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SOUTH WHITLEY - In those awful commercials for a certain credit card company, formerly funny David Spade denies customers in increasingly ridiculous ways.
In the 3A sectional 23 final, No. 5 (3A) Tippecanoe Valley found new ways to deny Peru points to the point of absurdity en route to a 55-39 at Whitko High School Saturday night.
While Peru decided to make it a low-possession game and missed some close-range shots, Valley extended its defense out on the Tigers to keep Peru off the board for more than 10 minutes.
After Valley's Michael Domenico opened the game with a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the contest, Peru seemed content to take the air out of the ball as the Tigers' Angelo King held the ball for over a minute near half court.
The stall-ball technique worked as the first quarter produced just eight points. Unfortunately for the Peru faithful, the Vikings scored all eight points.
"I was really surprised when they came out and held the ball. I think they would have been content to hold it for one shot in that first quarter. We just decided we weren't going to sit back and let them do that," said Valley head coach Bill Patrick of Peru's game plan.
Reserve guard Chris Maynard ended the shutout with 5:12 left in the first half with a jumper.
By that time, Valley had jumped out to a 12-2 lead and threatened to blow the game wide open.
The Vikings scored their first 10 points of the second quarter from the charity stripe as they extended their lead to 18-3.
Head coach Eric Thompson, a Valley grad and former assistant under Patrick, became frustrated at a perceived lack of calls for his Peru squad. With 3:23 left in the first half, the typically mild-mannered Thompson drew a technical foul as he berated an official from midcourt to Valley's basket.
Maynard responded on Peru's next possession when he connected on a trifecta while being fouled by Valley's Shane Drudge. But the 6-foot junior was unable to connect on the free throw.
Such was Peru's fate. In a game of limited possessions, Valley capitalized and shot 50 percent from the field while the Tigers missed opportunities time and time again.
Peru trailed 25-6 at halftime but came out in the second half with a purpose and outscored the Vikings 17-8 in the third quarter.
Maynard scored eight straight points for the Tigers as they closed to within 10 points at 33-23 heading into the final period.
With momentum in hand, Peru turned the ball over on its first two possessions and proceeded to shoot 2 of 5 from the foul line to open the fourth quarter.
Valley used balanced scoring and clutch free throw shooting to keep its lead at 10 points for most of the quarter.
Domenico had to leave the game at the 5:16 mark when a hard foul by Peru's Troy Hudson bloodied the 6-0 senior's nose, but came back four free throws in the final 1:20.
As a team, Valley went 12 of 13 from the line in the final quarter and 22 of 23 for the game to squash any hope of a Peru comeback.
The Tigers drew as close as seven points but couldn't overcome Valley's foul shooting and their own mistakes.
Peru's shooting performance was a stark contrast from the Dec. 14 contest between the two teams where the Vikings won by just 10, 63-53.
Peru shot 11 of 52 (21.1 percent) from the field and just 11 of 20 (55 percent) from the charity stripe.
But despite their shooting woes, the Tigers drew to within seven points inside the three-minute mark with a Cameron Wooten free throw.
"We knew they were going to come back and make a run at us," said Patrick of Peru's late charge. "We had some unforced turnovers that we shouldn't have had but the big key was the free throw shooting."
Peru's comeback seemed lost when Maynard fouled out and left the Tigers without a consistent scoring threat.
For Valley, it was switching defenses that kept Peru off its game.
"(The first game) we mostly tried to play man-to-man. Tonight we mixed it up a little bit. We played some 2-3 and showed them a lot of 1-3-1 half court trap," said Lash.
Valley's John Gibson overcame early offensive woes to go 7 of 8 from the foul line and secure his team's first sectional title since 2000.
Lash led the way for Valley with 13 points while Domenico had 11. Shane Denny, playing with foul trouble for most of the evening, added eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Junior Bryce Kelley came off the bench to score eight points a night after scoring 17 points in the sectional semifinal against Norwell.
In that game, Valley scored 53 points in the first half while scoring 55 for the game against Peru.
Valley's 21 wins this season is the most in school history. The Vikings had racked up 20 wins the past two years.
The sectional title is the second in coach Patrick's tenure at Valley and his 14th overall - a nice present for the coach who celebrated a birthday Sunday.
The Vikings will now put the party on hold as they prepare to take on Wawasee (18-6) in the second game of the 3A regional at NorthWood High School Saturday.
The two teams met in the regular season finale at Valley with the Vikings edging out a 56-53 win.
Tipoff is scheduled for noon Saturday.
NO. 5 T. VALLEY 55, PERU 39
Peru 0 6 17 16 - 39
T. Valley 8 17 8 22 - 55
Peru FG FT R S Pts.
*Smith 2-7 1-1 5 0 6
*Saine 0-9 3-4 4 0 3
*King 3-14 2-3 1 2 9
*Wooten 0-8 5-8 9 0 5
*Hudson 0-1 0-1 4 2 0
Maynard 6-11 0-3 3 3 16
Briscoe 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Siblisk 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 11-52 11-20 28 7 39
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Denny 3-6 2-2 8 1 8
*Gibson 0-3 7-8 0 0 7
*Domenico 1-1 8-8 2 1 11
*Lash 5-7 3-3 6 0 13
*Drudge 3-6 0-0 4 1 6
Kelley 2-5 2-2 3 0 8
Kindig 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Reed 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hoffer 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Neeley 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 15-30 22-23 25 3 55
Three-point goals - Peru 6-19 (Maynard 4-5, Smith 1-4, King 1-3, Saine 0-6, Wooten 0-1, Hudson 0-1, Siblisk 0-1), T. Valley 3-7 (Kelley 2-4, Domenico 1-1, Drudge 0-1, Neeley 0-1). Turnovers - Peru 16, T. Valley 17. Team Fouls - Peru 24, T. Valley 16. Fouled out - Maynard (Peru), Hudson (Peru), Denny (T. Valley)
