NAPPANEE – On paper, Tippecanoe Valley High School's boys basketball team entered Class 3A Sectional 21 with the best record in the six-team field. On the court, however, that wasn't enough to carry the Vikings to a sectional championship this season. Valley scored 14 points in the first quarter in Tuesday's sectional opener, but only scored 21 points over the final 24 minutes of play, as the Vikings fell 40-35 to the host NorthWood Panthers. Valley's season ended with a 16-5 record, while NorthWood improved to 10-11 and advanced to Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal game against Lakeland (8-12). West Noble, the only other team in the sectional with a winning record, improved to 12-10 with a 66-52 win over Fairfield (8-13) in Tuesday's second game. West Noble will play Wawasee (10-12) at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday. "We just didn't play well," said Valley coach Bill Patrick. "It's hard to win when you only score 16 points in the second half. We did the same thing two years ago, we just didn't shoot well. It's tough to shoot here. It's a different background." The Vikings made just 31 percent of their field goal attempts, as they finished the game 12 of 39 overall and 5 of 14 from three-point range. The host Panthers, on the other hand, were right at home. NorthWood was 16 of 31 (52 percent) from the field overall and 3 of 6 from the arc. "NorthWood played hard, they took care of the ball," said Patrick. "They didn't turn it over. Defensively, their zone hurt us. They couldn't stop us with their man-to-man in the first quarter, but we didn't really do anything against their zone. And it wasn't their zone so much, we just didn't move at all." Behind 10 first-quarter points from junior Nick Kindig, Valley led 14-7 after eight minutes of play. Kindig finished with a game-high 20 points, but the Vikings only five points in the second quarter, six in the third and 10 in the fourth. A game that featured six lead changes and three ties, Valley led 19-17 at halftime and trailed 26-25 heading into the fourth quarter. "They're a good team," Patrick said of NorthWood. "Not only NorthWood, but West Noble is good, Wawasee is good, there's a lot of good teams in this sectional. The teams in this sectional are young. It's going to be hard to win this sectional next year." Valley's starting lineup Tuesday night included one senior, two juniors and two sophomores. NorthWood started two seniors, two sophomores and a freshman. To go with Kindig's 20 points, Valley got eight points and 10 rebounds from sophomore Tanner Andrews, while sophomore Robby Groom chipped in with five points. For the Panthers, sophomore Zach Zurcher led the way with 13 points and five boards, while senior Jakayah Qaiyim added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Jonathan Wilkinson and freshman Braxton Miller scored seven and six points, respectively, in the win.
NORTHWOOD 40, T. VALLEY 35 NW 7 10 9 14 – 40 TV 14 5 6 10 – 35 NorthWood – Braxton Miller 2-4 0-0 6, Zach Zurcher 6-10 1-1 13, Derek Yoder 1-3 2-3 4, Tommy Klem 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle McCoy 0-1 0-0 0, Jonathan Wilkinson 3-6 0-0 7, Will Stueve 0-1 0-0 0, Jakayah Qaiyim 4-6 2-6 10. Totals 16-31 5-10 40. T. Valley – Alex Thacker 0-0 0-0 0, Robby Groom 2-6 0-0 5, Tanner Andrews 3-12 2-2 8, Jacob Ritchey 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Kindig 6-17 4-5 20, Logan Britton 0-0 0-0 0, Jeffrey Tillman 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 12-39 6-7 35. Three-pointers – NorthWood 3 (Miller 2, Wilkinson), T. Valley 5 (Kindig 4, Groom); Rebounds - NorthWood 24 (Qaiyim 8), T. Valley 21 (Andrews 10); Turnovers – NorthWood 8, Valley 7; Fouls – NorthWood 7, T. Valley 12; Fouled out – none; Records: NorthWood 10-11, T. Valley 16-5
