Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MENTONE - Tippecanoe Valley put the theory that Oak Hill was a one-man team to the test Friday.
And the Vikings proved it true in a 58-53 Three Rivers Conference win.
With Indiana University-recruit and the state's leading scorer Jarrad Odle scoring 21 points, the Eagles held a 27-26 halftime lead.
When the Vikes finally put the clamps on Odle in the second half and held him to just six points, all in the fourth quarter, Valley outscored Oak Hill 32-26 to gain the win.
The win ends the regular season for Valley, who moved to 10-10 overall and 4-3 in the TRC.
"We did something differently on defense that helped out," Valley coach Gregg Sciarra said. "Before we were letting him catch it and shoot it. We weren't denying it, and we let him look at the basket.
"Things we talked about before (the game), we didn't do," he said. "The kids did a nice job of concentrating on him in the second half. We concentrated on shutting Odle down in the second half, and it worked out a lot better than it did before."
Odle scored the first 12 points of the game for the Eagles and 21 of their first 25 points. He did it inside (two dunks) and outside (two three-pointers). The Vikes packed things inside with a 2-3 zone, and it still didn't stop Odle in the first half.
Odle hit on 9 of 12 shots from the field.
"He was dominating on the offensive end," Sciarra said. "He was in every play, for the most part. I thought we would do a better job against him at the beginning of the game. It took a whole half."
Odle was just 3 of 5 in the second half, with all three baskets coming in meaningless time in the fourth quarter. As Valley started to contain Odle, his teammates appeared to look to pass the ball to him less and less.
The Vikings put Nick Stutzman on Odle in the second half and his physical presence on Odle did the trick. The amazing part of the Vikings' defensive job on Odle was the fact Valley committed zero fouls in the second half and only four total for the game. The Eagles failed to attempt even one free throw.
And on offense, Valley turned the ball over only 11 times.
"We had to take care of the ball," Sciarra said. "We just needed to hit more free throws at the end. If we do that, we are a lot more of a complete basketball team.
"The decisions of when to shoot for the most part wasn't quite so good," he said. "We weren't very patient with our shots. In the second half, it got to be a lot better."
The Vikings started to pull away in the third quarter when Eric Love hit a couple treys to help Valley to a 40-31 lead. The lead eventually went to double figures, 44-33, at the end of three quarters.
Valley protected the lead despite hitting only 9 of 15 from the charity stripe and watching as the Eagles' Jamey Arrick scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth.
Love led the Vikings with 19 points, including 4 of 6 from beyond the three-point arc. Stutzman added 15 points, and Jeff Brown got 10.
"We feel good that a lot of people contributed tonight in some way," Sciarra said. "Sectional-wise, you have to be prepared for close games and this was a close game. We have to take care of the ball like we did and hit our free throws."
Valley plays the bye game of the Columbia City Sectional Thursday at 6 p.m. against Central Noble.
