfield (2-8, 2-2 TRC) Tuesday night. The victory is Patrick’s 720th, three behind Howard Sharpe for third all-time in Indiana, and his players knew the game was a milestone for their coach. “(Senior) Tanner (Andrews) and two, three of the other guys commented about, ‘Coach, this is your 1,000th game,’” Patrick said. “So, I think they wanted to make sure it was a win and not a loss.” As aggressive as he’s ever been, Andrews scored eight of Valley’s first 12 points, which had the road team in front 12-0 four minutes in. Pouncing like they did, the Vikings ran away early, making 9 of 10 shots in the first quarter, then 11 of 13 in the second, building a 45-17 advantage at the break. “They took us clear off of what we wanted to do,” Northfield coach Moe Smedley said. “These kids are still in the learning process of my system. We’re not going to run with Tippy Valley. I knew that. In (Tippecanoe Valley’s win over) Plymouth on Saturday, it was 42-40. To beat Valley, you’re not going to go out there and run up and down the floor with them. With a kid like Andrews, that’s not going to happen.” All Andrews did was make 11 of 12 field goals and lead the team in every category, recording 24 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, four steals and four blocks. “He really played well – played hard,” Patrick said of Andrews. “He also did a nice job on (Northfield junior Tanner) Wilcox. Wilcox is a nice player and Tanner pretty well handcuffed him.” Wilcox finished the game with a team-high 11 points, but six came in the final quarter once Andrews was on the bench. Along with Andrews’ effort, junior Chainey Zolman had 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, senior Logan Britton had eight on 4-of-5 shooting and freshman Alec Craig came off the bench to score seven fourth-quarter points, going 3 of 3 from the field. “This was may be the best game we’ve played all season,” Patrick said. “Our defense was really good. I thought we gave them a lot of problems defensively. Our ball movement was better, and obviously, we shot pretty well.” Shooting 84 percent is, in fact, doing pretty well, but the Vikings also committed just two turnovers in the opening half. Perhaps making his 1,000th game a bit more special was the fact that it came against a man that’s also coached his fair share of games. Having coached at East Central, Delta, Carroll (Flora), Eastbrook, Manchester and Marion before coming to Northfield, Tuesday night’s game was Smedley’s 771st. “We’ve had some good games, going back to when he was at Manchester,” Patrick said. “Moe’s one of the better coaches in the state. He’s won a state championship (with Marion in 2000), so it’s always a challenge to compete against him. He does a great job coaching.” Among active coaches, Patrick’s 720 wins is second to Cloverdale’s Pat Rady (729), while Smedley’s 432 is 21st. With so many games under his belt, Smedley may have a greater appreciation of what was accomplished, even though he had the same reaction to the 1,000 games as Patrick. “It means you’ve done it a long time,” Smedley said, repeating what Patrick had said in an interview last week. “I guess that’s what that means. Hat’s off to him for his health. He needs to thank his doctors, I guess. But, yeah, that’s a heck of an accomplishment.” While he knows its an accomplishment, Patrick was more focused on how the players reacted to the game. Which he still knows is a game. “All 1,000 of those, I’ve enjoyed,” he said. “I haven’t enjoyed the losses, obviously, but it’s been fun. It’s still enjoyable. The game is still about the kids and the kids, I thought, had fun tonight.” Game 1,001 will be Friday night at home against rival Rochester.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 71, NORTHFIELD 49 TV 18 27 13 13 – 71 N 5 12 9 23 – 49 Valley – Robby Groom 1-2 0-0 3, Jarred Littlejohn 1-1 0-0 2, Tanner Andrews 11-12 2-2 24, Chainey Zolman 8-11 1-1 19, Logan Britton 4-5 0-0 8, Ben Shriver 2-2 0-0 4, Aaron Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0, Gavin Bussard 1-1 0-0 2, Neil Clampitt 0-0 0-0 0, Derrick Cunningham 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Craig 3-3 0-0 7, Alex Salmon 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 32-38 3-3 71. Northfield – Jarred Short 3-8 0-0 7, Noah Shear 4-13 0-0 9, Heath Miller 3-6 3-4 9, Tanner Wilcox 3-9 5-6 11, Jon Richardson 2-7 2-3 7, Austin Burns 1-1 0-0 2, Christian Hawkins 1-1 0-0 2, Nick Ridenour 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 18-47 10-13 49. Three-pointers – Valley 4 (Zolman 2, Groom, Craig), Northfield 3 (Shear 2, Short); Team Fouls (fouled out) – Valley 15 (Shriver), Northfield 7; Turnovers – Valley 12, Northfield 13; Rebounds – Valley 17 (Andrews 8), Northfield 18 (Miller 5); Assists – Valley 22 (Andrews 7), Northfield 8 (Miller 3); Steals – Valley 6 (Andrews 4), Northfield 8 (Short 3, Shear 3); Blocks – Valley 7 (Andrews 4), Northfield 0; Records: Valley 7-2 (2-0 TRC), Northfield 2-8 (2-2 TRC). JV – Valley 44, Northfield 38 Valley – Craig 11, Clampitt 8, Salmon 8, Trevor Neeley 5, Hoffman 5, Bussard 5, Ivan Santiago 2.
