SOUTH WHITLEY – One side played like a one-win team, the other like a squad winning two-thirds of the time. Unfortunately for the Whitko Wildcats, they switched places with visiting Tippecanoe Valley, who was more than happy to be cast in the winning role. The Vikings bolted out to a 9-2 lead, used a 16-2 second-quarter run to separate themselves from the Wildcats, then held off several Whitko rallies to take a 64-55 win in Three Rivers Conference play Friday night. Both sides were missing key post players; Valley’s Jarod Duzenbery sat out with a concussion, and Whitko senior Tanner Gaff had flu-like symptoms. Gaff’s absence was notable under the basket as Valley’s four-guard lineup worked inside effectively and made Whitko work for each shot. On the Vikings’ end of the floor, there weren’t many missed shots to rebound. Head coach Bill Patrick said it was the best shooting night of the season for his team. Junior Alec Craig had 25 points and senior Neil Clampitt added 18 points, including 10 in the first quarter. Senior Brandon Webster reached double figures with 10 points. “We’ve been shooting 30 percent for the year, and tonight we hit between 50 and 60 percent,” said Patrick. “But we took good shots. All year we’ve been in a hurry and taken some bad shots. “We’ve been standing and the offense has been too much dribble. Tonight I thought we got away from that, and attacked the basket a lot better. “We went with Neil Clampitt inside. we didn’t think they could guard him inside; he’s a little quicker and a little more athletic than anybody they had to guard him. He had a good first half.” On Whitko’s side, junior Nate Walpole and sophomore River West were the only Wildcats to score in the first 16 minutes of the game; Walpole had 22 points and West seven. They finished the game with 27 and 14 points, respectively. “Actually, I thought we did a good job defensively. Walpole had 22 at halftime, but still I thought we did a good job. We shut the other guys down. West and Walpole were the only two that scored, and we didn’t think that they were going to beat us without some other scoring. “That’s the hardest we’ve played all year. If we had played that hard all year, our record would be a little different.” In the Whitko locker room, head coach Roger Fleetwood was not at all pleased with the effort of his squad. He said they missed Gaff, but “no excuses; we’ve gotta suck it up and play better to make up for that, and we didn’t do that. Our defense was atrocious the first half. It was better in the second half, but that was after we buried ourselves. We were lucky to be down only eight at halftime the way we were playing defense. “They were smart; they started with five guards, spread the floor and said ‘OK, this is the way we’re going to try to beat you.’ Our guys weren’t ready to play at all. They just weren’t.” Fleetwood is also looking for more consistency from his team. Whitko fell to 4-3 on the season, and 1-1 in the TRC. “The last two games, when we beat Wawasee and we beat West Noble, those were the two of the biggest wins I’ve had since I’ve been here. This was the worst loss,” said Fleetwood. “I’m not saying this is a game we should have won, but we didn’t ever put ourselves in a position to win the game. “How many times in the second half did we cut it to five, with the ball, and then make a turnover and didn’t get a shot to cut the lead more? At least three times. We could never get past that five-point hump to put pressure on them.” Valley improved to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The Vikings also got a tip of the cap from the Whitko coach. “Give them credit, they wanted the game more than us. Their kids were willing to do what Coach Patrick told them to do, because they wanted to win that game bad enough,” Fleetwood said. “My kids were not willing to play the way we coach; they wanted to play they wanted to play to win a game. “I’ve told them since day one we can’t beat anybody if we don’t do the little things right; we’re not that good. But if we do the little things right, we’re a pretty good basketball team.” Whitko will travel to Kendallville on Tuesday to take on East Noble. The Vikings won’t take the court again until Dec. 29-30 at the Winning Edge Tournament in Rochester. Valley will take on Fairfield at 6 p.m. on the 29th, then take on either the Zebras or NorthWood on the 30th.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 64, WHITKO 55 TV 18 19 15 12 – 64 W 13 16 10 16 – 55 Valley – Brandon Webster 5-7 0-0 10, Trevor Neeley 0-3 0-0 0, Keith Wright 0-0 0-0 0, DeSean Heckman 0-1 0-0 0, Alec Craig 10-12 5-8 25, Gavin Bussard 1-2 4-4 6, Neil Clampitt 7-10 1-2 18, Bryce Webster 1-2 1-2 5. Totals 25-37 11-16 64. Whitko – Devon Adkins 2-10 1-2 6, roger Helblig 0-0 0-0 0, Robby Owsley 2-3 0-0 5, Nate Walpole 8-22 10-12 27, River West 5-9 3-3 14, Colin Craig 0-1 3-4 3, Spencer Sroufe 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 17-21 53. Three-pointers – Valley 3 (Clampitt 3), Whitko 4 (Adkins, Owsley, Walpole, West); Rebounds – Valley 20 (Bussard 5), Whitko 27 (Adkins 7); Turnovers – Valley 10, Whitko 13; Fouls – Valley 19, Whitko 16; Technical foul – Heckman; Fouled out – Bra. Wabster; Records: Valley 2-5 (1-1 TRC), Whitko 4-3 (1-1 TRC) JV – Tippecanoe Valley 42, Whitko 26 Valley – Ivan Santiago 15, Alex Morrison 12, Jake Gearhart 7, Dakota Parker 3, De Sean Heckman 2, Wes Melanson 2 Whitko – Spencer Sroufe 10, Alex Bechtold 6, Alex Robbins 3, Micah Cokl 3, Bailey Platt 2, Tim Gensch 2
