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PERU - If the two boys basketball teams playing in Tuesday's game were cars, No. 4 (3A) Peru would have been a Lamborghini, while Tippecanoe Valley would have been a Ford Escort.
Peru wanted to turn the court into a racetrack, an up-tempo game. The Tigers average more than 80 points per game, and they passed 100 twice in their first four games.
Valley wanted to play smart and efficient and avoid the temptation to join Peru's pell-mell pace.
Temptation would win over Valley too often as Peru improved to 5-0 with an 80-62 win over Valley (3-2).
"Peru's whole game is to get you disorganized and scrambling," Valley coach Bill Patrick said. "We let that happen to us. We let them get us in a tempo they wanted to play at."
But tempo was second on Patrick's list of concerns after the game. The first was confidence. He had it. He believed his team would beat Peru.
He questioned whether his players believed along with him.
"A lot of it is still mental," he said. "A lot of it is knowing we can play with anybody. I think we walked out seeing Peru ranked fourth, so we begin thinking the other team's better. I'm not sure how many kids we had convinced we could win this ballgame.
"I believe we can play with anybody and beat anybody on our schedule, if we do the things we are capable of doing."
Peru starting guard Nathan Curtis hit 15 of 16 free throws Continued from Page 1B
and led all scorers with 25 points. Starting forward Brandon Eaton and reserve center Craig Kuhn each scored 14 for Valley. Eaton recorded a double-double as he also grabbed 11 rebounds. Jarvis Shepherd scored 11.
The game served as a coming-out party for the 6-foot-4 Kuhn. Patrick has urged him to be more aggressive, and he was this night as he scored in double figures for the first time this season.
Patrick told his team it had to do at least three things to beat Peru: Keep the score in the 60s, keep turnovers under 15 and run a set offense where at least four or five passes are made.
The score's an easy one. Peru scored 80, so Valley missed that goal.
Turnovers are easy. Valley committed 22, which by Patrick's count, was seven too many.
How successful Valley was at running an offense is not as easy to break down. At times the Vikings did this.
Too often, they didn't.
The Vikings played from behind all evening. They trailed 17-6 early. Instead of running their offense, they found themselves in Peru's track meet. Then they settled down, ran a more patient offense and cut the lead to 21-13 at the end of the first quarter. They trailed 39-29 at halftime.
To start the second half, the Vikings reverted to their early first-half, impatient form. They fell behind 53-33. But when they fell 20 points behind - the most they trailed all evening - with 4:01 to go in the third quarter, the Vikings made their best run.
Because his team plays at a frenetic pace offensively with quick shot selection and defensively with a full-court press, Peru coach Terry Heavilon substitutes liberally with five reserves. Up 20, he pulled several starters and put them on the bench.
Valley responded by reeling off an 18-2 run to cut Peru's lead to 55-51 with 7:22 left in the fourth quarter. Heavilon put his five starters - all seniors - back in the game. Sparked by Curtis, Peru pushed the lead back to double digits. Curtis scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings worked so hard to catch up they didn't have the extra energy to take the lead. Peru responded with a 16-4 run to go up 71-55 with 4:10 left.
"Too often we got away from being patient," Patrick said. "Peru took quick shots, then our kids began taking quick shots. When we controlled the tempo, we played well. We just didn't do that enough."
Valley could meet Peru again as the two teams are in the same sectional. By then, Patrick hopes his team has built the mental toughness he now sees lacking.
"Peru is a good basketball team, no question about it," he said. "But I think we're as every bit as good as they are, and I think we can play with them in the sectional."
NO. 4 PERU 80
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 62
T. Valley (3-2) 13 16 18 15 - 62
Peru (5-0) 21 18 16 25-Ê80
T. Valley FG FT A S R Pts.
Eaton (F) 5-10 4-4 4 3 11 14
Shepherd (G) 5-12 1-2 4 3 1 11
Prater (F) 5-10 0-0 0 2 5 10
Snyder (F) 1-5 2-2 1 1 3 4
Silveus (G) 0-3 0-0 1 0 2 0
Kuhn 6-10 2-4 0 0 2 14
J. Cumberland 3-6 1-1 0 1 4 7
Domenico 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 2
Shafer 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0
Weber 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 26-58 10-13 11 12 30 62
Peru FG FT A S R Pts.
Curtis (G) 5-9 15-16 3 2 4 25
Newhouse (F) 8-14 3-3 1 3 11 19
Wiles (G) 6-9 0-0 2 2 2 13
Ulery (F) 3-13 0-0 3 2 2 7
Mellady (C) 1-9 0-0 2 1 10 2
Smiley 4-6 0-0 0 2 0 8
Jones 2-7 0-0 2 3 2 4
Fuller 0-3 2-2 1 0 2 2
Touloukian 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Appleton 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 29-71 20-21 14 15 34 80
Three-point goals - Tippecanoe Valley 0-5 (Shepherd 0-3, Eaton 0-2), Peru 2-7 (Ulery 1-4, Wiles 1-2, Curtis 0-1). Turnovers -ÊTippecanoe Valley 22, Peru 18. Fouled out -ÊNone. Total fouls - Tippecanoe Valley 20, Peru 17.
Officials -ÊMike Spam, Thomas Calhoun
JV: TIPPECANOE VALLEY 53, PERU 47
Tippecanoe Valley (2-3) scoring -ÊAndy Martin 12, Cody New 12, Justin Ross 10, Chad Cumberland 8, Drew Shafer 5, Keith Parker 2, Daren Alber 2, Anthony Domenico 2
Peru scoring - Jason Hatch 22, Josh Donathan 6, Phillip Rockenbaugh 4, Jeremy Julian 4, Tony Muzzillo 3, Cory Okerkrom 2, Jacob Sodervick 2, Zac Hunter 2, Brady Binion 2
