ROCHESTER - Without Bruce Grimm Jr., Bill Patrick said Rochester High School's boys basketball team would be average.
With Grimm, however, Patrick said the Zebras are a very good basketball team.
Unfortunately for the 10th-year Tippecanoe Valley head coach and his Vikings, Grimm did play Saturday night.And all the talented 6-foot junior did was lead Rochester to a 62-48 win over rival Valley, giving the Zebras their third straight championship in the Winning Edge Holiday Tournament.
"Rochester is an excellent team," said Patrick, whose Vikings fell to 6-3 on the season and whose team's winning streak was halted at three games. "Take Grimm out and they're an average team at best. He makes them tough. He can play. He's a really good player."
Grimm, who played as a freshman at Triton two years ago, scored 15 points and was named the tournament's most valuable player. In Friday's semifinal win over Knox, Grimm led all scorers with 27 points.
With their sixth-straight win, the Zebras improved their season record to 7-1.
While Grimm paced Rochester with his strong ball-handling skills and perimeter play, the Zebras got an unmatched effort inside from 6-3 senior widebodies Carter Walley and Brent Easterday, who muscled their way to 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Walley and Easterday, both of whom were selected to the all-tournament team, were just too physical for 6-7 Valley senior center Shane Salyer, who is more of a finesse player than a physical player.
Salyer, who scored eight points in the first quarter, finished the game with a team-high 14 points and was named to the all-tournament team. The Vikings just didn't have an answer inside for the physical Zebras.
"They're just so big and physical," Patrick said of Rochester's frontcourt duo. "We could play them 40 times and we'd struggle every time if the officials let them play physical like that. To be able to play with those guys, we'd have to have officals that are going to call some fouls."
Rochester was whistled for 11 fouls, while Valley was whistled for 16 fouls.
The Zebras were 15 of 20 at the free throw line, a huge advantage over Valley's 3-of-6 effort from the charity stripe.
Though the final scored showed a 14-point win for Rochester, the game was much closer than that.
"I thought we played well in spurts," said Patrick, whose career win total remained at 648 heading into games this weekend at Northfield and and Argos. "It was 14 points, but it was more like a two-possession game."
With 2:51 remaining in the third quarter, Valley took a 34-33 lead when senior Ryan Scherzer converted an old-fashioned three-point play.
Rochester, however, responded by closing out the quarter with a 6-0 run and then outscored the Vikings 23-14 in the fourth quarter.
After scoring 18 points in the first quarter, holding a four-point advantage after eight minutes of action, Valley scored just six points in the second quarter and 10 in the third quarter.
"We didn't move the ball well," said Patrick. "Maybe we got a little tired, we weren't able to substitute a lot. Rochester was able to substitute more."
To go with the performances of Grimm, Walley and Easterday, Rochester got nine points from Kory Barnett, seven from Mitch Bowers and four from Austin Lowe.
Joining Salyer in double figures for Valley were seniors Chad Hoffer and Steven Tillman, who finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Both Hoffer and Tillman were named to the all-tournament team, as were Will Hauser of Knox and Cory Hurd of Winamac.
Knox defeated Winamac 62-45 in the consolation game.
3-point goals - Valley 3 (Hoffer 3), Rochester 1 (Grimm 1). Fouls - Valley 16, Rochester 11. Fouled out - none. Records: Valley 6-3, Rochester 7-1
Consolation game: Knox 62, Winamac 45
All-Tournament Team - Cory Hurd (Winamac), Will Hauser (Knox), Steven Tillman (Valley), Chad Hoffer (Valley), Shane Salyer (Valley), Brent Easterday (Rochester), Carter Walley (Rochester)
